wanted to update about the progress i made this week. but most of the pics i took of the AOS and coolant tank, came out blurry. so ill show what i got and give some tips.
i started with the coolant tank, and as i mentioned earlier it wasn't easy, even when the transmission is removed.
took me sometime to figure where to disconnect the lines and to actually disconnect them. basically the lines should be disconnected from the clamps that are closer to the engine side, including the oil filler tube. then i pooled the coolant tank into the trunk (as much as i could), and disconnected the other clamp of the oil tube.
once i removed the oil tube, i was able to take the coolant tank out of the car.
this is a pic with the new tank in, but you can see the gap you can work with to remove the oil filler tube.
with the tank placed it on a bench i removed all the hoses from the old tank to the new one.
obviousness, i inspected each one of them to make sure they are not showing any signs of cracking. also moved the coolant level sensor to the new.
at this point you must remember to make a hole for the dipstick in the new coolant tank. i forgot and had to do that with the tank in the car, which make it a bit difficult. i just used a utility knife to carve the hole.
when the tank was out, i moved to the AOS.
wasn't difficult at all to remove the lines, but i struggled a bit with disconnecting the lower bellow. after few minutes of trying, i decided its a waist of time and just cut it off. i suggest doing that, especially if working from the top. the new AOS comes with a new bellow, so no point of spending time and blood on the old one.
looking back at it, this is probably the most difficult part.
the upper hose of the AOS is very easy to disconnect and the lower one is not that bad ether.
this is not the best picture, but you can see the bellow you need to cut.
i was thinking to replace all relevant parts of the AOS, but i had to Change my plans. just as a reference for you who will think about doing it in the future.
part #5, is the lower hose of the AOS. goes to good knows where.
spent 10 minutes to figure it out with the new parts in my hand (also got part 6), where the hell it suppose to go. looks like the whole intake manifold needs to be remove in order to replace these parts. i'm going to keep them, and hope ill never get to use them
looks like a real PITA to do.
edit: the decision to use a new oil filler tube was smart though. hate to think of doing this job all over again in the future just for that.