Today was the day..the day the 172 got its leaking power steering sorted.
First up was some unit shuffle to free up space.
An eclectic fleet selection.
Then it was time to batter the Clio up onto stands for initial inspection.
It became obvious that this was to be an involved job.
This is where the pipe goes into the pump. Replete with alternator mounting bracket and alternator.
Luckily, there is a union further down the pipe that you can disconnect this end from.
A 19mm spanner to hold the main union with the sensor in it, 17mm spanner for the union on the pipe. The rest of the pipe disappears under the gearbox mount and over the gearbox itself.
I got as far as these discoveries and made a tactical decision.
Wait until Brian got here with the replacement pipes so we had a reference model.
I passed the time by washing the GSA:)
That done and Brian arrived.
We worked out the route.
It starts at the pump at RHS front
goes down and alongside the bottom rad hose, left and up over the gearbox
then left again to the exhaust where it ducks under and is held to the rack before a final 270 degree turn to mount into the rack.
The Gearbox mount has to come out, as does battery tray.
We powered on, in between sweary words.
First up was ostensibly the most difficult bit – the 17mm collar bolt on the line at the rack end.
This 17mm crowsfoot spanner was modified to allow for better articulation between the pipes on the rack.
We used the crow’s foot to loosen it initially – the other rack pipes made it impossible to get more than 1/8turn at a time.
Once loose enough, it was turned out by hand, and we sought the next couple of mounts.
They were to be found in handily inaccessible places – the first onto the rack with the 13mm nut obscured by the exhaust heat shield.
The second had a round headed bolt, and no real way to get to the nut on the other side. A gearbox mount, the steering rack and the subframe also conspired to remove access.
Luckily, the clamp was of a sort where a well placed screwdriver can prize it open, releasing the pipe.
Next up was removing the gearbox mount and the battery tray – Brian is ably driving the bolts out here.
The battery tray removed ( Pro tip – smashing FUCK out the central bar in the rubber mount helps you separate it..) we were able to see the 3 16mm bolts that hold the gearbox mount to the casing.
With those removed, we could lever up the lower part of the gearbox mount, and get to the 13mm bolt that holds the pipe on at the top of the gearbox.
Round the front and there is a hugely long 16mm bolt that holds the pipe to the front of the gearbox. Again, the subframe and various erroneous pipes caused access issues, but we eventually succeeded.
I think the feelings are clear in the above pic. It took 5.5hrs for 6 bolts!
With the old one out, I saw fit to clean up and derust the replacement- never wanting to face this job again.
Once the paint was dry we got on with feeding it back through.
At close of play, the rack end was back in, and the other 2 rack mounting points were on.
Pt2 follows