After eighteen years and 168,000 miles my waterpump just started to leak. (That will teach me for not using the VW coolant for the last eighteen years. Oh well.)
Not surprisingly, in removing the waterpump, four of the eight bolts heads torqued off, requiring removal and probably replacement of the waterpump housing as well. My question to those who have been down this road before on a Diesel is: How much stuff am I going to have to remove to get to the waterpump housing bolts? I've started to remove the alternator mounting bracket and it looks like I'm going to have to remove the rear upper timing belt cover (the metal bracket to which the plastic upper TB cover attaches) and that means removing the injection pump sprocket. Is there a simpler way to remove the upper bolts of the alternator mounting bracket? Bentley has the ominous note: "mount and loosen the upper bolts using wrench 3112." (Gotta love German engineering. I wonder how many panzer divisions ground to a halt during the war for lack of wrench 3112. But I digress...) OK, I'm still retaining my sense of humor, such as it is, and hopefully some advice from you all will keep me from losing it. Thanks in advance.
Denny Straussfogel Two '85 Diesel Golfs (one currently in pieces)
Dennis M. Straussfogel, Ph.D. Aerospace Engineering Consultant