Valley Pan Repair Nightmare! Finally over!

[Ogopogo]

So, I've been wrenching away for the last 3 1/2 days on my '02 4.4. I put together a comprehensive parts list of goodies, and armed with the fantastic DIY courtesy of Twin Turbo GTR, I delved in.

All was going pretty well, apart from the usual PITA issues (fuel injector clips, etc), but I plugged along. I did the valley pan, valve cover gaskets, and spark plugs. This morning, I was down to the short strokes, re-connecting electrical, putting on the various covers, mixing up coolant, and gettting ready to bleed the cooling system. I start adding coolant, and hear it dripping quite rapidly on the floor, originating from the back of the engine. WTF!!

With the help of a neighbour, and a mechanics mirror, we were able to see the leak comming from the metal collection manifold at the back of the engine. Turns out the gasket (passengers side) had slipped a little durring installation, and had missed a couple of bolt holes. OK, a pain to get to, but fixable. I backed off the three bolts to the drivers side of the manifold, and removed the three on the other side to recover the gasket. It took a little trial and error, to figure out the correct orientation of the gasket, to say nothing of the hassle of being splayed out over the top of the engine for long periods of time (and you thought the whole "Planking" phase was dead). Working in extremely tight quarters, I was happy to be getting the issue resolved. Then, all of a sudden, one of the bolts got real easy to turn. I pulled the ratchet away, and heard something clink to the floor. The bolt I was tightening, sheared off!

Wow, I really didn't need that! There is about 1/4" of thread remaing on the bolt head, and at this point I really don't know what to do. Will 2/3 of the bolts on one side be enough to do the trick, or am I in for something much more involved? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Aye, ok. Which side did it shear off from? Passenger or drivers side? A 1/4" is not a lot but may be enough to get a bolt out in there and extract that sucker out.

Since it is sheared off, there isn't enough even pressure sealing the gasket and will fail.

I believe in the manual, I included a picture of the bolt out set. Its carbide fluted teeth should be able to grab onto that shank that is sticking out.

[Ogopogo]

The shear happened on the passenger side, on the hidden/recessed bolt.

So, where to begin? Obviously the collection manifold has to come out in order to try to extract the remainder of the broken bolt. Is it possible to just take that out, or is it back to square one, removing everything including the intake manifold?

I'm really not looking forward to this. There is such little room to manouver on the backside of the engine, and I'm dreading the thought of there being no shank exposed. I'll keep you posted.

[TwinTurboGTR]

Ok, atleast the right side has a little more room than the left side because the 3 heater core hoses are in the way. Unfortunately, you will need to remove the intake because you will want as much access as possible. So there are 6 bolts total, if you remove all of the and can slide the manifold out from the remainder of the bolt, it will give you another 1/4" to play with. If the threads aren't stripped, you should be able to back it out by hand, if not, you will need to use the bolt out to get that stud out.

I should make an amendment to the procedure though. You DO NOT need to remove the injector clips. So basically do this.

Leave the 3 bolts securing the fuel rail alone. Once you get to the black electrical boxes, grab it on both sides and in a quick shot, pull up and the box will come apart from the injectors. Once the boxes are off, then unbolt the fuel rail and proceed.

When replacing, bolt the fuel rail back on, align the ports of the box to the injectors. Once everything is lined up, in one quick shot, push in and they will all snap in. I've done it this way about 7 times all no problems.

[Ogopogo]

That's helpfull to know about the injector clips. They were a huge time drain first time around. You mentioned 3 bolts securing the fuel rail, I seem to remember 5

If I pull the intake, am I Ok to use the same gaskets?

[Ogopogo]

Things are not progressing terribly well. With the help of a mechanic neigbour, we were able to remove the broken stud (about 1/4" exposed) and somehow, miraculously, attach the rear coolant manifold without pulling the intake.

We detached the pipes from the water pump side, and I was able to get my hand in there and guide the pipes in, as he turned and pushed, and then I pushed on the manifold from the rear as he guided them into the front holes.

I was pleased as punch until it was time to fill up the coolant. Again, shortly after adding fresh coolant I hear it pissing out the bell housing, not just dripping, but going like s*%t through a goose! I checked the rear manifold...dry. Huh?? I positioned myself so that I could see the corner of the valley pan, had my Wife add some water, and watched coolant stream (without apparent resistance) directly into the corner of the valley, and out the weep hole.

I am at my wits end! I have no idea how this can be happening! The only two possible things that I can think of is: 1) the O-rings on the crossover pipe was pinched, but the rate of leakage dosen't seem appropriate. 2) the valley pan wasn't torqued down. I am double certain that I tightened things down to spec. maybe a little more (9-11lbs), and I used a new BMW pan with gasket. So what gives? Am I missing something? I truly need some help urgently. Thank you for any usefull input.

[Ogopogo]

Back on the wrenches today. Decided to pull the intake to get a good look at what is going on in the Valley pan area, and hopefully get to the bottom of this.

Trouble is, I have three nuts on the intake that will not come off! They will turn, but not make there way up the threads (stripped?). The bolts are not turning, just the nuts. I am stuck until I can get past this point. Suggestions??

On the plus side, it was remarkable how much faster the tear down was the second time around. Not having to deal with the fuel injector clips (and just pulling free the black boxes) was a HUGE time saver!

[TwinTurboGTR]

Yeah, that's why I said to pull the intake. Those pipes are very thin and the edges are very sharp. If you do not guide the pipes in properly, you will pinch the o rings or the pipe won't seat properly. As for the intake, look carefully to see if the nut is spinning or is the stud and nut spinning as one?

[diyanich]

When a bolt or a nut isn't getting past some point while undoing it,I usually pry it a little bit with something and keep slowly undoing.
Always worked for me
Those pipes and o-ring are bitches,o-rings need to be lubricated before reassembly.

Originally Posted by Ogopogo

Back on the wrenches today. Decided to pull the intake to get a good look at what is going on in the Valley pan area, and hopefully get to the bottom of this.

Trouble is, I have three nuts on the intake that will not come off! They will turn, but not make there way up the threads (stripped?). The bolts are not turning, just the nuts. I am stuck until I can get past this point. Suggestions??

On the plus side, it was remarkable how much faster the tear down was the second time around. Not having to deal with the fuel injector clips (and just pulling free the black boxes) was a HUGE time saver!

[Ogopogo]

Looks like just the nut turning. I put a little sharpie dot on the side of the studs, and they seem to be staying stationary. Oddly, everything came out OK initially, but upon my intitial re-installation of the intake three of the nuts didn't want to fully torque down. I don't believe I got to the point of over tightening them either.

Speaking of torque, what is the correct spec for the valley pan? Another site said 22Nm (~28Lbs.) Which sounds like way too much.

I really want to get this job put to bed, Murphy's law really seems to be having its way with me on this gig!