haggisuk

ms777

I was struggling replacing the coolant pipe. I bought the car (2006 Audi A8L 4.2L engine) with this serious leak. I tired your suggestion. It definitely worked well. You can easily remove the product by heating. However, putting back the strut was tricky. I will post my procedure. I did not remove any motor mount or lifting engine. Just the alternator and air filter house. It took my a lot of time but you can still do it with the true tools. I think you should fix your coolant leak. I saw your post about timing belt job. You definitely have enough equipment and ability.

mishar

Thanks, but my CLS500 doesn't have that.

ms777

I love my Benz and CLS is still on my list. I hope I will be able to buy one after I get bored A8 . I think I should share my procedure. I hope it will be useful someone need to fix the coolant leak.

I do not remember all tools that I used for this job but I can say I used these below;
Metric 3/8" drive short socket set, 8mm to 17mm.
Metric 3/8" drive Allen set, 4mm to 10mm.
Torx 3/8" set 5 to 55.
Driver adaptors
3/8" Felxiable head adaptor (very important for removing upper bolts of the oil cooler)
3/8" extensions.
A few 8 mm Allen keys to make suitable tools by cutting.

1- First thing is to flush oil and coolant.

2- Second is removing air filter house. There two screws holding it and an extension goes nearby the headlight but I did not have the front bumper on the car when I started so it was easy to remove. I think removing the bumper can be useful for room.

3- Third is removing the oil filter cap. It is 24 mm socket as I remember.

4- Removing serpentine belt. It is 19 mm to move tensioner pulley. It is difficult due to have so little room to work between engine and radiator fans. But it is not impossible. You have still enough room to take off the belt.

5-Removing the alternator. It was little surprising for me to have an alternator with coolant ports. First think is to take out the coolant ports. There is a holder for the ports which is connected to the alternator with allen bolts but I do not remember it is 5 mm or 5.5mm. After removing the bolt, pray the pipes but be careful those are aluminum. There is a wire connection and a harness on the alternator. Finally you can take off alternator bolts and it is little tight fit. You may need to use a rubber hummer to take the alternator out.
6-Now you can start to loose oil cooler bolts. There are 5 bolts holding the cooler. Two of them you need to remove under and 3 of them upper side and 8 mm allen bolts. I started to loose from under the car. One of them is very straight forward. Bolt number one is the easiest. For bolt 2 there is very limited space to work. My allen socket did not fit there. So I cut an allen key 1.5” long, and I placed the key on the bolt. I rotate the allen with an 8 mm wrench. It took too much time but I took it out. This bolt is shorter than other bolts.
The top side is even harder. You will need an extension and flexible adaptor. The only way to see those bolts using a mirror. Number three is pretty straight forward but before to remove this bolt. You need to take off the alternator coolant line pipes. Same procedure for the alternator side. You can remove the bolt number three. The most difficult part is to remove number 4. This bolt is behind another coolant pipe. You have move upside this pipe. However, the exhaust manifold strut is an obstacle. First you have to remove this strut but not easy at all. I first took off the nut which is 10 mm. After that I tired two nuts method but no success due to limited working space. Then finally I tired ….. suggestion, using a tread lock. I applied the tread lock on a nut (I guess M10, I bought at ACE hardware) and waited 30 minutes. Then I tired loose the nut and It came with the strut. And I removed the bolt 4 and 5. The place you can take out the oil cooler is front bottom corner. There is an enough space if you have already took of the front bumper. I was able to take it out. You have to spend time on it. Now you can replace the broken pipe now.

6- I followed to reverse order the put things together. However, the exhaust manifold strut is little tricky. I heated the strut and red tread lock is melted and I took out the nut. I first screw 10 mm strut nut, but not the all the way. Then I used another not with blue tread lock on top of the strut so that I can remove it by mechanically. I tightened the strut and apply little bit torque and the tread lock braked out. After that I put together all stuff, with new oil filter, fresh oil and coolant. I did not get any leak. I attached a few pics. I did not share all details just focused on the oil cooler part. There are many basic things you have to know about your car (coolant flash, oil change, know how to work with tools). It is not easy job at all but you can still do at your parking lot without removing engine mount or lifting engine. This is how I have done it. I am sorry about bad English, still learning it. And let me know if you have any questions. I would like to help.

broken pipe


oil cooler and bolts locations.


engine side


the strut

maxandtara

Just found out about the guy who made the first aluminum pipe. His name is James Bufkin.

He lives in Austin TX.

He sells the pipe for about $9.00

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-Au...2c4c%7Ciid%3A1

dvs_dave

Google “Bufkin pipe”. Had one on the shelf for a few years for if/when the time comes.

maxandtara

I guess stocking up on parts like these is common after all.

Did you get the figure 8 (# 077 115 441) gasket as well ?