Shedding properly, 2004 Passat Estate 1.9 TDI
Discussion
And then I had to finish off by swapping over the aircon bits. Well, I didn't have to but just wanted it done.
Shiny shiny new thing
PAG46 oil, bought only for me to wet the new 'o' rings. This is my new favorite smelling oil, it is gorgeous!
Those seals that 'dry' out if you believe the folklore
Shiny on, grubby off
Nice, bolting shiny new things onto your car is the male equivalent of women shopping for shoes and having warbrobe full of them. I probably didn't need to do the shiny shiny thing, but why not!
Swap the pressure switch over
Old o ring
New o ring, I bought a full set of new ones from VW for very little.
Receiver / drier now, so I believe these should be replaced periodically anyway so it was long overdue on this 12 year old car
Things nver quite fit when using pattern parts. Very close to the horn bracket so I sleeved the pipe and cable tied it on
Job almost done.
Shiny shiny new thing
PAG46 oil, bought only for me to wet the new 'o' rings. This is my new favorite smelling oil, it is gorgeous!
Those seals that 'dry' out if you believe the folklore
Shiny on, grubby off
Nice, bolting shiny new things onto your car is the male equivalent of women shopping for shoes and having warbrobe full of them. I probably didn't need to do the shiny shiny thing, but why not!
Swap the pressure switch over
Old o ring
New o ring, I bought a full set of new ones from VW for very little.
Receiver / drier now, so I believe these should be replaced periodically anyway so it was long overdue on this 12 year old car
Things nver quite fit when using pattern parts. Very close to the horn bracket so I sleeved the pipe and cable tied it on
Job almost done.
at this rate wouldnt have just been easier to order the parts for a complete Passat and just build a new one yourself...colin_p said:
Pennyroyal Tea said:
Shedding is what shedding does. Whatever, this thread is far more entertaining than it really ought to be, and the car is a credit to you 
I know it is a bit mad spending so much time effort and cash on an old car but I've had the old hector for coming up on five years now and love it. Their reputation precedes them in terms of reliability and most of the work I'm doing isn't strictly needed but if I'm shedding it I still want new(er) car peace of mind.Somewhat ironically, I wonder if your Passat will actually be a Million Mile Mondeo before that car ever is?
There's something reassuringly robust about VAG's Passat, which I can't quite put my finger on. Whatever, my family have previous form with them and an old neighbour ran a MKII to colossal mileage with barely any issues. I myself have punted several up and down the country and love their blend of relaxed gate with iron fist damping (note: that doesn't mean the damping is harsh, just impeccably controlled). They're like an old comfort blanket.
Oh, and the Noggie Police swear by them, which would otherwise sound like heresy, but I guess they're less prone to gremlins that the hone-grown Volvos.
Keep up the good fight!
Pennyroyal Tea said:
Amen, brother.
Somewhat ironically, I wonder if your Passat will actually be a Million Mile Mondeo before that car ever is?
There's something reassuringly robust about VAG's Passat, which I can't quite put my finger on. Whatever, my family have previous form with them and an old neighbour ran a MKII to colossal mileage with barely any issues. I myself have punted several up and down the country and love their blend of relaxed gate with iron fist damping (note: that doesn't mean the damping is harsh, just impeccably controlled). They're like an old comfort blanket.
Oh, and the Noggie Police swear by them, which would otherwise sound like heresy, but I guess they're less prone to gremlins that the hone-grown Volvos.
Keep up the good fight!
Thanks for that.Somewhat ironically, I wonder if your Passat will actually be a Million Mile Mondeo before that car ever is?
There's something reassuringly robust about VAG's Passat, which I can't quite put my finger on. Whatever, my family have previous form with them and an old neighbour ran a MKII to colossal mileage with barely any issues. I myself have punted several up and down the country and love their blend of relaxed gate with iron fist damping (note: that doesn't mean the damping is harsh, just impeccably controlled). They're like an old comfort blanket.
Oh, and the Noggie Police swear by them, which would otherwise sound like heresy, but I guess they're less prone to gremlins that the hone-grown Volvos.
Keep up the good fight!
It'll never get anywhere near that mileage. I bought almost five years ago with 91k on it and have averaged 10k a year in it bringing up to 140k so at my current rate it'll take me five to six years to get to 200k or one fifth of 1,000k.
