One of the tiny heater hoses at the back of my motor has gone, I removed it along with the flange fitting and went to reinstall when I crossthreaded and snapped the final bolt..aaarrrgggghhh!!! Is there any easy way to get access to the rear of the motor just above the gearbox? I am looking at my options which are; 1.Remove plenum to gain access. 2.Remove motor. Has anyone found an easy way to do this? Help!!
Going Overboard there Don't have to remove plenum or the motor to change heater hoses. Can be done from the top with patience and perserverence. Not an easy job, but then not much on the Zed is, try moving some of the stuff, wiring harness etc out of the way to give you as much access as possible.
Sorry, Re-read Your post again, is it the heater return pipe with the flange horizontal or the heater feed pipe on the back of the head? Either way it looks like a plenum off job to get the broken stud out.
Welcome to the joys of zed ownership...... You'd better start to brush up on your vocabulary for what lies ahead p.s wear some gloves & you'll save some skin
An easy way to get to all the stuff at the rear, tranny bolts, water pipes etc is to lower the whole steering/k frame and engine down on a trolley jack. Put the car on stands under the chassis rails, undo the 4 nuts that hold the frame up, take the bolt out of your steering uni joint and lower the frame down onto chocks/bricks etc. Just watch that you don't stretch the hydraulic lines and electrical wires too much. The tranny mounts can take the stretch easy and it opens up a nice amount of room for hands to work in. This is what i do whenever i need access to engine rear. Takes a little time but makes it sooo easy.
Cheers for the help all Is lowering the engine that easy? That would be the easiest option at the moment.. The flange and pipe is on the passenger side just next to the EGR valve. Keep in mind i need enough room to remove the broken bolt with a drill,extractor etc.
Personally, lowering the engine seems to be an extreme way to do it (and I'm unsure whether the gearbox mount would handle it -You might cause another problem). Which hose is it in the first pic on this page? If it's one of the 8mm smaller hoses then you can bypass the metal pipe section and run straight heater hose from one spigot to another. You *should* be able to do with engine in & plenum on. If it's one of the ones at back of motor, you can access fairly easily from underneath with long nose pliers... At worst, if one of your hoses back there is leaking/split with age then all the others under the plenum aren't far behind (see here). There are also many other hoses that will need replacement. A plenum pull to replace the all the heater/turbo hoses at rear and bypass the under plenum ones would be the preventative way to fix them all in one hit. Plenum pull n'push is a day job...
Keep in mind when i lowered my engine, i only lowered it a few inches, it actually doesn't relate to much movement at all at the g/box mount, and i supported the engine whilst doing it so that the weight was not all just acting on the gearbox. I have had no problems after doing it, but i was very carefull to watch the mounts and hoses.
Yep, i think the engine lowering may be a bit dodgy but thanks anyway. I have already replaced all the small hoses. The issue is really getting the broken bolt out of the flange, i need room to do that. Appears the plenum removal is the easiest way.. ZED4LIFE, The flange and broken bolt is where the letter B is in the third pic in the first link you attached. Sorry to be a pain but do you have a good link to do the plenum push n pull?
I know that bit you mean You can run a new hose right from the LHS rear turbo right up to the top (where the yellow line finishes in that pic) and eliminate the metal pipe/flange. Just rout the hose so it doesn't touch the block. This CAN be done with engine in and plenum on. Just get underneath the car as high as possible (ideally get a hoist) and away you go... I use 8.00MM heater hose from Autobarn. Their version is slightly thinner than others so you can reuse the factory spring clamps which are easier to manipulate on with a long nose plier and some inox to lubricate. here's a full tech article on plenum pull if you decide to do this (which I strongly would recommend)
so i can reroute the metal pipe that comes from the block and into the heater? are we talking about the same pipe? The flange I am talking about is: in pic # 3 from link # 1 go down from the 2nd letter V in EGR VALVE to the flange.. I think the plenum pull must be the way to give me more access over the back of the motor next to the firewall..
Hold on... Are you talking about the thick metal pipe that you connect the large heater hose and then into the firewall? Ifso, then NO- you can't bypass that easily. I thought you were referring to the 8mm turbo water line which follows the yellow line. So you have broken off one of the bolt (where the green arrow is pointing to)? Ifso, you will have to take at least the plenum off I would think
Yep correct, the green arrow in the pic is the bolt I have snapped - plenum off you say, I think you are right, not even sure if I will get enough room by removing the plenum however looking at pics of the engine with the plenum off it looks like you do get a bit more room to get in to the back of the motor. Where is the best place to get the plenum gasket? Nissan or other? Thanks again for all your help :biggrin:
Fixed Finally fixed the Z and she is running better than ever! After taking off the balance tube, fuel rail etc I could access the area better. I Dremelled the remains of the bolt flat to the flange and drilled out the hole(which still had half of the snapped bolt in it) Then I used a nut, bolt and washers to keep the flange together with some sealant and an O ring. A circus midget would have assisted greatly for most of the work After putting it all back together it runs much better and with more grunt, think it might be all the electrical connections and vacuum hoses i cleaned up on the way...
