Does intake mani have to come off for Thermostat replacement? MORE QUESTIONS!

[JPJ2007]

Multiple questions, I'll continue adding them to this thread so please return!

Hey guys, I've got a lot going on but I need to figure this out and searching isn't coming up with anything. I haven't bought the bentley because I heard it sucks. Is it worth the $80?


QUESTIONS WILL BE NUMBERED.


Here's the car, I understand why the dealership charges 2 grand for a water pump and thermostat replacement. I'm still calling it worth diy for the 1,900 savings. Still good amount of work.




1.
So there are a bolt or two on the back of the thermostat that seem really close to the intake mani. Does it need to be removed? If I have to do that I'm doing a carbon cleaning but I hadn't
planned on doing that yet with a road trip coming up on the 10th.

I hadn't removed the water pump in this photo.


Water pump removed, still no room for those bolts on the back of the thermostat. Their back and to the left, not even visible.


2.
The belt tensioner pulley AND the Idler pully is worn down a little, and has a tiny bit of play in it. I took a video and can upload if it I need to. Do I need to replace it?



Idler pulley




NOT A QUESTION, JUST A TIP!

If you have to remove the water pump pulley, (obviously for replacement) Don't purchase the Water pulley tool. Just take a wrench and when you loosen the bolt the pulley will rotate and catch the wrench and stop rotating so you can loosen the bolt.




3.
I'm not sure what this is, but it's SUPER dirty. Expected with my mileage but should I replace this... I'm obviously going to clean it but something here is leaking.




4. Not sure what would cause this, but the belt began to wear into the cross over pipe that I'm actually replacing anyway. But, Something somewhere Is causing this so It needs to be addressed so
it doesnt wear through the new belt and cross over pipe.





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Notes
Removed the water pump to replace it since I was in here and figured it was an oem plastic. Turns out it's and oem metal one. Oh well... I know It hasn't been replaced since I bought it at 90k - 212k miles so Im sure it's
worth the $50 cost.... ( Gates WP is what I bought )
Same with the thermostat, it's not faulty but figured I would replace it for $30 ( Also Gates brand ) since I was doing this work anyhow.

I broke the nipple off the upper radiator hose. All the damn plastic is brittle on this car... sure it has 212k miles but ugh it's one thing after another.

[JPJ2007]

Judging by this video it does... And if that's the case It looks like I'll be doin a carbon cleaning as well. Just ads up and up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nTNk36cHE4

[95blkmax]

Looks like you got your hands full in a fun project! I know it looks like a pain being one thing after another, BUT you're already in there! Might as well take care of everything so you dont have to go back in there in the near future- You'll be pissed at yourself for not taking care of it when you were "already in there". You got this!
BTW- I have a 3.2 and have never worked on the V10, so Im going off of experience and your pictures....

#1- By the looks of it, yes. It doesn't even look like there's enough clearance to get say a swivel socket in there
#2- Idler pulley is a gonner. Tensioner doesn't APPEAR bad by the pic (just dirty as heck). But again... you're already in there, it's got 212k on it... replace it now for peace of mind
#3- I'm not sure what that is either. Surely coolant related (captain Obvious here lol). All the dirt is definitely from something leaking. Sweating a film of oil over long period of time to be exact. That's how that crud builds up. I would HIGHLY suspect the valve cover gaskets. I just replaced mine with 99k on the clock and they were dry-rotted stiff as plastic. So oil was sweating out creating the same dirty situation you have there (plus an obvious decrease in oil level over time... at a rate of 1/2qt every 2k miles). I replaced the gaskets, I cleaned the heck out of the front, sides, and underside of the engine with brake parts cleaner. I took a peek a week ago and it's still like brand new under there and zero oil consumption so far with 1200-ish miles
#4- it's possible that with the idler pulley worn out and the tensioner not working as effectively at this point in it's life, it allowed for movement of the belt and at some points (likely under load) it would rub against that pipe wearing it down over time. That extra-hot back part of the belt with shards of really hot melted plastic is likely what caused that groove in the back side of your idler pulley over time. See how the wear pattern on the pulley matches that of the belt's discoloration?

Keep taking pictures of your project along the way! I'd love to see the "after" picture with the engine cleaned up :-)

[Nizmo]

Would help to know what engine, I suspect 4.2, because if this was a V-10 you are nowhere near the thermostat.

With that said, I used to cut up a torx socket to shorten the torx stub re-insert into the socket housing, if needed can weld a torx to a wrench get at those stupid bolts.

[JPJ2007]

My sig says 3.2L.... (Edit: Sorry it had a sold next to it, I bought it back)

Thanks guys. I ordered a tensioner pulley but not the whole tensioner because ecs had them on back order as a whole. Ugh. I guess I could go ahead and order the whole thing.... :/

Looks like Ill be doing the carbon cleaning then. At least some... I do have an oil leak, I'm very interested to find out from where. It's so hard to tell. Maybe I'll just order valve cover gaskets as well.
I don't want to replace the spark plugs since they are working. Id hate to brake one off or something just because I was worried about the miles on them.

