Hey guys, I was recently changing my oil and rotating my tires and put my car on jack stands during this time. However, when jacking up the car using the factory jack, I ran into a small problem, the jack stand doesn't fit on the reinforced lip where I placed the factory jack because the base of the jack stand is too wide. So what I did is I placed the jack stand right next to the reinforced lip. Look at the picture below, I indicated it with a red arrow.

The car felt stable, and it seems like nothing was bent. What do you guys think?


http://img145.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0759ei5.jpg

 

Purchase a jack that will enable you to lift the car from the front and rear jack points (see owners manual). This will allow you to support your TL with the jack stands in the proper reinforced locations (by design).

 

I'd try to avoid that spot, even though it did hold for you. If you get a basic floor jack, which shouldn't be too expensive <$50 (for a Craftsman 2 1/4 ton floor jack), you can jack it up high enough on one side, to put the jack stand on the opposite side. I think jack stands are an absolute MUST, but floor jacks are a very convenient tool as well. They save alot of time, and are easier to use then the OEM tire jacks.

 

go farther in to the main frame rail- that is solid place to support the car
the edge things are just where the fender and lower panel of the car meet- 2 layers of metal, not a structural point

 

Exactly right. Hey we tend to agree on a lot of stuff lately

 

Man, don't use the OE jack to get the car in the air for jack stands. It is NOT stable enough to lift a single corner/side to Jack Stand height.

A recent thread detailed one of the more experienced people here dropping their car on it's rotors in a similar set of circumstances. No harm done fortunately.

Buy a low cost floor jack. The Craftsman 2 1/4 ton might not lift the rear enough for jack stands. I had trouble and someone else posted that as well (I did have the front on stands at the time. The rear alone *might* be OK.)

Finally, the "best" Jack Stand Points are the 4 "flanges" near each wheel. There are some frame components that are OK, but I couldn't point 'em out to you.

Jacking the car there is square plate-like section of frame in the front center of the car and in the rear, you jack under the tow hook.

 

The spot you pointed out is close but move the jackstand to the same spot as the OEM jack lift point (the thick piece of sheet steel to the right of your red arrow). As others have indicated do not use the car jack, use a hydraulic lift at the front and rear lift points.

The jack lift point is typically the strongest point on the sides of Honda/Acura's as it carries the vertical structural load and is incredibly strong as the metal is oriented in the vertical direction giving it excellent tension strength and compression strength (due to the vertical nature of the thick sheet metal)

You can use the box sections under the car but those points are actually less load bearing than the side sections for lift purposes. The 4 frame box sections typically are great tension members but fair to so-so compression points for jacking up. Although most garages use them for the lifts but bear in mind that the shop lifts have large area rubber lift pads so the load is well distributed.

 

I think the jacks from Acura are defective. I heard about the threaded rod in the middle bending when lifting the car many times. Has anyone else had this problem?

 

Yeah......the threaded rod on my oem jack seems to be bent also. It seems like acura changed the jacks on the 4g TL's (better quality), so I had to "borrow one from a 4g TL loaner car.....

 

man im so lucky i used the oem jack once to do a brake pad change, im so lucky i didn't get hurt or worse.

as for jacking up the car at the tow hook, can some one post pics of where to place the floor jack exactly, i would hate to bend something underneath my car to place the jack stands in the proper location

thanks!

 

You put the floor jack "cup" under the rear hook. If the floor jack will not lift the car high enough to clear the tires, put a 2x10x3 piece of wood under the floor jack first and then jack up the rear of the car.

As for the front, locate the recommended jack point, which is in the center of a cross member that happens to be in front of the engine area. Use a block of wood, such as a 4" square piece cut from a 2x4, and put that between the floor jack cup and the jack point.

 

If you are rotating your tires, use two floor jacks on the same side of the car at the recommended side jack points, and pump each one a little at a time until both tires are clear. Or jack up the front at the front jack point with a floor jack, then set two jack stands at the front side jack points, then do the same for the rear.

What you want to avoid doing is jacking up at just one corner at a time. This is something to try to avoid if you can as it puts a lot of stress on the car's undercarriage. Some idiot did this to my '04 manual with a jack stand two years ago during a state safety inspection and I heard a very loud pop. I thought it was a rivet that had let go but couldn't find anything of the sort. Then two months later, I discovered what it was. It was a plastic attachment tab on the drivers side rocker panels that connect the plastic panels to the undercarriage.

