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Banjo sealing washers (bit of a ramble)

Hi all,

I replaced the water pump on my 2001 9-3 Aero today. It was a bit of a nightmare job because of all the fiddly dismantling needed to even reach the pump. The icing on the cake came when, with the pile of bits on the drive right at it's peak, a dowty seal fell apart as I pushed it back over the banjo bolt.

Of course, this happened an hour after the Saab garage's parts department had closed for the weekend. Local motor factors and Halfrauds etc. didn't even know what a bloody dowty seal was! Not that I would have been able to get to any of these places without a car anyway.

After I stopped wasting everyone's time phoning round, I had a look in the garage and miraculously turned up a slightly rusty dowty seal of just the right size. Two hours and much f-ing and blinding later, and my transport was back in one piece. It even appears to be at least largely watertight.

Now, of course, I've started to worry about that dowty seal. It was on the small rigid pipe that runs from the water pump to the turbo. The pipe has banjos on both ends, but only one dowty seal - the one against the water pump. The other three seals on that pipe were just plain copper washers. I'm now wondering whether the dowty seal should have just been a copper washer too, and some previous bodger got there before me.

WIS isn't much help. It calls all the washers "seals". The drawing doesn't show any difference between the two seals on the water pump banjo, but it's not really that detailed.

Anyone happen to know what should be fitted on that banjo? Or whether I'm likely to spring a leak as a result of fitting the wrong seal?

Cheers,

Colin.

Reply to
Colin Stamp
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Colin:

I'm having a little trouble understanding your post since the terminology is different over your side of the pond. Take a look at this diagram and tell me which seal we are talking about (give me a number)

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Reply to
Bob

Hehe. It reminds me of the time I asked at reception in a San Diego hotel for someone to unlock the lift so I could get to the car park...

I think that's a diagram for a B204 engine. I have a B205R which has extra connections on the water pump. It looks like this.

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The banjo is marked 26 on this diagram and the offending washer is the one on the pump side of the banjo.

Here's what I mean by a dowty seal (2nd item down).

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Now I come to look more carefully at the original seal though, it's not quite the same as a real dowty. The rubber part is much wider. My replacement was a dowty though.

Cheers,

Colin.

Reply to
Colin Stamp

Sorry... wrong motor then. I don't know enough about the 205 to give you accurate information. However, I'd be highly sunrises that the factory would should the same number if the part varied. I've never seen that happen.

So, noting that I am guessing,... they use a similar arrangement on brake lines to the calipers and a simple copper washer does the job. Considering the pressures on a brake fitting, I can't see how you need more sealing ability than the copper would supply. I suppose the only way to know would be to buy the seals at a dealer. But, I'm sure you are not too eager to pull it all apart again though.

Reply to
Bob

Yep. I can't see why it shouldn't be copper washers all round either. Of course, I didn't think about that at the time... You're dead right about taking apart.again. It still seems to be holding water so I'm happy. I'm not digging that particular washer out again until such time as I completely disappear in a cloud of steam :o)

Cheers,

Colin.

Reply to
Colin Stamp

If you do have to pull it out, be sure to buy new o-rings for the waterpump, carefully clean the entrance into the block 'til it looks brand new, and lightly silicone grease the rings. That's a definite trouble area once you start moving things around.

Reply to
still me

Yep. The two big o-rings were quite cracked when I looked closely. I can't imagine them making a decent seal if I'd re-used them. Same with the small o-ring for the pipe on the back of the pump.

Cheers,

Colin.

Reply to
Colin Stamp

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