Winter Jobs

Just started some small winter jobs so thought id share some pictures and info. Replacing: Engine Mounts Water Pump Thermostat Pulleys x 2 + Tensioner Pulley Coolant Flush Triptronic Gear Box Filter/Oil Rear Bumper Re-Spray Removed the origanal water pump, the bearing and seal was on its way out.

Good man, take lots of pic's and post up your progress :thumb:

Few more bits removed over the weekend, engine mounts in place ready to bolt down once the water pump and low temp thermostat are fitted. Managed to get 10 litres of old coolant out, will disconnect the front return hose and blow out the remainder with my home made tool, guessing should be another 8+L :?:

I have spent a few more days working on the old girl!... I managed to get the remaining coolant out of the system using my home made tool by disconnecting the two feed & return hoses by the transmission hanger. In total I managed to get out a full 18lts. New parts arrived and needing a bit more elbow space I removed the engine lid so that I could access the tank for refilling the coolant (when I get to that bit). In the meantime I fitted the new pulleys and torqued them to the right NM. For info the upper pulley is at 46nm (mine is an 8.8) the lower Pulley was 23nm and the tensioner was at 60nm. Next I fitted the new Peirburg Water Pump and a Low Temp Thermostat, I found that these were really easy to install with the Exhaust system removed (glad I took the time to do this as it made access and removing the old ones so much easier). I decided to take DeMorts advice in another post and purchase a new vacuum tool as the one I had previously bought was just a cheapy and to be honest was sh*t and that was before I even used it.. so for an extra £60 I got something decent and run a quick test before going ay further to check for any air leaks on the parts I had fitted. It held at 20 on the gauge for 5 minutes so I guess it is now good to go for the coolant to be added tomorrow. Have added a few more pictures for anyone interested who may be doing similar jobs over the winter - before and afters of pulley, pump, thermo, pipes etc.

Pictures:

:salut: Keep us updated.

Nice work

Yep, Good work. A sensible maintenance path to go down. Like I always say, these jobs are the things that separate enthusiast owned cars from the other 90% that are for sale. Most people think "Well if my water pump isn't leaking, it's fine", etc. Trouble is if does go it can wreck your engine, so preventative maintenance is crucial in my view. Keep up the good work. :thumb:

Thanks for the comments, the car had been parked up for a few weeks and I noticed a very small collection of coolant on the floor so turned to the forum for advice. After reading some of the old threads on here I guessed it must be the water pump on its way out and as the car was on 91k I decided to change it. After removing the pump, which was the original, I discovered that the bearing had quite a significant amount of movement so I do feel that I caught it just in time ..... and as we all know 1 job always turns into 10 jobs as I then realised that the pulleys felt worn so decided to change the lot while I'm here and now everything on the back end is off and access clear I might as well add the spark plugs to my ever growing list!

Draining 18l of coolant is good but it still leaves about 5l in there. I had the same issue, coolant left in the heater etc? I filled the system up with water and ran until warm to get dilute remaining coolant drained throughout the whole system and I then flushed it out by filling from the rear and draining out of the rad hose at the front until it ran clear. I haven't got a vacuum pump so I finally filled the system and burped it and added extra coolant as required until full. Took a while but I'm confident that all the sludge and muck has now gone.

Why go to such lengths to get it all out? does the last bit drag some sludge with it or something?! I usually just empty, fill with water, run then empty and then fill with coolant mix on a new to me car. Never seen any sludge or muck really. Subsequently I spill as little as poss during the job then just fill it back up as any mechanic would do.

Must of got the majority of the old coolant out, the 18 lt I measured, a fair bit I missed plus it had been leaking so I don't think I've missed too much... I was pleased that there was no sludge to be seen, in fact the system is very clean. The stats say that it takes approximate 22.5ltr, so on with the vacuum pump and I managed to get 20.75 ltrs in so far and no doubt will need a top up once it has settled and the engine run. Definitely worth buying the pump made it a much easier job :grin:

HI Wasz, I fitted a LTT and my car had some sludge which I think may have come from an old fashioned leak sealant. If the coolant is clean, I would probably just rinse the system out too.

I've been working away in the garage over the last week so thought it was about time I updated this post with some progress reports.... I had got as far a the water pump extra being installed then found I had a little drip appearing.. I was half expecting it as the gasket had a few marks on it where it had been packaged but as it was on a flat part I thought it would be ok.. wrong!!.. ordered a new gasket and changed it over without trying to lose too much coolant and was hoping I wouldn't have to pump it out but in the end I did pump out all the coolant and put it in again and this time got in a full 22.5 ltr so somewhere along the line there must have been an air lock in the system so moral of the story do it right in the first place!! Once I was happy with that and with half the back end off I took the opportunity to change the spark plugs and finally get the engine mounts in place and fitted so that I could take the engine off the blocks. What a difference the new mounts have made to the spacing between the bodywork and exhausts.. was worth doing and once its back on the road hopefully I will really notice how much things may have been wobbling about. The next day I ran the car in-situ to get the water running thru the system and the new water pump pulleys and thermostat are all working fine and after bringing it up to temp etc I managed to get a little more coolant in and left the breather open to allow any air out. Next job was the gearbox fluid change and filter as the car is now on 90k. Sprayed penetrating fluid on the night before removing the sump pan and to my amazement the bolts all came off easy (was prepared for one or two to shear off!) The old fluid was black but I couldn't see anything untoward. The magnet and the sump were pretty coated in a thick sticky almost dried on oil but no metal particles so cleaned up the sump and reinstalled with the new filter and gasket, followed the instructions for refiling a triprotic, getting it up to temp and gear selecting etc, I had got 4.5ltrs out and the same back in and all seems to be working fine (once it is back on the road and had a run I will recheck both coolant and oil levels) I have now put the exhaust system back on and changed all the gaskets so the next job while I am under here is to remove the sill covers and check for any corrosion and treat accordingly and then I will be looking at the wheel arches as there is a bit of work to do there. I have added a few more pictures to bore you all with and will update again when I have finished the next round of jobs.

Nice work man good to see another wrencher on here pottering away during the winter months! Can you let us know which vacuum system you went for?