They are indeed solid old buses and having thoroughly examined it as part of this mid life refresh, there is not a spot of rust on it, which even Mercs suffer from. VW seem to have their rust proofing quite well sorted, except for the infamous front wing issue which strangely this car showed no signs off at all.
They'll never set the world on fire but for what they do, they do it very well and that is be a compfy wafty cruiser that blend seamlessly into the background. I like that.
Sheepshanks said:
Is that an unusually large condenser?
I've no idea how it compares to other cars but now you mention it, it does look massive and is very nearly the size of the water rad behind.This morning I got the A/C gassed back up which means things for now are finished. The A/C chap I use is old school as he uses gauges, not one of those fancy machines. He did a pressure test using nitrogen first at about 150psi and the system held pressure for a good 20 minutes. He then applied a deep vacuum for another twenty minutes or so.
Good news as my work held, I was worried about me not making up the joints and or seals properly but I had and it all held up well with no pressure or vacuum loss.
The scales then cam out and the refrigerant gas bottle duly sat upon them. Some turning of some valves here and there and the some PAG46 oil was drawn into the system and then the 600g of gas as obseved by the weight of the gas bottle sat on the scales reducing by 600g.
Time will tell as to how good the A/C system will perform and last but even today it did feel nice and cold.
How OCD and or totally mad is this...
Pics below are about three years or so old. At the time I thought it would be a good idea to take the badges off the tailgate as they only served to trap dirt and were difficult to clean.
Took the badges off and there were two dents staring at me, previously hidden by the badges. I regretted taking the badges off straight away.
Ho-hum, I thought I'd just live with it. The thing is though, although small, the dents may as well have been massive as they were all I'd see when I looked at the back of the car.
Well, having done all the work I've recently done I gave in and spent £50, yes £50 getting the dents pulled out by one of those wizard like dent puller wizards. I swear it is witchcraft!
There is no point posting up any pictures of the dents removed as it just looks like a tailgate without dents in it. But these are the offending items, am I mad ?
Pics below are about three years or so old. At the time I thought it would be a good idea to take the badges off the tailgate as they only served to trap dirt and were difficult to clean.
Took the badges off and there were two dents staring at me, previously hidden by the badges. I regretted taking the badges off straight away.
Ho-hum, I thought I'd just live with it. The thing is though, although small, the dents may as well have been massive as they were all I'd see when I looked at the back of the car.
Well, having done all the work I've recently done I gave in and spent £50, yes £50 getting the dents pulled out by one of those wizard like dent puller wizards. I swear it is witchcraft!
There is no point posting up any pictures of the dents removed as it just looks like a tailgate without dents in it. But these are the offending items, am I mad ?
A rather mundane update.
I've been simply driving it but yesterday I got two new tyres fitted to the summer wheels, fitted the summer wheels and gave it a good clean.
Ready to go on.
I did black em up
The two existing tyres, about 1/4 worn.
Mid range Falken ZIEX's, cost me £110 for a pair this time, fitted at home, no endless waiting in a grubby waiting room thumbing through six year out of date evo mags or tyre fitters weekly.
Winters
Summers
Car mats scrubbed and hanging on the trellis to dry
Quite happy with the old hector
I did say it was mundane, but sometimes mundane is good.
I've been simply driving it but yesterday I got two new tyres fitted to the summer wheels, fitted the summer wheels and gave it a good clean.
Ready to go on.
I did black em up
The two existing tyres, about 1/4 worn.
Mid range Falken ZIEX's, cost me £110 for a pair this time, fitted at home, no endless waiting in a grubby waiting room thumbing through six year out of date evo mags or tyre fitters weekly.
Winters
Summers
Car mats scrubbed and hanging on the trellis to dry
Quite happy with the old hector
I did say it was mundane, but sometimes mundane is good.
It has been a while.
Had a bit of a diagnostics session on the car today. All much as expected.
Engine, no fault codes found.
Quick check of the syncro angle for cam to crank timing. The new belt has been on for a month or two now, spot on at 0.0
Central convenience system, as expected and known the driver door lock is knackered. I changed that later on...
Something I've known about for a long time but didn't realise it was measureable. Zoze crazy Germans decided to make the wing mirror heaters come on when the switch was in the middle position. Every other car I've had has had the heated mirrors come with the heated rear window.
Heated mirrors, Off when the mirror switch is on, in this instance to the left hand mirror
Mirror heating on when the switch is off. Bonkers
More knackered lock action!
