Airbag

Started my Timing belt change on my A6 .. pretty uneventfull .. till ....

My car has 350,000km on it , had the first and only timing belt at 100,000km so figured it was due .. pretty uneventfull following the instructions until i got to the bumper shocks ... Got 2 of the t-45 bolts out out of 7 or so ,, the first 2 were incredibly tight .. the third one my t-45 exploded in the socket handle .. WOW aeret hos tight .. time to see if there is a t-45 impact bit and get some serious frirepower on it ..
BTTW do I really neeed that special tool to put on the bumper shock mounting ? i was just gonna res everything on my bluebox

Just Me

i think you know the answer. Sorry about your problems. Hope it goes better from here on in.

Get things aligned and keep 'em there!!!!!!!!!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Yep. Quit screwing around and get an impact T45. Use an impact wrench to remove the bolts. It's much easier to maintain alignment of the tool for the few seconds it takes to remove the bolt than to hold it and loosen them with a hand wrench. BTW...found one of mine messed up for whatever reason and once I got it out I just got a new one from the dealer. They're generally stocked.

Airbag

Oh Sorry i think i may have been unclear on my previous post. I plan on getting the impact t45 today. I sprayed it with nut buster last night so don't anticipate any issues.
The special tool i was refering to is the one your supposed to mount where the brackets go I think it is to rest the rad on but not sure as I don't have a pic. is this one really needed ?

Thanks

frankinstyn

I've done this job 3 times now without the radiator rest.

The last time was the easiest though. I didn't leave the core support attached. I removed the radiator and then only had to swivel the transmission cooler lines (I believe thats what they are...the single line that doubles back on itself in front of the radiator).

I set everything else to the side. much better access and didn't take any longer.

Be careful with the oil lines on the radiator. They can be a pain to re-install.

Airbag

That's great advice thanks I will definitely look at that .. getting the whole rad out of the way looks like a great option if I can do it .. I am in no real rush to get it done as it is a spare car for me.
My instructions say to thorughly flush the coolant sytem. but i have put the front of may car on jack stands . is flushing really necesary or should i just drain and fill. ?

I think I may have a prestone kit with the fittings for flushing but just not sure if this is waht they mean

SloopJohnB@mac.com

I've just used a long metric bolt. You can't pull the carrier very far forward anyway without disconnecting the hood latch release cable. If you can find a couple bolts 4-5 inches long they'll work. Service position is obtained by moving the carrier forward enough to put one of the two bolts on either side on the top in the outermost fender hole to stop the carrier from going forward any more...or back for that matter.

It probably takes another 1/2 and hour to remove the entire radiator carrier because you have to finagle the condenser out of the way and clip a bunch of cable ties (and put them back!).

I wouldn't bother to flush the system if the coolant is clear...just drain and refill. BTW...don't forget to put ALL the clamps back on the hoses. On a 4.2 you might also want to use a small worm drive clamp on the upper radiator hose to the plastic pipe that goes to the expansion tank. My spring hose clamp didn't...

Airbag

Thanks John mine is a 2.8 .....

Update ... got all the bolts out , got the tensioner and acc belt off .. funny the instructions I used forgot to mention there is a locking hole in the tensioner . After you put the 17mm socket and take the tension off the tensioner you can slide a pin ( i use an allen key) into the hole that locks it in place and keeps the tension off ....

Anyway got all that off. I also loosened the 3 P.S. pulley allen key bolts while the belt was still on and it saved me some headaches.

Pulley is locked on solid on the pump , may need to get some heat on that and I don't have a big enough wrench for the viscous fan .. time to call it a night ... so far so good ....

BTW 250,000km on this belt ... it looks perfectly fine on initial inspection.

Airbag

update ... my first casualty .. the PS pulley .. it is aluminum and bent while I was trying to remove it with the puller . Guess i didn't use enough heat .. next time I will wire wheel the hub area first .. could have saved me a pulley .. am going to try and put it on backwards and pull it back .. nothing to lose it's a long shot.
Without a doubt the biggest frustration so far was having the right tools .. i have a good selection but if anyone is reading this the one thing I highly recomend is a long 6mm allen bit . not a shorty with an extension .. wont work. the block drainage bolt is WAY up there and you can't get enough torque with an allen key . I even have the husky set with the handle .. no go ... i eventualy put the key in and put a wrench on that to leverage it but it was a lot of buggering around .. the right tool would have been a snap.. it was god awefull tight.

All the pulley bolts came out relatively easy ... i got in their last night with my wire wheel on my drill and got all the rust out where the pulley site on the sahaft .. soaked it down with pb blaster and called it a night . this morning it was well soaked in and blasted it again .. I am off to go get the bar and crank locking tool so i will let it soak ..

BTW ended up removing the passenger side rad hose at the blosk ( what a pig ) used needle nose vice grips to get the clamp off then struggled with the hose .. safer than wrecking the ad though . also the electricl connector block lifts off the fender so that gave me tonnes of room . I had to get the puller in so this was a no choice thing. Fair bit of old oil leaks everywhere but nothing apparently from the cam or Crank .. will know better once i get the pulleys and rear shields off though ... continued ..

Airbag

All done and wrapped up .. managed to fix the PS pulley .. put it on backwards, put the puller on and straightened it out damn near perfect ..
The rest was pretty straight forward .. couldn't find the bleed plug on the crossover pipe as it is so damn busy down there .. but got the other two .. "sliding the hose back" for the upper one was a freakin nightmare dure to access and we all know nothing slides anywhere after 10 years of rubber on a hose with a clamp .. eventually got it though ... today I just toped up the coolant but running it for 15 minutes yesterday to bleed the air would tell me the timing is okay ...

I left the front bumper off as it is a good opportunity to polish my lights with the trim out of the way . I thought my new seals went in way to easy .. i just pushed them in with my two thumbs .. so i hope they don't leak.

Follow up projects

I was able to see clearly the chan tensioner was leaking at the gasket and the valve covers show some signs of seepage ... but this will wait for another day . this was a pretty major project and I think i deserve a break for a couple of weeks ..... or until something else breaks .... so 2 weeks would be about right