Driver's side engine mount upper nut removal / I finally found info on my car

[Theotherotter]

I decided to replace the engine mounts on my car. They're not awful, but replacing them isn't unreasonable and they're cheap and easy parts to replace. Easy...except for the upper nut on the driver's side. I can see it, and I can even get a ratcheting box end on it, but I can't get enough torque on it to break the nut loose. I can get a socket and ratchet on it using a U-joint and lots of extension, but the U-joint has too much bend in it for me to be able to transmit torque through it effectively. I tried one of those offset extensions, but there's a stupid useless bracket in the way that keeps me from getting the socket on the nut. Any trick I haven't thought of yet? I'd have had the whole job done in 45 minutes were it not for this one nut.

Also, in searching for answers to this, by accident I finally found info on the person who did all the work on my car years ago:

https://www.firstfives.org/phpBB-3.2.1/ ... php?t=3670

[DeanM]

A crow-foot wrench may be your solution. They are usually open-end, but box-end are available

[Theotherotter]

My problem is really being able to put enough torque on it to break the nut loose. I can get a wrench on it in a few ways, but I can’t get it loose. Spraying it with Kroil and will revisit after the holiday.

[Mike W.]

Don't recall it being a problem, though it's been a few since I've done one, like a decade or more. Trying to visualize it, can you get a socket on it with a U joint from above? It shouldn't be terribly tight, but you might be in rust country where the equation changes a bit. Anyway you can get a combo wrench in there and hook another combo/box wrench in there over the open end to double your leverage? Or is the frame rail and or oil filter in the way. Seems unlikely, but maybe snake down thru the intake runners with extensions? Pull a runner for access?

[Theotherotter]

I can put a U-joint on it and run extensions up to between the battery and the oil filter console, but the angle on the U joint is too much for it to be effective, and putting torque on the wrench just locks up the joint and cocks the socket over a bit.

I got a slightly better angle running the extensions up behind the oil filter through a gap, but same problem as above.

I can get my breaker bar on it through the same gap, but still can't put enough torque on it due to the angle.

I can get a ratcheting box end on it that I can reach from above, but that requires lots of shoulder strength that I don't have enough of. Similar problem reaching the wrench from below, though I'm going to try that.

I was putting the snow tires on my VW last night and spent some time on it - I squirted some Kroil on the nut, which I'll do again next week. The car spent its whole life on the west coast before I bought it and it's parked in the winter, so all the fasteners are squeaky clean. But that nut probably hasn't been touched since 2012, making for the higher than expected breakaway torque. After exploring the problem last night it feels more solvable.