Thought I'd share what turned out to be a nail biting experience of replacing one of the gearbox oil return pipes that is considered an engine drop to repair procedure!
Well I'm of the nature I don't like being beaten and certainly don't like to have to pay excessive amounts of money to repkac3 what is ultimately a cheap part ( had it been any other brand, being PORSCHE a steel pipe that should have cost £40 was £130).
Anyway the pipe in question was spotted as looking heavily corroded when 8 was under the car a few weeks ago, so I evaluated what sort of a job it was going to be and worked out in my head how I would take it on?
So last week I had the workshop free to myself and got the bits together I needed including a cut down spanned notched out on the end allowing me to use a pry bar against the very short spanned to allow me to rotate the spanned in nothing more than a few inches of space.
Obviously I won't bore with every detail but I've been in the business of removing making new and refitting all major of hydraulic hoses and pipes in some very tight spaces and at times performing the impossible!
This was no different, very tight on space and very tricky but what I didn't have to do is drop the engine to perform the repair.
The pictures do not really give a true indication of just how difficult the job was! You can only see the bottom of the pipe which connects into the external heat exchanger and that end is amongst other pipe work that is in the way. As for the top end I was working at arms length above my head with no way of seeing what I was doing and working by feel alone.
Things like the parts man at PORSCHE having given me the incorrect size seal for the male male nipple that the top end of the pipe joins onto! Fortunately we had a box of assorted seals at the yard.
In the photo of the removed old pipe you can see the top end has twisted, this is common on old rusted pipes as the swivel nut has corroded and welded itself to the pipe, the process when this starts to happen is 1st being confident both ends are free and destruction of the old pipe by twisting is not going to cause bigger problems. The idea being that you keep turning until it eventually snaps off at which point becomes easier to remove.
Sadly the bottom end didn't seal properly and a small leak was detected so the next day I removed the pipe again cleaning all areas before re-assembly ?
Tough job considering engine removal is normally performed but you would of course replaced a lot more at that time.
There was a 2nd thinner pipe in the same place but due to the position of the bolts securing removal is impossible without dropping the engine so until that time comes I opted to clean and coat with rust preventer hopefully giving it a bit longer. Although all said and done there was quite a lot of strength left in the old corroded pipe and am confident ( knowing pipes as I do having been making them for years) it would have lasted some time to come.
I must also say a big thank you to DeMort (an absolute gentleman) for his advice over aspects during this job ( your consultation fee is in the post)
Lee.
Well I'm of the nature I don't like being beaten and certainly don't like to have to pay excessive amounts of money to repkac3 what is ultimately a cheap part ( had it been any other brand, being PORSCHE a steel pipe that should have cost £40 was £130).
Anyway the pipe in question was spotted as looking heavily corroded when 8 was under the car a few weeks ago, so I evaluated what sort of a job it was going to be and worked out in my head how I would take it on?
So last week I had the workshop free to myself and got the bits together I needed including a cut down spanned notched out on the end allowing me to use a pry bar against the very short spanned to allow me to rotate the spanned in nothing more than a few inches of space.
Obviously I won't bore with every detail but I've been in the business of removing making new and refitting all major of hydraulic hoses and pipes in some very tight spaces and at times performing the impossible!
This was no different, very tight on space and very tricky but what I didn't have to do is drop the engine to perform the repair.
The pictures do not really give a true indication of just how difficult the job was! You can only see the bottom of the pipe which connects into the external heat exchanger and that end is amongst other pipe work that is in the way. As for the top end I was working at arms length above my head with no way of seeing what I was doing and working by feel alone.
Things like the parts man at PORSCHE having given me the incorrect size seal for the male male nipple that the top end of the pipe joins onto! Fortunately we had a box of assorted seals at the yard.
In the photo of the removed old pipe you can see the top end has twisted, this is common on old rusted pipes as the swivel nut has corroded and welded itself to the pipe, the process when this starts to happen is 1st being confident both ends are free and destruction of the old pipe by twisting is not going to cause bigger problems. The idea being that you keep turning until it eventually snaps off at which point becomes easier to remove.
Sadly the bottom end didn't seal properly and a small leak was detected so the next day I removed the pipe again cleaning all areas before re-assembly ?
Tough job considering engine removal is normally performed but you would of course replaced a lot more at that time.
There was a 2nd thinner pipe in the same place but due to the position of the bolts securing removal is impossible without dropping the engine so until that time comes I opted to clean and coat with rust preventer hopefully giving it a bit longer. Although all said and done there was quite a lot of strength left in the old corroded pipe and am confident ( knowing pipes as I do having been making them for years) it would have lasted some time to come.
I must also say a big thank you to DeMort (an absolute gentleman) for his advice over aspects during this job ( your consultation fee is in the post)
Lee.
