Yo Tacoma! I’ve dug myself a deep hole and need help getting out.

[VW-Fritzi]

Doing a long list of repairs on my X5 4.8L V8 N62TU and I’m stuck on a number of issues that I can’t get past. Anyone in the Tacoma area that would be willing to lend a hand?

Here’s what I’m in the middle of:

Replacing valve stem seal: I’ve got the right side valve cover loose, but the spark plug tubes will NOT budge. I can’t get my hand inside to try to loosen them.

Valley pan transfer pipe: I’ve got the old pipe out and Trygstad my to install the URO collapsible pipe, but I can get the new rubber gasket to fully seat at the timing cover side. There’s still a small lip sticking out on the edge which prevents the new pipe from sliding in.

A/C belt: got the old one off, but can’t stretch the new one on. There’s a tension pulley in between the A/C pulley and the camshaft pulley, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to take the tension off.

[Baby Unicorn Taco]

Originally Posted by VW-Fritzi

Doing a long list of repairs on my X5 4.8L V8 N62TU and I’m stuck on a number of issues that I can’t get past. Anyone in the Tacoma area that would be willing to lend a hand?

Here’s what I’m in the middle of:

Replacing valve stem seal: I’ve got the right side valve cover loose, but the spark plug tubes will NOT budge. I can’t get my hand inside to try to loosen them.

Valley pan transfer pipe: I’ve got the old pipe out and Trygstad my to install the URO collapsible pipe, but I can get the new rubber gasket to fully seat at the timing cover side. There’s still a small lip sticking out on the edge which prevents the new pipe from sliding in.

A/C belt: got the old one off, but can’t stretch the new one on. There’s a tension pulley in between the A/C pulley and the camshaft pulley, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to take the tension off.

The mechanical AC tensioner has two torx bolts. One is upside down. I’m guessing you loosened the front one to get the pulley to slope forward but didn’t touch the upside down one? Most people Dremel a slit in the upside down bolt and then use a screwdriver to loosen.

As for the URO pipe, make sure the indented ring where the rubber gasket sits is well cleaned. Don’t leave any of the old gasket in there. It was tricky for me and I had to play with it but eventually it sat correctly after I guided it with my fingers. It’s easier if your water pump is off so you can get at it from both sides of the timing cover.

For the valve covers and spark plug tubes, make sure you have moved as much out of the way as possible so you don’t break the fragile eccentric shaft sensor connector ears. Easy to do. The rubber on the spark plug tubes get hard and I have had to knock them loose a little with something that won’t damage the valve cover. I remember using a rubber mallet and a wood dowel I think. I even It is recommended to replace those spark plug tubes anyway otherwise you are asking for oil to drip down onto the spark plugs.

Make sure you fish out all the little broken black pieces of the bolt grommets from the valve covers as well. They like to fall down and stick to the internal parts of the engine.


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[VW-Fritzi]

For the A/C belt tensioner, I can reach the slotted bolt to loosen or remove it, but I can’t figure out how to reach the fixed bolt, which I’m guessing needs to be removed so the tensioner can slide down and allow the belt to be positioned.

The fixed bolt is facing straight down. There is so much other stuff in the way though, so I can’t reach it even with a very long extension and a universal joint from below. Even if I could, I’d never be able to get my hand in there to get the bolt back in place when I was done.

And if I’m ever able to loosen the tensioner up, what’s the procedure for getting the belt on and getting the tensioner back in place?

[lordshin808]

Originally Posted by VW-Fritzi

For the A/C belt tensioner, I can reach the slotted bolt to loosen or remove it, but I can’t figure out how to reach the fixed bolt, which I’m guessing needs to be removed so the tensioner can slide down and allow the belt to be positioned.

The fixed bolt is facing straight down. There is so much other stuff in the way though, so I can’t reach it even with a very long extension and a universal joint from below. Even if I could, I’d never be able to get my hand in there to get the bolt back in place when I was done.

And if I’m ever able to loosen the tensioner up, what’s the procedure for getting the belt on and getting the tensioner back in place?

Watch this at the 2:10 mark to loosen the torx for the A/C belt. Yes it's tough, but you can remove it with U-joint and extensions.

[lordshin808]

For the transfer pipe seal, use a blunt plastic tool and spin/press the seal into the groove. You probably need to clean out more of the old pieces of broken seal from the groove. I used gasoline on a thin rag and fingered the groove alot to dissolve and clean out the groove.

Also use alot of white grease around the seal and around the end of the pipe. This will help to lubricate and slide the pipe pass the seal.

I actually just finished the coolant pipe project last week with the AGA pipe. Everything went pretty smooth.

[Baby Unicorn Taco]

Originally Posted by VW-Fritzi

For the A/C belt tensioner, I can reach the slotted bolt to loosen or remove it, but I can’t figure out how to reach the fixed bolt, which I’m guessing needs to be removed so the tensioner can slide down and allow the belt to be positioned.

The fixed bolt is facing straight down. There is so much other stuff in the way though, so I can’t reach it even with a very long extension and a universal joint from below. Even if I could, I’d never be able to get my hand in there to get the bolt back in place when I was done.

And if I’m ever able to loosen the tensioner up, what’s the procedure for getting the belt on and getting the tensioner back in place?

Most people use a Dremel with a disk to cut a slit in the bottom of that bolt. Then you can use a flathead on that bolt.


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[VW-Fritzi]

The Dremel trick worked on the tensioner, and I wrestled the O-ring in to place for the transfer pipe.

Now I’m faced with my next hurdle. I moved on to the valve stem seal project using the AGA tool kit. I started with the #1 cylinder. I got it to what I rotated the engine to what I thought was TDC, but when I hooked up the leak down tester and pressurized it, I could hear leakage from the valves somewhere. So I let the pressure off, but now when I try to rotate the engine anymore, it gets stuck at one point. And when I try rotating it back the other way, it gets stuck about 180 degrees later.

Searching around, it looks like this might indicate bent valves! However, the engine was running perfectly before I started this project, so it seems unlikely it could be bent valves.

What else could it be?

[Baby Unicorn Taco]

Originally Posted by VW-Fritzi

The Dremel trick worked on the tensioner, and I wrestled the O-ring in to place for the transfer pipe.

Now I’m faced with my next hurdle. I moved on to the valve stem seal project using the AGA tool kit. I started with the #1 cylinder. I got it to what I rotated the engine to what I thought was TDC, but when I hooked up the leak down tester and pressurized it, I could hear leakage from the valves somewhere. So I let the pressure off, but now when I try to rotate the engine anymore, it gets stuck at one point. And when I try rotating it back the other way, it gets stuck about 180 degrees later.

Searching around, it looks like this might indicate bent valves! However, the engine was running perfectly before I started this project, so it seems unlikely it could be bent valves.

What else could it be?

Are you using the little flags to identify TDC? Or are you using air? I think most prefer the rope method over air.


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[arb]

VW-Fritzi, did you figure this out yet? Did you have bent valves?