Well, my son and I dove into his 2005 T4R and refurbing his cooling system. With over 108k and no hose / belt change, we decided to jump into the system. In addition to the belt and hoses, we decided to do the water pump, radiator, idler pulley, tensioner, and thermostat.
I didn't think it would be too bad, and it isn't except that it just takes a lot more time than I thought. Below is a summary of items we've done over the last two days and still have more to go.
Day 1
- Drain coolant and remove the fan shroud and clutch (these two are best removed together.
- Remove radiator hoses, disconnect trans cooler hoses and plug.
- Remove the radiator.
- Remove the thermostat along with the multiport aluminum housing that it bolts to. Be forewarned that there are multiple small hoses connected to this.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Fail.
- Disconnect the alternator and try to just move it out of the way. Fail. Completely remove the alternator.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Fail.
- Remove the idler pulleys because you are tired of failing.
- Disconnect the AC compressor and move it out of the way.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Pull two of the five bolts. Stop for the day.
Day 2
- Remove the last three bolts from the tensioner.
- Succeed in removing the tensioner.
- Put in new tensioner. Curse for the next 2 hours because you are laying with the fender punching you in the gut while you put in the five bolts.
- Remove the water pump.
- Install the water pump with new fancy gasket.
- Replace all the small hoses that connected to the multi-port aluminum thing you took off the first day. There is one that is connected to the head or top of block that is extremely hard to get off. Also you have to pull off the first half of the air intake...from intake hose to the throttle body.
- Replace the two o-rings.
- Install the multi-port aluminum thing.
- Stop for the day.
Still more to get done. We did decide to leave the heater hoses on for now. We'll come back and get those at a different time, because we need to get it back on the road. I only took pics at the start of day 2 but I haven't loaded them yet.
Just be prepared for some dedicated garage time if you jump into this.
I didn't think it would be too bad, and it isn't except that it just takes a lot more time than I thought. Below is a summary of items we've done over the last two days and still have more to go.
Day 1
- Drain coolant and remove the fan shroud and clutch (these two are best removed together.
- Remove radiator hoses, disconnect trans cooler hoses and plug.
- Remove the radiator.
- Remove the thermostat along with the multiport aluminum housing that it bolts to. Be forewarned that there are multiple small hoses connected to this.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Fail.
- Disconnect the alternator and try to just move it out of the way. Fail. Completely remove the alternator.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Fail.
- Remove the idler pulleys because you are tired of failing.
- Disconnect the AC compressor and move it out of the way.
- Try and remove the tensioner. Pull two of the five bolts. Stop for the day.
Day 2
- Remove the last three bolts from the tensioner.
- Succeed in removing the tensioner.
- Put in new tensioner. Curse for the next 2 hours because you are laying with the fender punching you in the gut while you put in the five bolts.
- Remove the water pump.
- Install the water pump with new fancy gasket.
- Replace all the small hoses that connected to the multi-port aluminum thing you took off the first day. There is one that is connected to the head or top of block that is extremely hard to get off. Also you have to pull off the first half of the air intake...from intake hose to the throttle body.
- Replace the two o-rings.
- Install the multi-port aluminum thing.
- Stop for the day.
Still more to get done. We did decide to leave the heater hoses on for now. We'll come back and get those at a different time, because we need to get it back on the road. I only took pics at the start of day 2 but I haven't loaded them yet.
Just be prepared for some dedicated garage time if you jump into this.
