silverd2

Great write up and photos, Louis. You hit on and stressed every important point. I can't add a thing.

Just a note and NOT important to your thermostat procedure:

The hidden tensioner damper on the passenger side of the crank (hidden behind engine torque support plate) is NOT adjustable anyway...it either works or doesn't. It simply keeps firm "dampened" pressure on that side of the belt and it's overall route. When changing the T-belt, relieving it's pressure helps loosen the belt further to help slip it off and when re-tensioned (released), when job is complete, it gives a clearance measurement point to check overall tension...5mm (Bentley) give or take a little (as long as it's making firm contact). I made the final adjustment by medium firm feel on the eccentric tensioner(as you said) and ended up with the 5mm clearance on the damper, anyway (no torque wrench required). BUT, again, the overall tension is ONLY adjusted by the accessible eccentric tensioner you demonstrate well in your write up.

I looked at your revised write up on the oil cooler, too and I DID see that you're going to add more later.

Something you touched on in this thread (with photo) which I found to be the second hardest part of the job and a royal pain: The metal water pipe on the outside of the cooler, which makes getting the detached oil cooler to and from the block much more difficult than it should be. I found (as in the link from Audipages I posted earlier) that removing the clamp on this pipe, about half way back on the block (10mm bolt...hard to find, but reachable from under the car), gave me just enough slack on the pipe to clear the cooler body on and off the block, but still a royal pain.

Love your website and everyone here needs it on their favorites list.

Thanks for going to the trouble of posting write ups with good photos.

Sam