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May 30, 2002, Day 4: More of Same
Well that pesky push rod tube cover. I have discovered that VW loves 13 mm nuts and bolts. But -- surprise! -- While the bolt on the rear of the cover where it attaches to the head is a 13mm, the one on the front is a 14. Wonder if this is standard or was "customized" by the PO (previous owner). The attachment to the exhaust at the rear is in pretty bad shape, so I sprayed on some PB Catalyzer to loosen it up a bit. That worked, so I took the remaining nuts off of the studs through the brackets on either end of the cover. (I note that EKTA shows bolts where I'm finding studs in some cases.) The cover came off very easily when I removed the front end first. Must remember to do this in reverse order when I reinstall. Now to drain the coolant... but first, a photo of the underside of the head. Looks like I'm throwing a little oil there on cylinder #1.
I looked at the coolant plug... then looked again. It had a 6 mm hex hole in the middle. So it was off to the tool store to buy a set of hex wrenches for my 3/8 ratchet wrench. I put the wrench in and pulled... and pulled... and pulled. Then, SNAP! I thought sure I'd broken something. But the plug freed up and came right out. This was my first encounter with a stubborn fastener since I began work. Doubtless, there'll be more. I had a 5 gallon bucket under the head to catch the coolant. The first batch got my arm (glad the engine was cool), then I was able to get the bucket positioned without spilling too much on the pavement. After about a quart, the flow stopped. I unscrewed the cap on the expansion tank, and it started up again. I got about a gallon and a half of coolant. Not nearly enough. Tomorrow, I'll open the breather valve on the radiator and see how much more comes out. I really don't want to have to open the drain hole on the other head, but I may have to before all is said and done.
Next step: Remove the power steering pump. I wrestled with that puppy for about an hour with no success. Finally, I removed the alternator (I'm an old hand at this) which exposed the three bolts fastening the power steering pump bracket to the engine. They came out with no difficulty, and I had a power steering pump flopping around loose in the back of the engine bay.
Tomorrow... My wife has some chores for me, so I'll take a hiatus until Saturday. I think everything I've done so far in the past 4 days could have been done in about an hour if I knew what I was doing!
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