Viscous Fan, Fan Clutch, and Radiator Advice...

[minesapint]

Soak the threads in plus gas or other serious rust buster - so avoid WD40.

When it comes to rebuild - buy a new one so you won't have the same trouble next time.

Or when the stud is out, put in vice and file large hexagon to next socket size down.

[Falamon]

I've got a replacement stud on the way. Just bought all the tools needed and some replacement parts.

When doing the water pump, do you need to use gasket seal as well as the gasket?

I've seen a gasket "tack" spray that holds the gasket and helps the seal somewhere before but can't find it now.

[daimlerman]

I would use a smear of copper grease to seal the water pump.

Now I've been thinking about this,you will need to at least slacken that stud off to allow the tensioner to move,to allow the new belt to slip on.So removing and replacing is the best answer,just hope that it does not break!Hennabm's advice is top drawer quality here.

[Falamon]

@ Henna BM, yeah thanks again mate, some top notch advice, I've bought some smaller mole grips as mine wouldn't get on the stud

For sealing the pump, would Permatex #2 work? Seems to be by far the most popular gasket non-adheisive sealant out there. I bought some anyway, but I've got copper grease at home anyway.

[daimlerman]

Never used Permatex TBH,I would expect that it's a silicone based sealant,so it should work fine.

[Falamon]

I'll try it and let you know! Updates to come in the next few days, thanks everyone so far!

[hennabm]

All the gasket for the pump will need, just for peace of mind, is a light smearing of blue hylomar boh sides of the gasket.
Make sure the block face is nice and clean before fitting new pump and gasket.

That is all I use on mine.

[AardHawk]

Its probably an early B20, so next we are going find out that it wont start as the ignition timing is out.

[Falamon]

Its probably an early B20, so next we are going find out that it wont start as the ignition timing is out.

Hopefully not mate, I'm taking my time with it...

I'm sure you're probably amused by my lack of knowledge and constant posting, but I've yet to attempt a job like this on the E30 so I've been trying to get all the advice I can get... Don't really want to completely f*ck my engine up as you can imagine.

It's a '91 M20B20 engine FYI.

[Falamon]

If you tap the tensioner in an anti-clockwise direction with the upper locking bolt removed, it will help in freeing the pivot bolt up.

Where is your distributor? On the front of the head or down the side of the block?

BTW, this is what a viscous locking tool looks like..

I'll be attempting it tomorrow, the tensioner does move albeit pretty tightly, so thanks for that tip

Didn't buy a viscous tool in advance as I managed to get the fan undone with one hit of the hammer on the 32mm spanner.

The awkward bit was undoing those 4 bolts in the pic, but i managed to hold it from spinning with a spanner. I have got the tool in the post though for future work.

Dizzy is on front of the block/cam, it's the "hand" shape one, not the more traditional shaped type, i'll assume that it's a later revision to the B20 engine?

Surely if the ignition timing is out, the whole engine timing will be out?

[daimlerman]

As your dizzy cap is on the end of the cam,you will not have any ign timing problems.

The early,chrome bumper cars,have a conventional distributor mounted under the inlet manifold at the front of the block where you have a blanking plate.These engines drive the dizzy off the jack shaft just above the crank.On your engine,this shaft 'just' drives the oil pump,so the position of in relation to the crank and cam does not matter.

With reference to clearance at the front of the engine,you have lifted the radiator and it's shroud out?

[Falamon]

As your dizzy cap is on the end of the cam,you will not have any ign timing problems.

The early,chrome bumper cars,have a conventional distributor mounted under the inlet manifold at the front of the block where you have a blanking plate.These engines drive the dizzy off the jack shaft just above the crank.On your engine,this shaft 'just' drives the oil pump,so the position of in relation to the crank and cam does not matter.

With reference to clearance at the front of the engine,you have lifted the radiator and it's shroud out?

Good stuff, I thought it may be a different set up as other engines i've seen, the Dizzy isn't in the same place as mine.

I've got the radiator and shroud out, so there's ample room

[AardHawk]

I'm sure you're probably amused by my lack of knowledge and constant posting, but I've yet to attempt a job like this on the E30 so I've been trying to get all the advice I can get... Don't really want to completely f*ck my engine up as you can imagine.

I'm not. Now that we know which engine you're working on, you may now, start getting some meaningful advice.

[Falamon]

I'm sure you're probably amused by my lack of knowledge and constant posting, but I've yet to attempt a job like this on the E30 so I've been trying to get all the advice I can get... Don't really want to completely f*ck my engine up as you can imagine.

I'm not. Now that we know which engine you're working on, you may now, start getting some meaningful advice.

Thanks mate, sorry for over-reacting there. Didn't realise this was actually a common thing for the old dizzy's to run into issues when timing belt replacement happens, but hoping mine should be ok as it's a newer type dizzy.

[Falamon]

UPDATE - so it's done! Took forever, but better safe than sorry...

Managed to get the stud off with rust buster/mole grips/deep socket.

Replaced with new one, shouldn't be an issue next time!

Water pump seems to be seated in the block ok and no leaks as yet! Heater gets hot and temp bar sits slightly lower than it was before, but i'll assume that's normal.

Got a different thermostat and it seals better too.

(Bought the water pump pulley tool, which also worked a treat when re-fitting everything).

Need to get a new PS toothed adjusting bar/nut as it's corroded and won't adjust properly, had to get tension on the belt by tapping the nut with a hammer til it moved up the bar and nipped it tight.

My only issue was when replacing the seal/O-ring behind the camshaft sprocket:

Previous owner had used permanent red gasket, so while it took some work to get the aluminium cover out of the body, i slightly nicked the body of the engine with a screwdriver where the cover mates up to it.

It's hopefully not an issue, I can't see it affecting the seal, it's near the edge where the cover bolts in anyway.

She started first time, runs quieter, i've got a slight whirring noise which I've read is either the belt breaking in (I slightly over-tensioned it so I didn't need to go back and re-adjust after 500 miles) but it could also be the PS or Alternator belt apparently?

Thanks for all your help guys!

[Falamon]

Sorry to revert back here.

The whirring is my viscous fan which appears to be constantly turning, not spinning on the clutch as it should. When pulling away it's ever so loud!

When replacing it, I fitted the 32mm by hand as recommended.

Could the viscous clutch be faulty or do they need to "break in" or something?

The tell tale sign is that when i stop the car the fan stops straight away and doesnt spin freely.

[Brianmoooore]

A new viscous coupling can be very stiff, but should loosen up after a few miles. How hard is it to turn the fan blades by hand?

[Falamon]

Slight resistance but not too much. I've probably put 40 miles on it so far and not eased up much... should I just wait a bit?

The car's running really cool, between a 1/4 and 1/2 which I assume is the fan on constantly, plus replacing most of the cooling components?

[Brianmoooore]

Between quarter and half is correct for a M20 (80 degree thermostat). Fan being on continuously shouldn't significantly affect the engine running temp - 'stat. controls that.
Give it a couple of hundred miles before complaining about the viscous.

[Falamon]

Cheers Brian I'll report back after a couple hundred.