I am changing the gearbox heat exchanger, and have a question for anyone who has done the job. Can it be accomplished without removing the intake manifold? I replaced a wire harness that had to be fed through the area where the exchanger is located and while working through the access panel behind the seats, the heat exchanger looked fairly accessible. Thanks in advance.
Not really - im not going to say "totally impossible" but "absolute nightmare" and much easier to just lift the manifold... Image Unavailable, Please Login
I second that, unless you have double jointed small rubber arms. I found it easier to remove the under tray and the alloy framework so I could get in and stand in eng bay with my feet down on ether side the drive shafts, easy on the back. Gud luk mate.
I also removed the intake manifold.. I seized the moment to replace intake manifold gaskets, and powder coat the plenum cover and clean up the intake manifold. However Brian (aka rifeldriver) has stated he routinely does it through the access panel without removing the intake. IMHO It was a pina enough with the intake removed. I would think finagling with limited access would be difficult. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
While you are there, I would recommend to replace the thermostat which is right there as well. There is a cross reference part number by Behr (#208279) which is about $20-30 vs. the $200+ oem one.
Why remove intakes? That's a lot of unnecessary work. I'm an old fat guy. It's not easy but very doable from inside the car. Of course the underpanel and rear bumper also need to come off to drain and clean up the mess.
No rear bumper take off for me! I did the hole and rubber grommet in the tunnel a few years ago. That was a great addition that saves a lot of time.
Take the bumper off. This isn't an oil change, this is a mess. It's a lot easier to work without it. You'll need to fill, run, drain things a few times and clean the trans filter. I fabricated a bypass hose so I could take the heat exchanger out of the circuit for this step. The more times you repeat this the better chance you won't be buying a gearbox. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Simple to the extreme by doing it through the access panel. Taking the manifold off is just dumb. That would be like cutting an access panel in the bottom of your boat to drain the oil. Some people shouldn't have tools.
It was actually easier to get back in than it was to take out. As long as you are OK working unsighted, it is more than doable without taking the manifold off. A couple of years ago I had to replace the clutch position sensor. Everyone said that the gearbox MUST come out. A little time getting a few things out of the way ad it was changed with the gearbox in. If you have any experience at all, these cars are fairly straight forward
Done! While I was at it, all fluids and filters changed. It was more of a PIA than difficult. Maybe I'm just getting too old for this stuff, as I think most things on this car are painful to work on. I still get some sort of twisted satisfaction from doing this stuff! Image Unavailable, Please Login
