LFX V6 Camaro Engine Replacement Guide - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

Shadow72 · 09-06-2020, 07:15 PM

Me and my brother had our engine go out on our car at 82,000 miles. We decided to swap in a new engine. We bought a re manufactured engine from FraserEngines and swapped it in and got it running. Working on the LFX engine is quite tricky. Not because it is a difficult engine to work on, but because there are very few resources on the LFX engine. Hopefully this guide will help some of you when you are working on your Camaro.

Please note that this isn't a step by step guide on how to replace an engine. This just covers some of the more difficult things you will run into when doing it.

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a mechanic, some of what I say in this thread may not be the best way to do things. Please do your research before blindly trusting what one guy on a forum says. I will try and keep a eye on the comments and update the post with the best information possible.

Resources for the LFX engine:
As i said above there aren't too many resources on the LFX engine. I would recommend purchasing a copy of the Camaro repair manual and the Haynes repair manual. The Camaro repair manual has a bunch of good information about working on the engine but can be confusing or over simplified sometimes. The Haynes repair manual doesn't have as much info as the Camaro one but has lots of helpful pictures as well as step by step instructions for some things. If you are planning to do a engine replacement like we did these are must haves.

Accessories:
AC Pump Removal:
This is a pretty easy uninstall but can be confusing. The AC pump has a rod that goes through it
that connects to the block. You may think that you can just slide the pump off but you can't, you need to unbolt
the support for the pump and take it off as one piece. Once it is out of the car you can slide the pump off of the
rod and you are good to go.

Rest of the accessories:
They are pretty straight forward to remove. Just find out where they are bolted to the block and unbolt them.
Some may have supports like the AC pump that you will need to remove to get them out.

Wiring:
What we did is put painters tape on the wire and put a number on it and took a picture of it. Make sure to take
pictures of the wires at different angles so it is easier to understand where the wires are when looking back at the
photos. If think you are taking enough photos you aren't. Take as many as you possibly can!

ECU Wires:
The wires that plug into the ECU have a different connector than any other wires on the car and can be a little
bit confusing to unhook them. Here are the steps you need to unhook them.
1: Pull the red tab down
2: Press in on the connector underneath the red tab
3: Pull the plastic bar down while still pressing down on the connector
4: Once the plastic bar is all the way down you can pull the connector out

The wires that run down to the side of the block:
These are a big pain in the butt to unhook because of the location. What we ended up doing was keeping them
attached and when we raised the engine out of the car we stopped half way through raising it and disconnected the
wires. Although you will have to remove the wires that go to the starter before removing the engine(see info on
that below).

Rest of the wires:
They are all pretty simple press down and pull out connectors. Some of the ones on the back of the engine are a
lot easier to get to when you stand on the subframe of the car in the engine bay. Just make sure you only are
stepping on the subframe.

Removing the starter:
Welcome to hell! Grab your socket extensions and be prepared for your back to hurt! The starter is located on
the drivers side behind the cat. There are 2 bolts that hold the starter in and 2 cables attached to it. One of the
cables has a nut holding it in place and the other is a normal connector if i remember right. Once they are removed
you can unbolt the 2 bolts holding the start in place and remove the starter. I recommend unbolting the cats so
you can get a better view of what you are doing.

Disconnecting the torque converter(auto transmission):
After you have removed the starter you will be able to see the flexplate through the hole. You need to turn over
the engine so you can remove all the bolts that are holding the torque converter to it. It is important that you
disconnect the torque converter before trying to separate the engine from the transmission.

Fuel System:
Taking apart the fuel system isn't too hard. Although it is very important to depressurize the fuel system before
working on it! There are 2 ways to depressurize the fuel system. One way is to pull a fuse and then start the car
and that will run the system out of gas. The other way is there is a schrader valve near the fuel system cover(the
big black metal piece with foam inside) that you can depress with a screwdriver to release the pressure. Also don't
undo the fuel system lines with a wrench! Get a fuel line disconnect tool, they are super cheap and will make sure
you don't break any of the connections.

