Cam Adjuster Seal Help!

[TJR178]

Ok guys, I need help. To start off, I have a 2001 2.8 30V and this is my first time opening the engine up.

I started working on replacing my cam adjuster seals today (the half moon and metal/rubber seal). I ran into a stopping point when I couldn't figure out how to move the adjuster out of the way to get to the two seals. Can anyone help me out here? Pictures to help:

Top view of the right-side cylinder bank. The four adjuster bolts are removed but nothing else moves. The adjuster bumps into some kind of cannister by the firewall. I'm trying to get to the adjuster seals here.


The adjuster tool in place, but it doesn't seem to compress things to loosen the chain. I tightened it until it became tough, so I stopped since I didn't want to hurt anything. The chain didn't slack hardly at all. Hints?


Pic of the valve cover. The black hose on the bottom right snapped in two. Any clue to what it is and what it does? I have to get a new one now.


Am I going to have to remove the cams or what? From what I've read on here, I shouldn't, but I just want to be sure. The Bentley manual isn't telling me too much about this fix. I'm hoping the left-side bank is easier.

Your wise and hopefully quick answers are extremely appreciated! Thanks!

[shaggyt]

didi you set the engine to TDC?

[TJR178]

didi you set the engine to TDC?

No I didn't. Only about 10% of the things I'm reading tells me to do so. I've seen where others have not and said there's no big deal to do so. I'm not removing my cams anyway.

[jiffy946]

There is no real way of moving the adjuster out of the way, unless you actually want to pull the cams. The canister you are talking about is probably the combi valve on the back side of the head. Removal of it is not needed, but may make things slightly easier. If the chain does not have slack in it with the adjuster collapsed you can either bump the engine over ever so slightly. Or you can use a pair of vise grips to rotate the intake cam a little, I know its common sense, but do not clamp the vise grips on the lobes of the camshaft. You are not looking to remove the adjuster entirely, just enough to pull the gasket out. Which you will need a set of pics to remove. There are alignment dowel pins that make removal and installation of the gasket kind of a pita. I remove the half moon wedge with a pick as well, be careful as they may tend to tear and pieces may fall. It is a tight squeeze, but the wedge will fit between the cam sprocket and the adjuster. There is no reason to move the engine to TDC unless you are actually going to remove the cams. In which case you will be wasting a lot of time. When using the tool to collapse the adjuster do not over tighten! It will collapse it just enough to get some slack, not a lot tho.

[TJR178]

Ok, dumb question, which one is the intake cam, the inner cam I'm guessing? I'll try rotating that as I would rather not bump the engine.

Also, how do I know if I overtightened the adjuster? Wtf will happen if I did? I'm nervous about doing that.

Any idea what the part is that I broke in the last picture?

Thanks for the help!

[jiffy946]

Yes the intake cams are the inner ones. If you over tighten the collapsing tool you can potentially pull the threads out of the head. Just remove the tool and retighten it. The adjuster will collapse. After it starts to collapse it will start to get harder to turn, at that point you should stop tightening it. The only risk of overtightening it is either breaking your tool or removing the threads(which of course would be a nightmare). No major worries there tho. I wanna say that hose is the secondary air hose, but I cant say for sure.

[Beemer832]

you wont strip the threads in the head with the tool, the adjuster actually has the threaded hole in which you are using to compress the tensioner.

just tighten it enough to get a LITTLE slack out of the tensioner. Youreally need to wrench on it to damage it. Just watch the brownish colored top piece snug down against the base of the tensioner. It can't go any further then that.

I did this on my 30v a long time ago and had no idea what i was doing. Things turned out fine. Its a bitch getting the new gasket and seal in without removing the tensioner, but just be patient and you will get it.

-josh

[chris164935]

Unbolt the cam position sensor from the intake cam and unbolt the cam caps to take the intake cam out. This will take the rest of the tension off the chain and you should be able to move it and the tensioner out of the way after that. Just make sure everything is set to TDC and all timing marks are lined up. Then, after you replace the seal and gasket, realign the intake cam so the timing marks line up and you should be good to go.

EDIT: Also, you can loosen the cam caps on the exhaust cam to loosen the tension some more if need be, but don't completely unbolt them.

[TJR178]

Ok, thanks everyone!

[B5A4Kevin]

update?

also when replacing that plastic pipe (i call them cheeto-pipes since they have the structural rigidity of a cheeto) be very very VERY careful, as you can damage another section of it while replacing the first broken section. a cheap and quick fix is to get large diameter heat-shrink properly sized to the pipe, and heat it up to prevent it from leaking. ive seen people try using electrical tape to band-aid it up and it is a horrible example of fail. once the tape heats up, it doesnt stick to anything, and the pipe still leaks. its ok to drive with the cracked pipe, but it will cause a code.

[TJR178]

Yeah, sorry. I should've updated sooner.

I ended up taking my car to the import hospital. I couldn't get to the tensioner for some reason and I didn't want to screw anything up even more (nice metaphor for the Cheeto pipes btw).

I think that the work should be covered under a non-factory warranty anyway. I was just trying to get out of having to pay a deductible.