 

thanks for the info southern boy, locating the rear jacking point should be easy, the front one i will have to loo for. but thanks again for the info

 

The front jack point is located in the center line of the car and its center point is about 10 1/4" back from the vertical air dam spoiler (the one that hangs down maybe 2+ inches). It has a hole in its center perhaps 1/2" wide. It is quite visible. Just be sure you get the right spot.

 

I always jack it up on the e-brake cable or the sideskirts. For the front, the engine oil pan works well as does the j-pipe.

 

Awesome, thanks! I was planning on doing some work this afternoon and was interested in some optional lift points. You saved me a bunch of research time!

 

An added bonus is that if you use oil pan as a jack point during an oil change, it makes the drainage process go that much faster! Forget about crossthreading oil pan plugs!

 

o wow i didnt know the oil pan could withstand the entire weight of the car!

 

If you use the oem jack from the car.. Please be careful with it. Once i was rotating my tire with the jack stand it fell over and thank goodness the rim was not off.

Then yesterday I was wanting to put my rims back on my car and when i was looking at the jack after it lifted up the car it looked very unstable and about to drop so I quickly put the stock rims back on and decided to go out and buy a real car jack.

The oem jack looked worn out with multiple uses. It was not straight like it use to be and boy I am more careful after it dropped last time!!!

 

Dont try it...

 

man everytime i read this thread i feel so lucky that the car didnt fall on me. im gunna go out and buy a quality set of jack stands and a jack right now!

 

why does this sound like an absolutely horrible idea....

 

I thought, over 2,000 posts, surely he knows you're joking?

Perhaps not...

 

This doesn't sound like IHC....

Ok, who hijacked IHC's account ?

 

tell me about it....there goes my ATLP j-pipe

 

I cringe at the thought of dropping my car on the rotors. What a sound it would make.........followed by silent weeping.

 

for the record ... i knew he was joking about the oil pan

 

I might have forgotten the red lol.

 

Ok, now you tell me





(Edit - Sorry, I forgot you can't see. The x is a pic of a busted oil pan)

 

damn man ... u tore it up

 

I'm beginning to get confused on who is joking and who isn't!

 

should've typed in red ... oops

 

You should have added a "heh, heh" to make sure any folks new at this know you're just funnin' with them. Can you imagine someone actually doing this (I can - the oil pan, that is).

 

SouthernBoy;
Thanks for the informative post - I thought I would need the larger "cup" of a 3 ton jack to accomodate the front jacking point, but didn't think of using a block of wood. Would it be worthwhile to fit the block to the jack with recesses or protrusions, or to cut a recess to fit the jacking point? I am concerned with the car sliding off the jack.Thanks

 

^ i dont think you need to cut a block of wood to the exact measurements or anything. i just slid a piece of wood in between the car and the jack. and the piece of wood didnt slide or anything when the car was up in the air. if you have extra time on your hands i would say go for it as im sure it wont hurt, but i do not think it is entirely necessary

 

Yeah, I've never had problems with this, either. Floor jacks have wheels so they will move a little as the car is raised anyway. I wouldn't make any indents in the wood block because I would be concerned this could cause the block to split. Also for this same reason, watch the grain of the wood in relation to the raised protrusions on the floor jack cup.

Once I get the car to the right height, I put my jack stand in place so I am not depending upon the floor jack as the only thing holding my car up.

 

Threaded rod can bend IF you are on an uneven road. I have had this happen on a few hondas. I bought some of the gm goodwrench jackstands at wal mart and they work pretty well with the pinch welds on the car. As everyone has stated invest in a proper floor jack.

 

where is the best floor jack, NOT jack stand, placement for the rear of the car?

 

The rear jack point. It is a hook... you can't miss it.

 

HEY!!!

If your going to post "instructions" that could get some one hurt or damage their car, then either:

1.) Don't fucking post at all

or

2.) Make it perfectly clear that you're kidding.





Not everyone here has enough experince to differntiate between good advice and bad advice. Both of you guys should know better.