Climate control. I know all about the V71, it is knackered and I can live with it. I might have to attend to the V68 at some point though.
No idea what this one means. This on the instrument cluster. I've cleared the code and it has gone away!
Rear parking sensors, even had a look at them, quite a lot of data from them considering it is ealry 00's technology.
Parking sensors again.
Now how boring was that !
Had a bit of a diagnostics session on the car today. All much as expected.
Engine, no fault codes found.
Quick check of the syncro angle for cam to crank timing. The new belt has been on for a month or two now, spot on at 0.0
Central convenience system, as expected and known the driver door lock is knackered. I changed that later on...
Something I've known about for a long time but didn't realise it was measureable. Zoze crazy Germans decided to make the wing mirror heaters come on when the switch was in the middle position. Every other car I've had has had the heated mirrors come with the heated rear window.
Heated mirrors, Off when the mirror switch is on, in this instance to the left hand mirror
Mirror heating on when the switch is off. Bonkers
More knackered lock action!
Climate control. I know all about the V71, it is knackered and I can live with it. I might have to attend to the V68 at some point though.
No idea what this one means. This on the instrument cluster. I've cleared the code and it has gone away!
Rear parking sensors, even had a look at them, quite a lot of data from them considering it is ealry 00's technology.
Parking sensors again.
Now how boring was that !
That dodgy door lock.
I changed it out for a £20 e-bay special today and it works perfectly. How on earth they can make them for that let alone ship them here is a mystery.
The inner door panels unlike other cars which use a flimsy sheet of polythene are sheet steel on these which adds to the panzer tank ambiance. May other car makers do the same these days, I don't know.
The panel seals do get bit leaky with age but only very minor signs of it here. Good news
It seems a lot of people tape the glass up whilst doing the work, I found it easier to simply take it out
Very minor signs of water leakage, and photobucket again randomising the order of pictures!
Inner door panel off, the sealant had gone brittle and crusty
Stupid stupid clips that hold the door lock to the inner panel
Grommit, I couldn't find Wallace
Where's Wally ?
New vs old lock and white splash shield. I had to transfer the locking rods and cables from the old to the new
And drill out a pot rivet. It is one tool I don't own and that is a pot rivet gun. Alas I used a cable tie on reassembly much to my peril, more about that in a mo...
Oh dear, it was a good idea at the time
I changed it out for a £20 e-bay special today and it works perfectly. How on earth they can make them for that let alone ship them here is a mystery.
The inner door panels unlike other cars which use a flimsy sheet of polythene are sheet steel on these which adds to the panzer tank ambiance. May other car makers do the same these days, I don't know.
The panel seals do get bit leaky with age but only very minor signs of it here. Good news
It seems a lot of people tape the glass up whilst doing the work, I found it easier to simply take it out
Very minor signs of water leakage, and photobucket again randomising the order of pictures!
Inner door panel off, the sealant had gone brittle and crusty
Stupid stupid clips that hold the door lock to the inner panel
Grommit, I couldn't find Wallace
Where's Wally ?
New vs old lock and white splash shield. I had to transfer the locking rods and cables from the old to the new
And drill out a pot rivet. It is one tool I don't own and that is a pot rivet gun. Alas I used a cable tie on reassembly much to my peril, more about that in a mo...
Oh dear, it was a good idea at the time
Attention then switched to the inner door panel, cleaned it up.... a bit.
Cleaned up the actual door, half done
Done
Bead of butyl sealant all ready
Cleaned the glass
And then it all went horribly horribly wrong. Remember that cable tie I used instead of a pot rivet... It caused all sorts of alignment issues and I had a total and utter nightmare getting everything back together. I won't go into all the gory details but there was lots of swearing, a few f**k it moments, coming indoors after saying b****cks to it and even some "what have I done to my car" thoughts. Suffice to say, after a few cups of tea indoors watchinng telly for a while I went back out to survey the grim scene. That lovely neat bead of sealant went blimmin everywhere, even got some up my nose and in my ear.
And I overcame the issue, got it all back together and the new lock works a treat. Getting there was not my finest work but I'm happy with the end result which is a car that once again locks with the remote.
Cleaned up the actual door, half done
Done
Bead of butyl sealant all ready
Cleaned the glass
And then it all went horribly horribly wrong. Remember that cable tie I used instead of a pot rivet... It caused all sorts of alignment issues and I had a total and utter nightmare getting everything back together. I won't go into all the gory details but there was lots of swearing, a few f**k it moments, coming indoors after saying b****cks to it and even some "what have I done to my car" thoughts. Suffice to say, after a few cups of tea indoors watchinng telly for a while I went back out to survey the grim scene. That lovely neat bead of sealant went blimmin everywhere, even got some up my nose and in my ear.
