Ooops just immobilised my D3

[mannyo]

Had another look this evening,

Yes you can get to the bottom of the nuts, the bad news is that no matter how hard I grip them they just keep spinning.

I've now put the hoses back on, only problem is that all the wiggling to get the return pipe off must have enlarged the crack as all it now leaks more than before and not much I can do to reduce the flow as the split is right up as far as you can push the pipe.

I've worked out that if I tie wrap the pipe one of the brake pipes I can reduce the size of the gap thats now formed and reduce the flow. Hopefully enough that I can drive to a local german car specialist and let them finish the job. Not sure I would trust driving it further.

I might have a go at the soldering iron, but then I've still got to the the nuts out later.

[47p2]

As a temporary measure can you not insert a smaller diameter piece of tubing into the expansion bottle and exit tube and use epoxy glue to hold it in place?

[mannyo]

I've got epoxy glue, I'm wondering if I can affix something to the outside. The hole is tiny, I just need to avoid getting to much dropping through the hole.

I'll take another look tomorrow, but I need to spend 3 hours strimming and cutting the lawn as its been a few weeks now since it was last done.

[47p2]

Don't think that would hold, you need something on the inside of the tube to prevent it from breaking. How about something like this? You might be able to drill a hole and screw this in, it would require some sort of sealant round the threads





If it were me I would just drill the bolts out knock out the rivet nuts and replace them with some nice shiny stainless steel nuts & bolts

[mannyo]

Moving on to today, I've now removed the old tank.

I've basically cut the old one out, I used a junior hackswaw to cut across the top and managed to cut through the lower mount.

I've tried to position the new tank whilst leaving the old bolts in and its obvious that does not work as the brake lines get in the way, so the old bolts and remains of the old tank need to come out.

With the tank out access to all three bolts is now dead easy and access to all three captive nuts is now possible from the engine bay, but still cannot get them to undo so they'll need to be forcibly removed. Then as a temp measure it will be a held in place with tie wraps.

Thats it for this weekend, neither me or my neighbour have a drill or dremel so I'll need to get my parents one down here next weekend.

I managed to save most of the coolant from the tank, so at least I wont need to buy a large amount.

[ainarssems]

General idea is that once coolant has been drained it should not be re-used. I have used it again myself on many occasions but I run it through paper coffee filter before putting it back in.

[mannyo]

I know what you mean, but the coolant shows no sign of contamination at all and is still lovely and clear.

Tomorrow I'll drop by work, and grab the soldering iron and melt the remaining plastic so I can remove the remains of the old tank. This will give me access to the threaded parts on the bolt to cut the heads off.

I'll also pop to the local homebase and buy a dremel alternative, its less than £20 but it only needs to cut through three bolts.

Before i even start I'll place some tape over the end of the large coolant hose. The last thing I want is for a flying bolt head to drop into that pipe.

I'll still need to remove the remainder of the bolts at some point but at least the tank will sit in the correct location but unless I can lose the captive nuts it will be kind of loose.

[mannyo]

Well its done and new tank is in.

Melted the plastic and then used a Dremel to cut the heads off the bolts.

Working with a Dremel in close proximity to the brake pipes was worrying but got all the heads off. However could not remove the remains.

Never mind, put the new tank in and added the coolant I saved. Coolant level is on minimum now after running the engine and checking for leaks, so I need to get some topup coolant. and we're good to go.

The tank seems ok despite only being held in place by a rubber bung, its resting on its mounts, so I added some tape to stop it moving around as its not possible to tie wrap.

[mannyo]

1.5L of G13 coolant now ordered, the replacement for G12 and G12+. Apparently you can mix ok with G12, so I wonder what colour the coolant will go..