Hi guys.
I've been looking at the Disco servicing kit that Difflock sells as a quick/cheap way to buy most of what I need for my next service. I've noticed they provide a rocker gasket cover.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know engines. Give me a PC and I'll make it jump through the most amazing hoops, hell, I move packets for a living[1]. I'm a bit of a have-a-go guy, give me the instructions and I'll try anything (at least once[4]). But the thought of opening up the engine to me is fairly scary - particularly from the comments I've heard about the dubious quality of the Haynes manual (the only set of 'instructions' I've got).
So my question is, given that I don't have any mates-with-toolkits to call on should I f*ck things up and I haven't tried this before, how much work/risk is there in changing this gasket? Are there caveats that I should be aware of that the Haynes manual is completely ignoring?[2]
I'm probably over-reacting, but opening the guts of the machine up brings thoughs of very expensive screwups. :) I suspect that once I do start doing things like this I'll get enough confidence to try something else next time, like, say, a gearbox overhaul or something[3]... *grin*
Much thanks in advance for your sage advice. :)
Cheers, Aled.
[1] That's IP Packets - I work for an ISP as a Sysadmin/Netadmin. [2] "Assembly is the reverse of disassembly" my arse. [3] I have a long list of things that I *need* to do and things I want to do. On the list of 'needs' is to get a new driver-side wing panel, because the old one's inside skin is being held together by curust, paint and hope. [4] Cue the story of the guy who told me that changing a water pump on a Honda Accord would only take about 30 mins. Well, he was right. It did however take me the best part of two days to take enough things off to actually be able to *get* to the water pump. That's when I learnt to hate Haynes manuals. "Remove all retaining bolts." Sounds simple until you learn that one of them was underneath the crakshaft pulley wheel, another behind the timing belt and a third underneath the aircon compressor. Cheers, thanks.