And I overcame the issue, got it all back together and the new lock works a treat. Getting there was not my finest work but I'm happy with the end result which is a car that once again locks with the remote.
That will teach me not to do sod all for the whole bank holiday weekend and then suddenly at about 5pm on the bank holiday Monday to actually get off my arse and do something productive.
I had all weekend of the long weekend and did nothing then tried to cram it in at the last minute, what a pleb.
I had all weekend of the long weekend and did nothing then tried to cram it in at the last minute, what a pleb.
colin_p said:
Something I've known about for a long time but didn't realise it was measureable. Zoze crazy Germans decided to make the wing mirror heaters come on when the switch was in the middle position. Every other car I've had has had the heated mirrors come with the heated rear window.
It's both, isn't it? I'm pretty sure on my Octavia, the heated mirrors operate when the switch is in the middle position, and the heated rear window is on.amusingduck said:
It's both, isn't it? I'm pretty sure on my Octavia, the heated mirrors operate when the switch is in the middle position, and the heated rear window is on.
I didn't think of that, i'll check it. I'm fairly sure the mirrors are independant of the rear window.Problem is this time of year the only way to check could be by doing a bit of window licking and mirror.
So....
This pesky coolant leak.
If taking the whole dshboard apart ranks as 10/10 for difficulty then this is a 9/10, blimmin nightmare.
Access is tight to say the least and it is one of those jobs where there is no particular plan, you just have to keep going until you can get on it and then remove it. For me that meant a lot of dismantling, far more than I was expecting. The main issue that hindered progress were those sprung hose clamps many of which were blind to my dumb tools, i.e. pliers and slip joint pliers. If anyone is thinking about doing this then one of those fancy remote tools for doing this would be a big timesaver. I ended up having to carefully hacksaw through one of them.
Here is a bief summary of the work.
1, Upper engine cover off
2, Air filter assembly off
3, intercooler ducts off
4, Fuel filter off
5, Fuel filter bracket off
6, EGR off
Then...
7, Outer coolant flange off, x2 10mm nut-bolt type things, cable bracket also via an outer nut.
8, Remove outer hose off oil cooler
9, Carefully cut the siamese joint on the oil cooler to coolant flange so as you can get that hose off. Alternatively if you have one those tools you could back off the srping for this hose on the flange, I couldn't get near the clip so elected to take the flange off with that hose attached.
10, I has massive grief taking off the large 90 deg elbow so took the whole metal top hose pipe off which allowed me to wiggle it off the coolant flange.
11, Coolant flange itself, x1 nut-bolt thing, this also carries the turbo oil feed pipe bracket via a dummy outer nut and then x1 10mm bolt.
Some pictures...
Hacksawing through blind clip, I simply didn't have a tool to get this off and I have a lot of tools... except the one for this job!
A right pain to do
Main metal top hose pipe with the 90deg elbow still attached, that elbow would NOT come off of this pipe, if I'd gone any further I'd risk destroying it in the process.
A slightly better view. You can see the flange main spiggot now the hose is off and you can also see the outer flange, outer nut with a cable bracket on it and the inner nut-bolt
Flange off laying on its back, I then went on to cut the siamese section and taking the hose end off the oil cooler
This pesky coolant leak.
If taking the whole dshboard apart ranks as 10/10 for difficulty then this is a 9/10, blimmin nightmare.
Access is tight to say the least and it is one of those jobs where there is no particular plan, you just have to keep going until you can get on it and then remove it. For me that meant a lot of dismantling, far more than I was expecting. The main issue that hindered progress were those sprung hose clamps many of which were blind to my dumb tools, i.e. pliers and slip joint pliers. If anyone is thinking about doing this then one of those fancy remote tools for doing this would be a big timesaver. I ended up having to carefully hacksaw through one of them.
Here is a bief summary of the work.
1, Upper engine cover off
2, Air filter assembly off
3, intercooler ducts off
4, Fuel filter off
5, Fuel filter bracket off
6, EGR off
Then...
7, Outer coolant flange off, x2 10mm nut-bolt type things, cable bracket also via an outer nut.
