"JasonStern911" (JasonStern911)
07/06/2020 at 17:44 • Filed to: None
1
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"JasonStern911" (JasonStern911)
07/06/2020 at 17:44 • Filed to: None | 1
| 11 |
As we last left our incompetent, wannabe s hade tree mechanic:
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The Lisle heavy duty pulley remover/installer seemed to work. There was still some belt squeal, so I replaced the serpentine belt, idler pulley, and tensioner. Unfortunately, I have no idea if that resolved the belt squeal as I foolishly tried to replace the passenger exhaust manifold on this 2000 Mustang V6.
The EGR system made the failed attempt a nightmare. You could tell the Fox body chassis and Essex V6 weren’t designed with that system’s EGR system in mind, likely added after the fact to get a few more years out of the engine.
There is virtually zero room. It’s modern BMW bad. Shallow sockets won’t work. Sometimes deep sockets put you right up against the metal EGR pipe or chassis metal. Wrenches don’t have enough angle or too much angle. It’s a brutal guessing game of trying to find a tool that will let you turn each nut an eighth of a turn, each turn requiring an excessive amount of torque due to twenty years of heat cycles. But hours later, I was able to remove all six nuts, the two nuts connecting the exhaust manifold to the exhaust pipe, and the EGR connector.
Pull the exhaust manifold back, and the manifold was completely broken into two pieces on the rear cylinder.
Definitely explains the exhaust leak. Go to pull the old exhaust manifold out of the car, not really seeing how I can route it, and...
Damn it. There are TWO EGR connectors. Now, the driver side, with its abundance of space, only has one. But the super-tight fitting passenger side, for some reason I do not understand, has two. And these connectors require a metric ish ton of torque to get off, being made even more difficult by the fact that you can only use an open end wrench on it by design.
So now I’m stuck. Given what tools I have available, there’s no possible way to get a wrench on the EGR bolt and have enough clearance and/or torque on it to break it free. It’s a 24mm or 26mm connector, which means the wrench is far too large to fit anywhere.
A crescent wrench definitely helps with regards to getting a more compact wrench on there,
b
ut since the connector is
torqued to some
ungodly value (again, because 20 years of heat cycles)
, you need that much leverage.
I’ve PB Blasted it, torched it... it refuses to budge
.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Zero YouTube videos showing what to do. Every car post in the forums just says “lol yeah that’s a bitch” with no details on how they conquered said bitch.
Maybe I could remove the entire EGR system? But that looks like so much work, and I don’t know if I could put it all back together...
Given the difficulty, it’s time to call it. Go to call my trusted mobile mechanic today only to find out that he unexpectedly died last May at 51. :(
So I’m not really sure where to go from here. My options are pretty much:
* Try to find another mobile mechanic
* Pay for a tow, shop prices, fees for bringing in my own parts, etc.
* Hit up Facebook and see if some shade tree mechanic is foolish/
desperate enough to do it on the cheap. It’s just one bolt, right?
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> JasonStern911
07/06/2020 at 19:08 |
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One thing you can try is a variation of this technique on the EGR bolt:
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JasonStern911
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
07/06/2020 at 22:31 |
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I wish! If there isn’t enough room to get a wrench on there, there isn’t enough room to get any air tools.
Still have two tricks up my sleeve to try.
1. A crowfoot wrench and a breaker bar. Problem here is
if
this could work, I might need a second set of hands to hold the wrench in place or provide the muscle I lack.
2. Cutting a wrench to make it small enough to fit. Far less excited about this approach, as I imagine myself not being able to get enough torque on the connector to break it free, leaving me out a perfectly good wrench.
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JasonStern911
> JasonStern911
07/06/2020 at 22:33 |
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So there was one video on the subject:
Notice how much trouble he was having with the two “
easy to get to”
connectors. Can only imagine him getting to the third “impossible to get to” one and just saying eff it. It’s an old V6 Mustang. My money is better spent on something like a down payment for a newer model
than headers. :’D
Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
> JasonStern911
07/06/2020 at 22:55 |
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Offset ratchet+crows foot?
Urambo Tauro
> JasonStern911
07/07/2020 at 00:18 |
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Zero YouTube videos showing what to do. Every car post in the forums just says “lol yeah that’s a bitch” with no details on how they conq uered said bitch.
I know that feeling .
Just checked my manual, and the only note I see on the EGR tube is that it says to remove the AC accumulator/drier first. Now that’s for removing the tube, so I’m not sure if it’s necessary for merely disconnecting it... but maybe the extra room would help.
brianbrannon
> JasonStern911
07/07/2020 at 19:29 |
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Sawzall the pipe at the connector and buy a new pipe
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JasonStern911
> Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
07/07/2020 at 20:55 |
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That looks either perfect or,
more likely,
completely incapable of generating enough torque. Either way, after seeing that,
I was expecting some insane price for one - but they seem reasonable.
Definitely going on my wishlist!
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JasonStern911
> brianbrannon
07/07/2020 at 21:00 |
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Not going to lie - definitely have had repeated ethical debates with myself about going full-on EGR delete to benefit my sanity versus affecting the air quality of others. Cutting it and then trying to replace the pipe and then, worst case, going EGR delete is certainly an option if things have to get that bad. But I really hope I just magically become mechanically inclined somehow.
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JasonStern911
> Urambo Tauro
07/07/2020 at 21:05 |
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Oooh. Removing t
he AC accumulator would free up some much needed room. Question is - the car is in an inoperable state. Wouldn’t tampering with that vent out all of the refrigerant and cause even more issues?
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Urambo Tauro
> JasonStern911
07/07/2020 at 21:41 |
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T o avoid venting the refrigerant into the atmosphere, y ou’d evacuate the refrigerant out into a container first, then refill the system after reassembly. Because of the equipment needed to do this , m ost DIYers (myself included) opt to have a shop perform those steps... which I understand is pretty troublesome right now considering the car’s current state of disassembly. A mobile mechanic might be your best option here...
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Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street.
> JasonStern911
07/07/2020 at 21:56 |
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They are one of those "for $15 worth it for those rare times it comes in handy" tools. Not the one you grab every time.