FYI DYI rocker cover gasket, wires, coolant system
#1
10-03-2007, 10:24 PM
FYI DYI rocker cover gasket, wires, coolant system
I finished today the final fixes to my rescue rover 
Coulda finished Sunday but my gaskets were late. I thought I would post a few things for those of you that might be looking to do some of the above jobs that I didn't see before I started....
BTW, before this job, the biggest thing I had done was change a clutch and valve cover gasket on a '93 BMW 318i. Before that, the largest thing I had done was brake jobs, adjusting a parking brake on my beamer, and a 60k service on the rover (sans wires). So, this is the sort of experience level I'm putting this information out for...
I replaced the intake manifold, changed out the rocker (valve) cover gaskets, changed out the coolant thing underneath the throttle assembly that's always leaking, changed my fan, fan clutch, belt, water pump, t-stat, and a sticking idler pulley (I know, shoulda changed both. I didn't feel like throwing another 100 dollars at it at the moment). During this repair, I alsoinstalled 8 mm magnecors, and the new Bosch Fusion 4 plugs.
Taking off the manifold:
1. The vacuum hose on the front right (as you are sitting in the driver's seat), is supposed to come off by pushing in the red disk, and simultaneously pulling out the vacuum hose. Mine wasn't quite removing, and I broke the red disk. Mostly due to me being fumble fingered. Anyway, nobody that I called has thispart(including a dealer). So now it is rtv'd with some medium-grade stuff. Dealer said that would work fine, as long as I didn't have a vacuum leak. So, uh, if anybody would happen to know where I could find one it would be appreciated, k thanks.
2. I followed the rave instructions to a T. I guess that's why it cranked when I was done, because I don't consider myself a mechanic by any means.
3. The best tool that I bought last week was a telescoping magnet.
4. You have to remove all four bolts on the coils to get the intake manifold off
. Once I took the manifold off I stuffed blue shop paper towels into the inlet holes on the engine so stuff wouldn't fall down inside them.
Valve cover:
1. You have to have an 8mm 1/4' 12 point to get the rocker covers off. Oddly enough, this is difficult to find.... You can only buy it online, as I found out after a trip to an area sears and calling three more.So, this morningI had to find my local snap-ontruck and buy it for 15 bucks.
2. I should have wiped around the covers better before I pulled them off, because some flakes of crud fell on the rockers, and I had to sit there getting it out with a q-tip.
3. I put mine in dry and had no issues. It's how the rave cd said to put them on. The engine surface looked like it had some sealant on it, but I cleaned both mating surfaces and dry-installed the gaskets. No leakage seen once cranked. I also torqued them to the exact specs. I tried to make sure everything was perfect before I torqued them because I didn't want to back the screws up and mess up the seal. 100 bucks at the dealer for new screws and gaskets (highly recommend new screws).
4. From what I can tell, there is no going around removing that heater hose to pull the right cover, and no getting out of pulling the bolts and shifting the AC compressor for the left one.
Wires:
Pretty straightforward, except the magnecors aren't labeled which number is which. I think that has been mentioned here on LRforums. I had to match them with the old wires, and then I marked them with an alcohol marker. I'm going to go back and use a paint-pen later. The set I received fit pretty well, you have to pay attention on how you route them coming out of the coil so you have enough slack on the spark plug end. The set I received had some sort of white crap inside the boot on the spark plug end. I thought something was weird and then my new wires for the Beamer came in and they had it also, so I guess that is standard on spark plug wires (once again, I'm not a mechanic). I sprayed them out with electronics cleaner I picked up from Advance auto and one quick spray dissolved it. A small amount of dielectric grease and they were good to go. Plugs were around 8 bucks a piece.
Water pump: factory water pump gasket was a pain![:@] I have no idea what in the world that stuff is, but I was having to scrape it off in places with a razer blade, and some I sanded with sand paper. I'll let you know in a few years if that was a dumb idea or not, or some of you experienced guys on here can tell me it was dumb. I was loathe to spray any chemicals however because one, I didn't know what chemical would really work for that stuff and two, I didn't want it going in to the engine coolant wells, which are right there next to it. When I turned my old pump, I heard a little metal on metal sounding, so I guess replacing it justfor PMwas a pretty good idea. I also replaced the fan and fan clutch, and the fan clutch looked pretty worse for wear when I took it off. All in all, I think 370 bucks for water pump and fan/clutch kit bought pretty good peace of mind. T-stat was pretty straight forward. Both from Atlantic British. Atlantic British sells the fan and clutch as a kit.
In the middle of that job, out of curiousity I turned my idler pulleys and one would not keep turning, you had to move it by force. So, I replaced it. The new one freely spins and looks in much better shape. 40 bucks at the dealer, cheaper online.
When I put everything back together, I had a print-out of the Rave CD and checked-off that I had done everything, which was good because I had missed a few clamps here and there. I put a new belt on (Dayco poly-cog from Advance). Atlantic British sent me a Dayco, they said it would be OEM. I dunno, both look about the same. I put the Atlantic British one in one ofmy storage boxes as a spare.
That's all I remember right now. I double checked everything, refilled the coolant, hooked up the battery, and miraculously it started! I say miraculously, because I had all sorts of stuff ripped out of that truck, and it makes me nervous. But, I guess by following the steps and not skipping or slacking on any of it I can get the job done. I'll feel alot better about any future job involving those systems. I drove to Louisville and back with no problems (about 60 miles round trip). My truck is now good to go, if only I can getmy beater BMW there!
