Month: September 2017

Today was a combination of working on plumbing for the 2.7t and preparing the 1.8t for removal.

I started with the fraying diverter valve hose. The passenger side hose was brand new… why didn’t the shop that replaced that also replace the aging part from the driver’s side?

I also started removing the hoses for driver’s side turbo in prep for putting the turbos back on. When I removed the turbos it was incredibly difficult to get into the hoses with the turbos in place. I’m currently planning to remove the turbos and their feeder lines from the engine to install the oil and coolant lines.

Finally I did a compression test on 1.8T engine in prep for removing then selling it. I took pictures and videos in the hope it would speed the sale of the engine if folks new it was in good health, well maintained and low mileage.

Time invested, 2 hours on hoses, 30 minutes on compression test… and 2 hours on getting compression tool back out of the engine (previous spark plug change hadn’t been done with anti-seize, I need look back at my records and never go back to that shop).

When I did the timing belt I didn’t loosen the camshaft sprockets. It wasn’t that I didn’t have the tools, I did. I had even loosened them to replace their seals. Well, turns out that if you tighten them down too early then the belt tension doesn’t get distributed around the loop.

So, after hand testing the belt to be sure the alignment was correct it was off by a few degrees. I hoped it was close enough. I asked around the internet, hoping it was close enough. It clearly wasn’t close enough. I went back through the instructions, pulled the sprockets loose and immediately the belt load evened out. Turns out following instructions saves you a bunch of time.

I also spent time evaluating the various vacuum, air injection and fuel hoses. A number of them require replacing, but I’m not entirely sure what to order to deal with some of the frayed and cracked hoses. I may have to use my phone a friend.

Time invested, 2 hours.