8, Remove outer hose off oil cooler
9, Carefully cut the siamese joint on the oil cooler to coolant flange so as you can get that hose off. Alternatively if you have one those tools you could back off the srping for this hose on the flange, I couldn't get near the clip so elected to take the flange off with that hose attached.
10, I has massive grief taking off the large 90 deg elbow so took the whole metal top hose pipe off which allowed me to wiggle it off the coolant flange.
11, Coolant flange itself, x1 nut-bolt thing, this also carries the turbo oil feed pipe bracket via a dummy outer nut and then x1 10mm bolt.
Some pictures...
Hacksawing through blind clip, I simply didn't have a tool to get this off and I have a lot of tools... except the one for this job!
A right pain to do
Main metal top hose pipe with the 90deg elbow still attached, that elbow would NOT come off of this pipe, if I'd gone any further I'd risk destroying it in the process.
A slightly better view. You can see the flange main spiggot now the hose is off and you can also see the outer flange, outer nut with a cable bracket on it and the inner nut-bolt
Flange off laying on its back, I then went on to cut the siamese section and taking the hose end off the oil cooler
Flange on the bench, ooo-err Mrs.
New 'o' ring in, but I'm not convinced.
This is how much the new 'o' ring has protruding
But having taken this pic and seeing this I'm quite happy to fit it all up tomorrow once I've had a clean up. It looked like the 'o' was different but upon reflection I think it is just heavilt deformed.
Not a nice job to do.
New 'o' ring in, but I'm not convinced.
This is how much the new 'o' ring has protruding
But having taken this pic and seeing this I'm quite happy to fit it all up tomorrow once I've had a clean up. It looked like the 'o' was different but upon reflection I think it is just heavilt deformed.
Not a nice job to do.
Edited by colin_p on Thursday 5th May 22:42
bulldong said:
twoblacklines said:
I had the most fun ever in my passat 1.9 tdi.
The whole time I drove it I was saving for something better and couldn't wait to get out of it. Then when I bought that something better (A3 2.0t FSI) I didn't have half the fun. I had to watch where I parked it (or so I thought) etc.
Though driving a passat around a city at night is a ballache because people think you are a taxi and taxi companies think you are nicking trade!
Fun times though!
I have done basically exactly what you did. I swapped mine for a Mk7 GTI. I can't take it kayaking, I can't leave it in a car park without worrying (stupidly). The passat just took everything and I just didn't care. Still, onwards and upwards.The whole time I drove it I was saving for something better and couldn't wait to get out of it. Then when I bought that something better (A3 2.0t FSI) I didn't have half the fun. I had to watch where I parked it (or so I thought) etc.
Though driving a passat around a city at night is a ballache because people think you are a taxi and taxi companies think you are nicking trade!
Fun times though!
Just a bit of final closure on the coolant flange seal job. This is more for any poor souls who have to do this job at some point in the future.
This is where I mentioned that the coolant pipes were siamesed together, there is a rubber lump that joins the two hoses together. The options are to cut and separate the two hoses or struggle on undong another three very inaccessable hose clamps.
Not neccessary but I gave the steel main coolant top pipe a few coats of sating black paint, in a few areas the paint had rubbed off.
This is the outer flange that I bought, about £8. I didn't bother fitting it at risk of undoing the quick connector to the heater hose but pinched the new 'o' ring and used that on re-assembly. I didn't want to risk the quick connector failing as this would have been costly, the heater matrix pipe with the quick connector on it costs about £40
Main coolant flange bolts, the normal looking one is on the drivers side of the flange, the nut-bolt one pass side. You fix these and on the pass side one the turbo oil feed bracket goes onto it and is then fixed by another nut.
Wriggling the main flange back into position, note, you really cannot see much at all but the camera can go places where your head doesn't fit.
Drivers side main flange bolt, 3/8's 2.5" bar & 10mm socket shown here.
Pass side nut-bolt thing with same 2.5" bar & 10mm socket. This one is done by touch and feel only, you cannot see anything.
I changed to a 10mm deep 3/8's socket here because I couldn't get the ratchet on with the 2.5" bar. You can just about make it out.
Outer flange, access is better for this but you need a 10mm ring with a very small head so it doesn't hit the flange body
Same as the main flange pass side bolt which hold the turbo oil feed pipe, the outer flange pass side nut-bolt holds the injector loom.