Removing the fuel system cover:
This is another huge pain in the butt. There are 2 10mm bolts on the back side of the metal cover that need to
be unbolted. Once you have unbolted them you can then remove the cover and the foam insert.

Unbolting the engine from the transmission:
All of the bolts holding the transmission to the engine are on the bell housing of the transmission. If i remember
correctly there are 12 bolts that hold it together, but I may have remembered wrong so just make you you double
check that all the bolts are out. There is a bolt that is hidden at the very top of the transmission that can be easy
to miss. It is much easier to get to the bolts on the bottom and side of the transmission from underneath the car.

Lifting the engine out of the car from the top:
Now i have no clue if I did this the proper way, all the guides I have seen have you drop the engine through the
bottom of the car. So please be careful and do some research before following what I say.

Chain attachment points:
We used a chain leveler with 4 chains going to the engine. Each chain was bolted into the side of the head on
the block. Look for the chunks of metal that stick out from the side of the heads that have bolt holes in them and
that is where we connected them. Note that the back passenger side of the engine has a smaller bolt hole than the
others. Make sure you use grade 8.8 bolts and washers when connecting the chains. I have no idea if this is even a
safe way to lift the engine, it is just how we did it. It worked out fine for us but I can't guarantee it will work fine
for you.

Attaching the engine to a engine stand:
We bought a engine stand but didn't end up using it. The LFX engine only has 3 bolt holes that would work for
the engine stand and I didn't want to worry about engine toppling over since it was missing one of the bottom bolt
holes. It could be perfectly fine to do but I just wanted to play it safe.

I found a metal piece that came from somewhere but I have no idea where!:
If it is circular with a roller on it then I will save you a couple hours of googling. It is the fuel pump camshaft
follower. It goes in the hole on the backside of the engine on the drivers side. It has a tendency to fall out when
removing the engine so be careful and make sure it is there when you put the engine back together. We spent way
too much time trying to figure that out!

Priming the new engine with oil:
What we did is pull fuse 9 and 10 in the engine bay fuse box. That will disable the injectors so the car won't
start. You can then try and start the car which will run the oil pump and prime the oil for the engine. There is
probably a much better way to do this than the way we did. Since doing that will still crank the engine over. Our
engine came with assembly lube on most parts so I think we are somewhat okay, but I have no way to really know.
Just make you are being careful.

Resetting the throttle body:
If you notice when first starting up the car the engine seems to be starving for air you need to reset the throttle
body position sensor. Here are the steps on how to do that.
1: Leave the car off for at least 30 seconds
2: Turn the key to the on position for 60 seconds(don't start the car)
3: Turn the car off
4: Turn the key to the on position(don't start the car)
5: Clear all codes for the car using a OBD2 scanner
6: Turn off the car. It should now be reset. You are good to start the car up.

If you are curious on how to do something that I haven't listed or want me to go into more detail on something please leave a comment below and I will try my best to update the post.

Hopefully this will help you guys in your endeavor of replacing your engine! I hope none of you will ever need this information.

Shadow72 · 09-06-2020, 07:18 PM

Reserved for future updates

drakedgar · 09-30-2024, 11:17 AM

This is great! I’m running into the same issue but with a LLT engine.
Removing the bolt at the very top of the transmission belt was a real pain! I had to remove the coolant inlet pipe first to be able to access it!

Also after removing all 11/12 bolts the engine was still seized with the transmission so I had to use a pry bar to separate the engine from the transmission. Also loosening the engine mounts bolts gave me a little bit more flex to push the engine back and forth.

I’m planning on putting the new engine this weekend. Thanks for the tip on pulling fuse 9 and 10 to prevent engine start! I also have the Chilton guide which is useful!

I would like to be able to lower the engine with the coolant inlet pipe already in. Any tips on how to do this?

FabAutodesign · 12-09-2024, 08:12 AM

Hello I just did the same thing and followed some of the steps but for some reason the car does not want to go into gear from what I know since I did the replacement everything should be connected the transmission will go free move in neutral but won’t actually drive or reverse any ideas?