Coulda finished Sunday but my gaskets were late. I thought I would post a few things for those of you that might be looking to do some of the above jobs that I didn't see before I started....BTW, before this job, the biggest thing I had done was change a clutch and valve cover gasket on a '93 BMW 318i. Before that, the largest thing I had done was brake jobs, adjusting a parking brake on my beamer, and a 60k service on the rover (sans wires). So, this is the sort of experience level I'm putting this information out for...
I replaced the intake manifold, changed out the rocker (valve) cover gaskets, changed out the coolant thing underneath the throttle assembly that's always leaking, changed my fan, fan clutch, belt, water pump, t-stat, and a sticking idler pulley (I know, shoulda changed both. I didn't feel like throwing another 100 dollars at it at the moment). During this repair, I alsoinstalled 8 mm magnecors, and the new Bosch Fusion 4 plugs.
Taking off the manifold:
1. The vacuum hose on the front right (as you are sitting in the driver's seat), is supposed to come off by pushing in the red disk, and simultaneously pulling out the vacuum hose. Mine wasn't quite removing, and I broke the red disk. Mostly due to me being fumble fingered. Anyway, nobody that I called has thispart(including a dealer). So now it is rtv'd with some medium-grade stuff. Dealer said that would work fine, as long as I didn't have a vacuum leak. So, uh, if anybody would happen to know where I could find one it would be appreciated, k thanks.
2. I followed the rave instructions to a T. I guess that's why it cranked when I was done, because I don't consider myself a mechanic by any means.
3. The best tool that I bought last week was a telescoping magnet.
4. You have to remove all four bolts on the coils to get the intake manifold off
. Once I took the manifold off I stuffed blue shop paper towels into the inlet holes on the engine so stuff wouldn't fall down inside them.Valve cover:
1. You have to have an 8mm 1/4' 12 point to get the rocker covers off. Oddly enough, this is difficult to find.... You can only buy it online, as I found out after a trip to an area sears and calling three more.So, this morningI had to find my local snap-ontruck and buy it for 15 bucks.
2. I should have wiped around the covers better before I pulled them off, because some flakes of crud fell on the rockers, and I had to sit there getting it out with a q-tip.
3. I put mine in dry and had no issues. It's how the rave cd said to put them on. The engine surface looked like it had some sealant on it, but I cleaned both mating surfaces and dry-installed the gaskets. No leakage seen once cranked. I also torqued them to the exact specs. I tried to make sure everything was perfect before I torqued them because I didn't want to back the screws up and mess up the seal. 100 bucks at the dealer for new screws and gaskets (highly recommend new screws).
4. From what I can tell, there is no going around removing that heater hose to pull the right cover, and no getting out of pulling the bolts and shifting the AC compressor for the left one.
Wires:
Pretty straightforward, except the magnecors aren't labeled which number is which. I think that has been mentioned here on LRforums. I had to match them with the old wires, and then I marked them with an alcohol marker. I'm going to go back and use a paint-pen later. The set I received fit pretty well, you have to pay attention on how you route them coming out of the coil so you have enough slack on the spark plug end. The set I received had some sort of white crap inside the boot on the spark plug end. I thought something was weird and then my new wires for the Beamer came in and they had it also, so I guess that is standard on spark plug wires (once again, I'm not a mechanic). I sprayed them out with electronics cleaner I picked up from Advance auto and one quick spray dissolved it. A small amount of dielectric grease and they were good to go. Plugs were around 8 bucks a piece.
Water pump: factory water pump gasket was a pain![:@] I have no idea what in the world that stuff is, but I was having to scrape it off in places with a razer blade, and some I sanded with sand paper. I'll let you know in a few years if that was a dumb idea or not, or some of you experienced guys on here can tell me it was dumb. I was loathe to spray any chemicals however because one, I didn't know what chemical would really work for that stuff and two, I didn't want it going in to the engine coolant wells, which are right there next to it. When I turned my old pump, I heard a little metal on metal sounding, so I guess replacing it justfor PMwas a pretty good idea. I also replaced the fan and fan clutch, and the fan clutch looked pretty worse for wear when I took it off. All in all, I think 370 bucks for water pump and fan/clutch kit bought pretty good peace of mind. T-stat was pretty straight forward. Both from Atlantic British. Atlantic British sells the fan and clutch as a kit.
In the middle of that job, out of curiousity I turned my idler pulleys and one would not keep turning, you had to move it by force. So, I replaced it. The new one freely spins and looks in much better shape. 40 bucks at the dealer, cheaper online.
When I put everything back together, I had a print-out of the Rave CD and checked-off that I had done everything, which was good because I had missed a few clamps here and there. I put a new belt on (Dayco poly-cog from Advance). Atlantic British sent me a Dayco, they said it would be OEM. I dunno, both look about the same. I put the Atlantic British one in one ofmy storage boxes as a spare.
That's all I remember right now. I double checked everything, refilled the coolant, hooked up the battery, and miraculously it started! I say miraculously, because I had all sorts of stuff ripped out of that truck, and it makes me nervous. But, I guess by following the steps and not skipping or slacking on any of it I can get the job done. I'll feel alot better about any future job involving those systems. I drove to Louisville and back with no problems (about 60 miles round trip). My truck is now good to go, if only I can getmy beater BMW there!
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