Injector loom on the nut-bolt
The chaffed fuel hose fom the filter to the tandem pump. I took a punt and bought some 8mm hose which actually turned out to be 3/16's when you opened it. A 1m length is just about enough, I din't measure it but the hose is approx 900mm long, it takes a long and winding route between the filter and the pump!
I had some spare coolant hose, so I cut a short length off and split it down the middle
And once the new fuel hose was on I over sleeved it with that bit of coolant hose.
I strongly urge everyone who has a B5.5 PD TDI to check this hose in this location for chaffing. If it failed it would have been very messy!
This is where I mentioned that the coolant pipes were siamesed together, there is a rubber lump that joins the two hoses together. The options are to cut and separate the two hoses or struggle on undong another three very inaccessable hose clamps.
Not neccessary but I gave the steel main coolant top pipe a few coats of sating black paint, in a few areas the paint had rubbed off.
This is the outer flange that I bought, about £8. I didn't bother fitting it at risk of undoing the quick connector to the heater hose but pinched the new 'o' ring and used that on re-assembly. I didn't want to risk the quick connector failing as this would have been costly, the heater matrix pipe with the quick connector on it costs about £40
Main coolant flange bolts, the normal looking one is on the drivers side of the flange, the nut-bolt one pass side. You fix these and on the pass side one the turbo oil feed bracket goes onto it and is then fixed by another nut.
Wriggling the main flange back into position, note, you really cannot see much at all but the camera can go places where your head doesn't fit.
Drivers side main flange bolt, 3/8's 2.5" bar & 10mm socket shown here.
Pass side nut-bolt thing with same 2.5" bar & 10mm socket. This one is done by touch and feel only, you cannot see anything.
I changed to a 10mm deep 3/8's socket here because I couldn't get the ratchet on with the 2.5" bar. You can just about make it out.
Outer flange, access is better for this but you need a 10mm ring with a very small head so it doesn't hit the flange body
Same as the main flange pass side bolt which hold the turbo oil feed pipe, the outer flange pass side nut-bolt holds the injector loom.
Injector loom on the nut-bolt
The chaffed fuel hose fom the filter to the tandem pump. I took a punt and bought some 8mm hose which actually turned out to be 3/16's when you opened it. A 1m length is just about enough, I din't measure it but the hose is approx 900mm long, it takes a long and winding route between the filter and the pump!
I had some spare coolant hose, so I cut a short length off and split it down the middle
And once the new fuel hose was on I over sleeved it with that bit of coolant hose.
I strongly urge everyone who has a B5.5 PD TDI to check this hose in this location for chaffing. If it failed it would have been very messy!
Edited by colin_p on Saturday 7th May 14:41
The cat (a'hm) is fitted.
Sat indoors it was fast approachin 9pm, I couldn't bear it so got the spanners out.
Although this is a very common thing to do, there seems to be very little in the way of information as to exactly how to go about it, so....
1, Engine upper and lower covers off, all of them. If you need me to explain that, STOP, and get the car in the garage.
2, Jack up the front as high as possible and secure it properly, axle stands etc.
3, Remove airbox, to do this there is one screw securing a bracket that hold all the vac lines, undo it and undo the 10mm bolt on the wing. Take the top off first after undoing the clips then the bottom section whilst holding the vac lines to one side.
4, Start under the car. If the clamp will not undo or yield you will waste time putting the turbo flange nuts back on. Undo the cross brace and remove, 2x 17mm bolts. Undo the clamp nuts, both of them. Pry open the clamps. If this goes well, stay under and...
5, Undo the 12mm turbo flange nut that is nearest the engine block, you cannot reach this from above and even from below movement on the spanner is limited.
6, Topside, undo the other two turbo flange nuts, again I had to do these with a 12mm ring spanner. I've got loads and loads of tools and despte that, a 12mm ring was all that would work.
7, Pull the cat flange off and away from the turbo and give the whole thing a twist, you are trying to break the stiction on the clamp below and you'll get much more leverage from above.
8, Below, I used a trolley jack handle and a lump hammer... bash the clamp backwards, stop, wiggle and twist, bash, stop, wiggle, twist until the clamp has backed off enough to release the exhaust section. You may need to use moderate violence.
9, Back above, corkscrew the old section out. Oh it won't, back below wiggle it, oh it won't come out, tiwst, wiggle twist, top side, under the car, back up top, down below. It will come out though and from the top out through the engine bay. IT REALLY WILL.
