Waterpump - bugger!

[Guy]

Well that's today's job kaiboshed . Was going to do the water pump and thermostat... The two bolts that hold the main coolant pipe to the block (with the thermostat underneath) are totally corroded, no way I'm going to risk removing them without spares. Just spoken to parts at my favoured Nissan garage and no-one's got them and the backorder comes in on the 29th...

As an aside, just changing the coolant looks like a pig of a job. To refill it, you need to disconnect the matrix coolant pipe! If you remove the rubber tube between the air filter housing and throttle body, the pipe is about 16" behind that on the firewall!

On top of it all, I tried to remove the expansion tank (which the service manual says is necessary but I don't think is) and the two bolt heads just twisted off - penetrant spray 'n all ! Going to have to borrow my dad's cordless drill and try and drill them out...

 

[frank]

the joys of car maintenance eh guy, my engine bay bolts never have time/chance to sieze

 

[Guy]

Lol, I guess that's true Frank . It's partly because my engine is back to front - I get the joys of having to take the inlet mani off to change the plugs and all the significant bolts are exposed to rain and road spray . I blame Renault obviously .

 

[Vitus992]

keep us informed guy

 

[Guy]

Okelly dokelly then . Didn't like the expansion bottle being unsecured and I had a new one I bought off eBay years ago so I headed to Toolstation... 2x 6mm cobalt drill bits, 100 M6x20 bolts (proper 8.8 grade), 100 M6 washers, 100 M6 nuts and a 5 punch set (£16!) I started.

This is how it was:

I managed to wedge some lead blocks under the stuck bolts so I could centre punch them. The cobalt drill bits were a revelation - went through the bolts and retaining nuts like a knife through butter:

Fitting the bottle was easy enough but I had to put the car on stands and lie on the ground on my back to refit the last clip as it's under the overhang of the bottle:

Finally finished, I'll find out tomorrow if I've created some horrendous airlock .

 

[Guy]

Car runs like a treat, no airlocks .

 

[frank]

nice one guy you da man

 

[Guy]

No Frank, that's definitely your role on this forum . I'm just a lucky idiot so far. May be feeling more 'da man' if I manage to do the pump and thermostat next weekend and still have a working car left at the end of it .