Hello,

Thoughts and comments will be well appreciated on this post. I'm trying to fix this thing myself, but I'm certainly no mechanic! I will give you guys some needed background information, and then ask for some advice.

The Car:
2001 Dodge Stratus
2.7L V6
Automatic Transmission (Auto Stick)
~97,000 miles

Problem:
Low end engine noise. Knocks when you first start the car andVERY noticable inany gear above3,000RPM.

Thoughts:
After talking to some people, it was suggested that it could be a bad bearing (Upper or Lower). I thought I would be able to check the lower bearings myself and try to save some dough.

Steps Taken:
Drained Oil
Disassembled Exhaust
Dropped Oil Pan
For now, kind of stumped at this point

Questions(Please see pictures):
1. What is this? After dropping the oil pan, I was expecting to see a crank shaft. (I'm calling it the Monoblock Cap for now..from looking at a Haynes Manual)
2. I can't get it off. See the "details" picture. Any Ideas?
Red Circles= Head of bolt turns with an impact wrench, but wont come out. Heads don't appear to be stripped.Hand ratchetis still very tough to turn.
Green Circles =Either got bolt out, or started enough to hand turn the rest.

I have a higher res version of the picture here (without my fancy circles):
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ockCapHigh.jpg

Regular Low Res version (with fancy circles, also should be attached directly to this post):
http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q...ithDetails.jpg

Thanks Everyone! (For taking the time to read my post)

-Bob Weaver


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