I was going to order a media blaster kit ($20 on amazon) and walnut chips since that seems to be popular method for carbon cleaning but I think I'm just going to use a wire brush and maybe a wire brush on a dremel to try and clean it.

[skylinrcr01]

My sig says 3.2L.... (Edit: Sorry it had a sold next to it, I bought it back)

Thanks guys. I ordered a tensioner pulley but not the whole tensioner because ecs had them on back order as a whole. Ugh. I guess I could go ahead and order the whole thing.... :/

Looks like Ill be doing the carbon cleaning then. At least some... I do have an oil leak, I'm very interested to find out from where. It's so hard to tell. Maybe I'll just order valve cover gaskets as well.
I don't want to replace the spark plugs since they are working. Id hate to brake one off or something just because I was worried about the miles on them.

I was going to order a media blaster kit ($20 on amazon) and walnut chips since that seems to be popular method for carbon cleaning but I think I'm just going to use a wire brush and maybe a wire brush on a dremel to try and clean it.

Try FCP euro or rock auto, they may have the tenionser. As for the carbon cleaning, I used dental picks and brake cleaner. It really does help the engine immensely.

[JPJ2007]

Alright thanks, Ended up finding it on Amazon Prime for the same price so it'll be here in 2 days. ( Absolutely love prime)

All the parts I've been buying are " Gates " brand. Hopefully they're alright. I am not going oem with 212k miles.

Edit: Wow, I had never heard of FCP euro before. Looking at their website, I would have probably bought some of my stuff from there. Prices are good and free shipping. Thank you for the head up!

[2010A6]

Alright thanks, Ended up finding it on Amazon Prime for the same price so it'll be here in 2 days. ( Absolutely love prime)

All the parts I've been buying are " Gates " brand. Hopefully they're alright. I am not going oem with 212k miles.

Edit: Wow, I had never heard of FCP euro before. Looking at their website, I would have probably bought some of my stuff from there. Prices are good and free shipping. Thank you for the head up!

+1 for FCP
Also genuineaudiparts.com is good as well. I go with whoever has the parts cheaper


Sent from my iPhone 6s+ using Tapatalk

[JPJ2007]

Yeah pretty much what I was doing between RockAuto, ECS and Amazon/Ebay.

Bought a Gates Tenesioner/Pulley on amazon so thatll be here. I had ordered just the pulley but figured wth might as well.

Guess I'll start the carbon cleaning soon as well. Just can't rotate the motor until I get the belt and stuff back on. (In that video he uses the two pulleys and belt and not the actual crankshaft, Interesting)
I'm also not removing the Plugs at start up. So, we'll see. Not sure yet.

[FCPEuro]

Good Luck with the project. In a pinch you can use the manuals at workshop-manuals.com to get service info. Thermostat info is located here:

http://workshop-manuals.com/audi/a4_...iew/page_4619/

The dirty item is the brake vacuum pump, yours may need a new gasket. Your belt is cutting into the pipe because one of your pulleys has a bearing that has seen better days. Seems like you've got the water pump and idler pulley covered. Hope that helps

--Kyle

[JPJ2007]

Thanks! I'm leaking oil from that area so I gotta figure that out. I assume it's just a bad seal somewhere on that brake vacuum pump. Or I guess valve covers could be but it doesn't seem like that.

I got the intake off and wow, I have some build up. But I'll make another thread for the carbon cleaning.

Also I have an oil leak on the back of the block at the top that covers the bell housing. I can't pinpoint exactly where because it's obviously been leaking for awhile. I hear the oil filter housing can leak and cause this.
Maybe do it since the intake is off? Any ideas where this leak may be coming from?





From the front


The back

[JPJ2007]

The dirty item is the brake vacuum pump, yours may need a new gasket. Your belt is cutting into the pipe because one of your pulleys has a bearing that has seen better days. Seems like you've got the water pump and idler pulley covered. Hope that helps

--Kyle

Well I ordered the gasket and I guess I was needing the cover o ring.... Obviously not what I needed. I'll try and order the o ring. It's flat and def. needing replaced.

[JPJ2007]

So... Got a question. I called my local Audi today and the parts guy said that Audi sells the gasket for the brake vacuum pump which I bought, but not an O ring for the metal cover as im showing in the photo.

So, It's leaking out of that outer cover. Is there not suppose to be oil in there? Thus, Replacing the gasket behind that inside piece would fix my problem or do I still need an o-ring.

My guess is now that I've seen it all, this outer metal cover leaks when the inside gasket is leaking.

But.... I have no damn clue.. I can't buy the oring from a local store because it's not a perfect circle! Top left has indention to it...

[JPJ2007]

got it all back together.

only issue is the hood release cable popped out so
now my hood won't open. I'll figure that out after I get some sleep