Engine left unsupported without upper mounting bracket

[ElWarboGrande]

I had to remove my front upper engine mounting bracket to do a timing chain replacement on my '04 Matrix. While the mounting bracket was off, I had the engine supported on a floor jack beneath the oil pan.

It was late in the day by the time I was ready to take the timing cover off, so I decided to leave it for a couple of days until I had another chance to work on it.

When I returned to the job, the floor jack had been lowered, (I don't know if some neighborhood kids fiddled with it or what) and the engine was left unsupported for an uncertain amount of time.

So my question is, how much damage did this do to my car, and is it still salvageable?

[Stealthee]

A few things, you NEVER should support the engine by the pan. That alone could cause catastrophic damage by denting the pan and possibly closing off oil flow to the pickup.

Never leave just a jack supporting something. Jacks can fail, but what probably happened is it just bled off. That can happen. You should have had a stand under something at minimum. You also could have rigged up something as simple as a ratchet strap to support things.

As for damage from it resting unsupported you'll have to just look over things. Look at your other mounts, look at anything that could have made contact. Look at wires that could have been stretched.

Consider this a lesson learned otherwise.

[ElWarboGrande]

Thanks for the advice. I had been told that it was okay to support it by the pan so long as it has a reinforced point and you use a wood block in between to cushion it since that's what the engine rests on when it's out of the car, but I guess that's wrong.

I also wasn't sure how to replace the jack with a stand since there's nowhere else to put the stand without removing the jack.

I'm going to look into the ratchet strap approach though.

Thank you.