09-06-2020, 07:15 PM	#1
Shadow72 Drives: 2012 Camaro LT Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: Texas Posts: 4	LFX V6 Camaro Engine Replacement Guide Me and my brother had our engine go out on our car at 82,000 miles. We decided to swap in a new engine. We bought a re manufactured engine from FraserEngines and swapped it in and got it running. Working on the LFX engine is quite tricky. Not because it is a difficult engine to work on, but because there are very few resources on the LFX engine. Hopefully this guide will help some of you when you are working on your Camaro. Please note that this isn't a step by step guide on how to replace an engine. This just covers some of the more difficult things you will run into when doing it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a mechanic, some of what I say in this thread may not be the best way to do things. Please do your research before blindly trusting what one guy on a forum says. I will try and keep a eye on the comments and update the post with the best information possible. Resources for the LFX engine: As i said above there aren't too many resources on the LFX engine. I would recommend purchasing a copy of the Camaro repair manual and the Haynes repair manual. The Camaro repair manual has a bunch of good information about working on the engine but can be confusing or over simplified sometimes. The Haynes repair manual doesn't have as much info as the Camaro one but has lots of helpful pictures as well as step by step instructions for some things. If you are planning to do a engine replacement like we did these are must haves. Accessories: AC Pump Removal: This is a pretty easy uninstall but can be confusing. The AC pump has a rod that goes through it that connects to the block. You may think that you can just slide the pump off but you can't, you need to unbolt the support for the pump and take it off as one piece. Once it is out of the car you can slide the pump off of the rod and you are good to go. Rest of the accessories: They are pretty straight forward to remove. Just find out where they are bolted to the block and unbolt them. Some may have supports like the AC pump that you will need to remove to get them out. Wiring: What we did is put painters tape on the wire and put a number on it and took a picture of it. Make sure to take pictures of the wires at different angles so it is easier to understand where the wires are when looking back at the photos. If think you are taking enough photos you aren't. Take as many as you possibly can! ECU Wires: The wires that plug into the ECU have a different connector than any other wires on the car and can be a little bit confusing to unhook them. Here are the steps you need to unhook them. 1: Pull the red tab down 2: Press in on the connector underneath the red tab 3: Pull the plastic bar down while still pressing down on the connector 4: Once the plastic bar is all the way down you can pull the connector out The wires that run down to the side of the block: These are a big pain in the butt to unhook because of the location. What we ended up doing was keeping them attached and when we raised the engine out of the car we stopped half way through raising it and disconnected the wires. Although you will have to remove the wires that go to the starter before removing the engine(see info on that below). Rest of the wires: They are all pretty simple press down and pull out connectors. Some of the ones on the back of the engine are a lot easier to get to when you stand on the subframe of the car in the engine bay. Just make sure you only are stepping on the subframe. Removing the starter: Welcome to hell! Grab your socket extensions and be prepared for your back to hurt! The starter is located on the drivers side behind the cat. There are 2 bolts that hold the starter in and 2 cables attached to it. One of the cables has a nut holding it in place and the other is a normal connector if i remember right. Once they are removed you can unbolt the 2 bolts holding the start in place and remove the starter. I recommend unbolting the cats so you can get a better view of what you are doing. Disconnecting the torque converter(auto transmission): After you have removed the starter you will be able to see the flexplate through the hole. You need to turn over the engine so you can remove all the bolts that are holding the torque converter to it. It is important that you disconnect the torque converter before trying to separate the engine from the transmission. Fuel System: Taking apart the fuel system isn't too hard. Although it is very important to depressurize the fuel system before working on it! There are 2 ways to depressurize the fuel system. One way is to pull a fuse and then start the car and that will run the system out of gas. The other way is there is a schrader valve near the fuel system cover(the big black metal piece with foam inside) that you can depress with a screwdriver to release the pressure. Also don't undo the fuel system lines with a wrench! Get a fuel line disconnect tool, they are super cheap and will make sure you don't break any of the connections. Removing the fuel system cover: This is another huge pain in the butt. There are 2 10mm bolts on the back side of the metal cover that need to be unbolted. Once you have unbolted them you can then remove the cover and the foam insert. Unbolting the engine from the transmission: All of the bolts holding the transmission to the engine are on the bell housing of the transmission. If i remember correctly there are 12 bolts that hold it together, but I may have remembered wrong so just make you you double check that all the bolts are out. There is a bolt that is hidden at the very top of the transmission that can be easy to miss. It is much easier to get to the bolts on the bottom and side of the transmission from underneath the car. Lifting the engine out of the car from the top: Now i have no clue if I did this the proper way, all the guides I have seen have you drop the engine through the bottom of the car. So please be careful and do some research before following what I say. Chain attachment points: We used a chain leveler with 4 chains going to the engine. Each chain was bolted into the side of the head on the block. Look for the chunks of metal that stick out from the side of the heads that have bolt holes in them and that is where we connected them. Note that the back passenger side of the engine has a smaller bolt hole than the others. Make sure you use grade 8.8 bolts and washers when connecting the chains. I have no idea if this is even a safe way to lift the engine, it is just how we did it. It worked out fine for us but I can't guarantee it will work fine for you. Attaching the engine to a engine stand: We bought a engine stand but didn't end up using it. The LFX engine only has 3 bolt holes that would work for the engine stand and I didn't want to worry about engine toppling over since it was missing one of the bottom bolt holes. It could be perfectly fine to do but I just wanted to play it safe. I found a metal piece that came from somewhere but I have no idea where!: If it is circular with a roller on it then I will save you a couple hours of googling. It is the fuel pump camshaft follower. It goes in the hole on the backside of the engine on the drivers side. It has a tendency to fall out when removing the engine so be careful and make sure it is there when you put the engine back together. We spent way too much time trying to figure that out! Priming the new engine with oil: What we did is pull fuse 9 and 10 in the engine bay fuse box. That will disable the injectors so the car won't start. You can then try and start the car which will run the oil pump and prime the oil for the engine. There is probably a much better way to do this than the way we did. Since doing that will still crank the engine over. Our engine came with assembly lube on most parts so I think we are somewhat okay, but I have no way to really know. Just make you are being careful. Resetting the throttle body: If you notice when first starting up the car the engine seems to be starving for air you need to reset the throttle body position sensor. Here are the steps on how to do that. 1: Leave the car off for at least 30 seconds 2: Turn the key to the on position for 60 seconds(don't start the car) 3: Turn the car off 4: Turn the key to the on position(don't start the car) 5: Clear all codes for the car using a OBD2 scanner 6: Turn off the car. It should now be reset. You are good to start the car up. If you are curious on how to do something that I haven't listed or want me to go into more detail on something please leave a comment below and I will try my best to update the post. Hopefully this will help you guys in your endeavor of replacing your engine! I hope none of you will ever need this information. Last edited by Shadow72; 09-10-2020 at 01:57 PM.

