Thread: Review of very useful toolI did on Amazon

				Thexton 419X GM Engine Moving Tool Price: $43.74		19 used & new from $35.38
Important Review Please Read, June 7, 2014 Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Thexton 419X GM Engine Moving Tool (Misc.) Great too does exactly what it claims to do. I have 2 cars with 3.8 GM motors. I used this tool the first time yesterday. It says to put the transmission in neutral. I did the front plugs first. I removed the front engine brackets and then hooked up the tool. As instructed I went to put the transmission in neutral. For the life of me I could get it out of park. My car has a button to push if it ever gets stuck in park. Nothing worked. I have 161,000 miles on this car and its a 1999 grand prix. I never had to use this button and for all the time I owned the car, since new, I never had the transmission get stuck in park. I finally tried tightening the tool to roll the engine a little at a time and then seeing if the transmission would get out of park. On the third try it did and I put it in neutral. So my suggestion is before hooking up the tool or removing brackets put the car in NETURAL and put on the parking break and save yourself a lot of grief. The other suggestion I have is to get your self a oxygen sensor socket and remove the sensor which sits right in front of the middle spark plug on the rear of the engine. I had one since I had change the sensor a few years back. On this engine that one plug is a *****. Just my experience and if this review can save you some grief all is good.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Not really sure what this tool does.. except maybe rock the engine forward? If so.. there are many easier ways to do the same thing. And the mount on the passenger side of the car has a second hole for holding the engine.. which it looks like something is supplied in the bottom right of the picture for that same purpose.

Yes all it does is rock the engine forward to make it easier to get to the rear plugs. I have see people use tie down straps and push the car forward and stick in a block of wood between the engine and firewall. All these methods work.
I just like the idea of a slow controlled method when moving the engine and all the things hooked up to it. The point I was trying to make is that you can lock your transmission in park no matter what method you are using, therefore put it in neutral before you start changing your plugs if you are going to rock the engine.
I like this tool because it prevents you from damaging anything because you are moving the engine in small increments. For the push method you need 2 people. My approach has been to work slow. Working fast breaks parts that are good. Been there done that. YMMV.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

I totally agree. Odd about the gear though. I always have them in park and never shift them in/out of neutral. When I rock them forward, I have a favorite prybar and lay it down the drivers engine mount to catch the lip of the LIM. It's almost the same thing to what this tool does. Nice..easy and doesn't strain things.

I kind of was wondering about that my self. I could pull the engine forward with my bare hands once the dogbone engine mounts were removed and it was in park. There was a big sticker on the tool saying make sure the transmission in in neutral when using this tool. No explanation was given. This tool can be used on more than GM cars. It comes with a little extension which replace part of the front dogbone engine mount for use on GM engines. Could be this is a cover you ass warning since damage may occurs to other make cars.
Like your pry bar method.