Today I spent about 4.5 hours out in the shop, while the forum's software restore from backup was ongoing. I'll talk about that in another thread.
Only had one photo from last night, before my camera died. That was the first photo of loosening the cam cover bolts, which are 5mm Allen-head bolts. I loosened a few on the driver's side, but loosened all of the bolts on the passenger side cam cover, and removed it from the car, as mentioned.
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This morning, when I started working on the car, I focused on cleaning up the front cover for the passenger side cylinder head. Here is what it looked like after about 30 minutes' work -- as compared to the driver's side cover, which is still installed on the car. I used a Scotch Brite pad soaked in brake cleaner to scrub off all of the old anaerobic sealant, with a razor blade tip used to get in the corners where the pad couldn't reach. Chlorinated brake cleaner works well to soften up the dried-up anaerobic sealant. Anyhoo, here's what it looked like when I was done cleaning.
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Before I started scrubbing the cylinder head cover in earnest, I pressed out the old (reddish-brown) camshaft seal from the cover using a 30mm impact socket. Worked well, and the seal came right out. Here is what the seal looked like, compared to the new (black) Elring seal that was soon to be pressed into the cylinder head cover.
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The old camshaft seal was noticeably stiffer and more fossilized than the new seal, particularly along the sealing edge that touches the camshaft. I also could see small "micro cracks" in the surface of the seal, telling me that it was probably not far away from causing a major oil leak and in strong need of replacement.
Using the other (slightly smaller diameter) ratchet end of the same 30mm socket, and a hammer, I was able to drive in the new seal carefully, and evenly. I used small hammer blows in a pattern all around the seal, which worked well. I pressed the new seal about 0.5mm below the front edge of the cylinder head cover. However, seeing as the old seal was around 1.5 mm below the front edge, and the fact that there is plenty of room behind the area to press the seal further in, I think I am going to press the new seal about 2-2.5mm further in, so it rests in a different spot that is further back on the camshaft.
Here are a few photos of the pressed-in seal, showing from the back-side that there is plenty of room to press it in further. Again, I think I'm going to push it in about 2mm further.
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Next are a couple of photos of the camshaft area and the front of the cylinder head, as I began cleaning them with a Scotch Brite pad and brake cleaner. The first photo shows things about 30% cleaned; the second photo shows things about 80% cleaned.
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Next up, I turned my attention to the smog pump. After some deliberation in recent days, I decided to remove it for a few reasons:
1) To clean up the area underneath and behind it;
2) To replace all four of the smog pump hoses, which I'd ordered new ones of back in early 2018;
and 3) because I was curious as hell about the area !!
The first thing I did was to remove the sleeve containing the two vacuum lines from the vacuum valve behind the passenger-side front headlight to the intake manifold. These lines were fossilized, and one had actually cracked multiple times in the past! I threaded the sleeve with the vac lines through the smog pump bracket, and moved the lines out of the way. All of these will be replaced, of course, in due time.....
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This freed the smog pump to be removed. It is held to the front of the cylinder head by three 13mm bolts. Two of the bolts are the same size, and the third (lower) bolt is much longer. I made short work of removing them, noting when they came out that they were encapsulated with anaerobic sealant to prevent oil leaks.
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After removing the three bolts, the smog pump came free, as you can see.
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This also freed up space and line of sight to remind me of all of the dirt and grime that I'd missed in my earlier cleaning behind and below the smog pump and alternator. Sigh....
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With the smog pump removed, it was time to start removing the hoses that connect it to the engine. I was very glad I did. I rotated the smog pump about 90 degrees and after loosening a couple of spring clamps, the hoses started coming free.
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Here are the hoses and valve assembly, as removed from the engine.
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And it was time to break out my bags of new MB rubber smog pump hoses. No Harbor Fright smell here.....
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Some comparison photos of the old and new smog pump hoses.
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A couple of the hoses had to be persuaded off with the tip of a flat-blade screwdriver.
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A photo of the smog pump hose carnage ... but I'm not done yet !!!
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The short hose that connects the smog pump to the engine was stubborn, so I just turned the smog pump more until the hose ripped off.
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Here's the new smog pump hose that connects the pump to the engine, loose and installed. Notice how all of the clamps and the valve are nicely cleaned in the next photos.
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NOTE: I can not tell you enough how badly the smog pump hoses were fossilized. They were so hard that if I would have thrown one, it would have easily broken a window, or given someone a concussion if it hit them in the head. All of the smog pump hoses are cheap from MB, and TOTALLY WORTH replacing. Particularly if you are "in there" doing an alternator replacement, a smog pump replacement, or this type of top-end job. Again, this is easily $500 of ALL cars' $5,000 or $10,000 of deferred maintenance. Age and heat kill this rubber.
With all new smog pump hoses re-installed, it was time to break out the ... yes, you got it !! .... orange koala-claw MB anaerobic sealant goo. This is EXPENSIVE stuff, but contains as I said, koala-bear claws, Japanese-grown satsuma pulp, and other esoteric ingredients to warrant that expense.
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It's imperative to coat the ends of the 13mm bolts that hold the smog pump bracket to the cylinder head with the orange koala-claw goo.
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Then you can tighten the bolts, to re-attach the smog pump to the cylinder head.
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Here's what things look like, re-assembled. It took me a LONG time to remove, clean, and then re-assemble everything, but it was totally worth it. Very happy.
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Next, just for a change of pace, I turned my attention to the valve covers. I will be replacing the valve covers with ones I had powder-coated red a couple of years ago. Here's what they look like, side by side. I did install the valve cover gasket to this passenger-side cover. After that wind-down, I called it a day.
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