IT IS DONE!!!!
Kind of a pain. I usually wind up to a job like this w/ little jobs before because I get back into maintenance mode. This time it was a budget issue, once the budjet (which I blew past w/ the support fluids and some little parts) was available, I purchased the parts. Starting this job on Saturday I had not done any major auto-work in a few months at least so it was hard to get back into the swing of things.
Taking everything apart was not bad. I had purchased the fan clutch removal tool off of eBay but I had also purchased the PCM of NC, Inc.
fan clutch tool. I initially used the fan clutch tool to try and remove with no luck. I was using manual pulling and push w/ arms and I bent the wrench and holder tool. The tools were really easy to bend, both the holder w/ the pins and the wrench itself. I did not even put much pressure on it. I am kind of disappointed w/ the tool.
After fixing the tool, I tried again w/ the same set, while someone else held the holder tool I taped on the wrench w/ a hammer. The person could not hold the holder tool solid enough and the pins were bending so on to the other solution.
I then attached my eBay tool and the breaker bar and zip tied it to the AC bracket above the alternator. About 10 taps of a hammer and the nut was loose.
After that everything went as planned. It was kind of difficult to get the fan shroud out around the upper radiator hose spout (but when putting it back in, it was very easily put in? I must have been pulling it out at a bad angle). The only other difference I would like to note is that the new water pump came w/ a metal gasket instead of a paper it looks like w/ the old one. After calling a garage owner I was told that no RTV/sealent was to be put on the new metal gasket and the mount surface on the engine had to be entirely clean of old material and any oil/coolant residue. If there was any pitting (which their was not) on the aluminum surface, I could 'fill' the holes and scrape off any excess.
I made sure that the internal passage was free of anything also, that is I soaked up anything that was inside the engine so no coolant would come out when working w/ the mount surface. I spent about 45 mins w/ a toothbrush cut into a chisel, a plastic scraper, heavy duty paper towls, and brake clean getting the surface perfectly clean and free of old gasket. I was also told to put a very small amount of GM Grey sealant on the bolts also, which I did and torqued the bolts down in a crisscross pattern.
I now replaced the fan clutch on the fan that was out of the car already.
After I got the pump in I decided to start on the PCM of NC, Inc. transmission cooler. Overall I am impressed w/ the parts used in the cooler. I did opt for the rubber push lock lines to save some cash. I was initially hesitant to put any faith in the rubber push lock system but after messing up and having to remove a line from a push lock fitting (hint, it is impossible, I had to very carefully cut down the side of the fitting until I cut the thread and use vice grips to remove the excess rubber) I know they will work. The adapters and kit are all as advertised. The quick connect fittings are very nice, and everything torqued and went together very well.
The only disappointment I have w/ the cooler are the instructions. I have never installed a cooler before and seeing that the kit was 'designed' for my vehicle I was looking for specifics in the instructions. They mention about rerouting the hood latch cable, and that I should have looked at the final assembly picture for where it goes, but I could not see it in the picture at all.
They also do not offer
any information about routing the new rubber cooling lines. I really needed this, it took me a few hours of messing around thinking about where the lines should go. At first I had them routed around the side of the radiator to the front of the condenser but it would bend one of the lines a bit too much when it had to curve around to go down and then up to the cooler on the front of the condenser.
I wanted to run it under the radiator and I ended up taking the front bumper cover off, and looking under the power steering cooler. Under the power steering cooler there is a black plastic baffle that directs air into the power steering cooler. It extends all the way back to the bottom of the condenser. I wanted to run the lines under the radiator and between the condenser and the power steering cooler. If I cut the back edge off of the plastic baffle it would allow me to do that. I initially tried to take the baffle off, but it is clipped into the inside of the bumper.
I just pulled on the baffle until I could get to the middle of it and cut a line w/ a dremel (careful not to touch the power steering cooler, etc) tool across the front of the car and then towards the back of the car until I had cut a small rectangle out and now could route the lines as previously mentioned.
I now had a massive excess of line length (as I had it already installed w/ the lines routed around the drivers side of the radiator) but instead of trimming it was very easy to push the lines inside of the hollow metal bumper. I figured that it would be best to be able to pull the cooler out and have some slack if I needed to do something w/ it later. Also no hard bends of the rubber lines right now and nothing that would resemble a kink.
Ohh yeh. My assistant accidentally stepped on the fan shroud, so the night before (my only break from this, this weekend) I used industrial epoxy and JB Weld to heal the cracks. I was hoping that it would not be a problem getting the shroud and fan back in around the top of the radiator and it was not. It slipped right in and I was surprised. I do not even remember having to move it around to get it past the top of the radiator spout.
I used the PCM of NC, Inc. and a torque wrench to torque the fan clutch bolt to 41 ft lbs. I did my initial torque, and then went to do it one more time and the metal wrench bent again. I did not really care too much about the torque here as the direction the fan spins would tighten the bolt. The metal the PCM of NC, Inc. wrench is made out of just bends for some reason. I just wanted to try the tool and next time I think I will look for a big torque extender solid steel open wrench type, or I will just use a normal wrench.
I also ended up having to replace the coolant reservoir. I was taking it out to clean it all the way (see my previous posts for when I broke my old internal radiator transmission cooler, filled up the cooling system w/ tranny fluid, and then later on caught the car on fire) and it was dry rotted. It looks like someone spilt some type of acid on it at some point because the rot was not uniform and more of a spill pattern.
I was surprised that O'reilly auto parts carries the reservoir (alas not the fan shroud) and the new one was a welcome replacement.
During all of this I managed to brake a fog light light bulb ($$$ get two new so they look the same $$$), the slide clip that holds the passenger side of the bumper on (thanks industrial super glue), the black front grill/headlight support in two places (more super glue), the fan shroud (not entirely my fault, it should have been somewhere better though, and thanks industrial epoxy and JB weld), one transmission quick connect clip (they have these at the auto parts store), and a few metal clips on the back of the grill.
When i first took the vehicle for a drive I thought it may be leaking tranny fluid as there was some on the frame below the radiator, but instead I figured it was from the excess that pooled in the frame support under the radiator. I took it to the car wash and cleaned under the radiator and no more drips.
Everything is running great. Thanks for all the help.