09-06-2020, 07:18 PM	#2
Shadow72 Drives: 2012 Camaro LT Join Date: Jul 2019 Location: Texas Posts: 4	Reserved for future updates

09-30-2024, 11:17 AM	#3
drakedgar Drives: 16' 2SS Camaro, 10' 1LT RS Camaro Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Rhode Island Posts: 164	This is great! I’m running into the same issue but with a LLT engine. Removing the bolt at the very top of the transmission belt was a real pain! I had to remove the coolant inlet pipe first to be able to access it! Also after removing all 11/12 bolts the engine was still seized with the transmission so I had to use a pry bar to separate the engine from the transmission. Also loosening the engine mounts bolts gave me a little bit more flex to push the engine back and forth. I’m planning on putting the new engine this weekend. Thanks for the tip on pulling fuse 9 and 10 to prevent engine start! I also have the Chilton guide which is useful! I would like to be able to lower the engine with the coolant inlet pipe already in. Any tips on how to do this?

12-09-2024, 08:12 AM	#4
FabAutodesign Drives: Chevrolet Camaro Join Date: Dec 2024 Location: WI Posts: 1	Hello I just did the same thing and followed some of the steps but for some reason the car does not want to go into gear from what I know since I did the replacement everything should be connected the transmission will go free move in neutral but won’t actually drive or reverse any ideas?