10, Back below, get your lump hammer and from behind bash the clamp off the exhaust. Reason being; so you can lube the threads and open it up a little so as to make re-assembly easier. You could of course do it bandit style and leave it on.
11, Assemble the cat and downpipe off the car, don't worry as it goes back in much much easier than the old one did coming out. I did offer up just the cat section with the thought of doing the intermediate flange nuts and bolts up insitu. I quickly forgot about that as access would be terrible.
12, Fit the new cat and downpipe section, center the clamp and tighten it all up.
13, Fit all the other gubbins back.
Pictures are always useful....
I made sure it all fitted
Airbox on
Airbox off
Remove that cross brace
Plusgas on the clamp, the nuts were 'kin tight.
Not the best shot but a view from underneath looking at my arm and the 12mm ring spanner on the inner turbo flange bolt. I could find another way to get on that nut.
Same again looking up this time with my arm not in the way
With arm !
Partly wiggled out
Old and new
The clmap off the car. I spent a bit of time cleaning the threads up and copper greasing them and I also opened up the clamp a little bit to make the re-fit easier. Time well spend I think, it would have been a right old struggle under the car without having done this.
I marked the new section to show the half depth position
Old (left) and new turbo flange gasket
Clamp slid up the pipe to ease fitting
Old and new
All done, only the covers to fit
All done just the gubbins to re-fit
Sat indoors it was fast approachin 9pm, I couldn't bear it so got the spanners out.
Although this is a very common thing to do, there seems to be very little in the way of information as to exactly how to go about it, so....
1, Engine upper and lower covers off, all of them. If you need me to explain that, STOP, and get the car in the garage.
2, Jack up the front as high as possible and secure it properly, axle stands etc.
3, Remove airbox, to do this there is one screw securing a bracket that hold all the vac lines, undo it and undo the 10mm bolt on the wing. Take the top off first after undoing the clips then the bottom section whilst holding the vac lines to one side.
4, Start under the car. If the clamp will not undo or yield you will waste time putting the turbo flange nuts back on. Undo the cross brace and remove, 2x 17mm bolts. Undo the clamp nuts, both of them. Pry open the clamps. If this goes well, stay under and...
5, Undo the 12mm turbo flange nut that is nearest the engine block, you cannot reach this from above and even from below movement on the spanner is limited.
6, Topside, undo the other two turbo flange nuts, again I had to do these with a 12mm ring spanner. I've got loads and loads of tools and despte that, a 12mm ring was all that would work.
7, Pull the cat flange off and away from the turbo and give the whole thing a twist, you are trying to break the stiction on the clamp below and you'll get much more leverage from above.
8, Below, I used a trolley jack handle and a lump hammer... bash the clamp backwards, stop, wiggle and twist, bash, stop, wiggle, twist until the clamp has backed off enough to release the exhaust section. You may need to use moderate violence.
9, Back above, corkscrew the old section out. Oh it won't, back below wiggle it, oh it won't come out, tiwst, wiggle twist, top side, under the car, back up top, down below. It will come out though and from the top out through the engine bay. IT REALLY WILL.
10, Back below, get your lump hammer and from behind bash the clamp off the exhaust. Reason being; so you can lube the threads and open it up a little so as to make re-assembly easier. You could of course do it bandit style and leave it on.
11, Assemble the cat and downpipe off the car, don't worry as it goes back in much much easier than the old one did coming out. I did offer up just the cat section with the thought of doing the intermediate flange nuts and bolts up insitu. I quickly forgot about that as access would be terrible.
12, Fit the new cat and downpipe section, center the clamp and tighten it all up.
13, Fit all the other gubbins back.
Pictures are always useful....
I made sure it all fitted
Airbox on
Airbox off
Remove that cross brace
Plusgas on the clamp, the nuts were 'kin tight.
Not the best shot but a view from underneath looking at my arm and the 12mm ring spanner on the inner turbo flange bolt. I could find another way to get on that nut.
Same again looking up this time with my arm not in the way
With arm !
Partly wiggled out
Old and new
The clmap off the car. I spent a bit of time cleaning the threads up and copper greasing them and I also opened up the clamp a little bit to make the re-fit easier. Time well spend I think, it would have been a right old struggle under the car without having done this.
I marked the new section to show the half depth position
Old (left) and new turbo flange gasket
Clamp slid up the pipe to ease fitting
Old and new
All done, only the covers to fit
All done just the gubbins to re-fit
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