[GeckoXL7]

Back intake manifold bolts, there is 8 bolts and 4 nuts, should all come off together but not budging prob gasket sticking them together.

Small 1/4inch extensions fit just to get back right bolt loose



1/2inch extensions will fit here its quite a fair bit down.



Used a 12mm spanner shoved into some pipe to undo this bolt.



I relieved the fuel pressure by simply slowly undoing the two bolts on the pressure regulator, there isnt that much pressure to release.

i left bolts loose in fuel injector rails to manifold so bushes under them dont full down.

Guess have to get a crow bar and some wood to jimmy it off. I have to take the manifold off as cant get to back rocker cover bolt.

[GeckoXL7]

2.7L Engines
Before servicing the vehicle, refer to the Precautions section.
Disconnect the negative battery cable.
Relieve the fuel system pressure.
Drain the cooling system.
Remove or disconnect the following:

Throttle body assembly
Water hose from heater outlet pipe
Heater outlet pipe bolts
MAP sensor connector
Fuel injector harness connector
Harness clamp bracket (right side) from intake collector
Vacuum hose of EVAP canister purge valve from intake
Canister purge valve connector and ground terminals
Harness clamp bracket (left side) from intake collector
EGR valve assembly connector
EGR pipe
PCV hose

Detach intake collector from intake manifold and then disconnect water hose.
Remove EGR valve assembly and PCV pipe from intake collector, if necessary.
Disconnect brake booster hose and vacuum tank hose from intake manifold then EVAP canister purge valve hose from fuel No.2 pipe.
Disconnect fuel feed hose and fuel return hose.
Remove fuel No.2 pipe bolt.
Remove intake manifold bolts and nuts.
Remove intake manifold.

[GeckoXL7]

after all this going to be replacing a fair bit. All will be replaced while everything is off as there quite hard to get to.





Old pump



New pump on

[GeckoXL7]

Will be putting new gaset stuff on the timing cover soon. Still waiting for gaskets and 2 coil packs.

I have high them red gasket and high torque grey, just wondering what should be put on, there was red stuff on it before with some grey stuf in groves.

Also anyone know where to get a thermostat that is not overpriced in aus? in usa and canada can get a gates thermostat for $14 here they want $69 for it! cant believe how much parts vendors in aus rip people off. EG PCV valve 8 there 39 here. Only one so far who has been helpfull and repliable is Greg.

Supercheap auto want 39 for delivery of just a thermostat and pcv valve, add a spray can in classed as dangerous good and postage goes down to 25 as needs to be shiped through TNT. Still Rock Auto charges 26 international priroty.

Other thing i have to work out is the spark plug tubes are rusty as seen in the picture. i am thinking of cleaning out with a wire brush then cleaning it put with air gun and silicon spray.

[GeckoXL7]

Have to be verry carefull putting the pump in with the chain in the road. Had to tilt the pump and jiggle it in. The manual doesnt say to use Sealant but i cleaned old red sealant off the mounting area so was used at factory.

THe red stuff didnt stick so took the pump out gave it a good clean, sprayed Brake cleaner to remove oil and wax etc then remounted using Ultra Grey which made it a very tight and snug fit.



I cleaned up the covers with a wirebrush in a drill then primed and painted the covers, it helps alot keep the oil and grime from sticking.



New Seal also went in the timing cover from 4wd products which is a good tight seal. the other one from ebay user 999racing or tripple 9 auto parts was a piece of crap and wouldnt even think of using it prattically it had no rubber coating around it like the genuine so if oil got between it and the case it will eventually just fall out. also paid 6.95 postage he ended up sticking it in a 70c envalope! took 2 weeks to receive it.



Bottom of covers all cleaned up



Covers back on used ultra grey for timing cover and high temp with gen gasket for cam covers (i only used it engine block side of the gasket)
Also had one bolt break!! on the top left of the timing cover, i bought my self a Kingcrome torque wrench and the bolt broke at pretty much fingure pressure, so have to think what to do about that. I also bought new stainless steel Hat nuts for the rocker cover and used neoprene washers which worked really well, the nuts are nice and shiny too

[GeckoXL7]

After needing to replace the new waterpump second time around. Replacing the pump was simple.
(Note Bolt Tightness torque is Cruicial being a Alloy motor, you will either damage the thread, snap bolts or have something warp / or leak if done to tightly or not enough) Estimate this job if no stuck bolts will take around 3-4 hours 7 at most with bellow method. Suzuki;s method prob add around a extra 2 hours taking the intake off etc

Remove radiator shrowed.
Remove Viscious Hub with fan
Losen Alternator and belt.
Remove Waterpump pulley
Remove 3 bolts on power steering pump that holds it to the bracket.
remove 2 bolts on P/S bracket on front of motor then one to the side.
Move P/S pump out the road.
Remove two uper bolts on each side of radiator, and uper / lower hose. Remove radiator.
Remove thermostat housing with pipe and put fuel hose to one side. Remove uper pipe coolant housing.
Remove Crank pulley its a 19mm socket easiest way is to get a breaker bar with 19mm socket put it on crank bolt rest against bottom cross member.
Remove coil packs and disconect injector rail power socket next to throttle body.
Give a quick crank eg split second (NO LONGER TO AVOID DAMAGE!!!) if not lose attempt it another 1 or 2 times. It will come lose.

Remove bolt. Then remove pulley, you may need a harmonic ballancer pulley (this is the reason why you need to remove the radiator to make room for the overly long bolt)
Remove all small bolts around timing cover around 29 of them and bottom bolts from oil pan to front of timing cover (4 bolts)
Remove two front valve cover nuts on each cover.
Now this is where you have to be carefull to avoid damaging the Valve cover gasket.
Get a flat Putty plaster scraper or thin piece of mettal that does not have a sharp edge, i like the putty scraper as can get in the width of the valve cover.
Push it gently under the black gasket then pry it up slightly. Use a large flat head screw driver under the putty scraper to pry the valve cover up a few mm (does not have to be much only enought to clear the gakset from the timing cover)
Use the flat head screw driver to jimmy the timing cover forward away from motor both sides then with the screw driver work your way down to the bottom slowly and gently to remove the timing cover. it has to be done evenly to avoid it getting stuck with the litttlle clearance of the valve covers.
( it is quite easy to remove just have to be gental as it is made of alloy and secondly to avoid damaging the valve cover gaskets.
Once off you will be exposed to timing chains and water pump.
Remove the 4 bolts to water pump
Gently remove water pump slowly wiggle it out and will need to remove / tilt it to the left of you eg tilting leftwards to clear the timing chain as it slightly go's over the housing.
About a cup of coolant will full into the oil sump bellow at this stage.
Clean hole where waterpump goes into make sure there is no remaining gasket behind as this WILL cause leaks if install new pump.
Install new pump.
Tigten pump bolts to 27nm this is cruicial, dont want to tight as to make the bolt chew the thread on the aloy block and not too loose as to allow it to leak.
At this stage its a good time to inspect timing chains for slackness, they are usually reasonably tight, also cheak for wear and tear.
Clean old gasket sealant off timing cover and engine block.
Put new ULTRA GREY Permatex or if want better locktite High Torque and high temp sealant evenly around cover edge and where all bolt holes are in middle of cover, also bottom of cover where it mates against the oil pan. Its prob a good idea to put some evenly on the oil pan too to make sure there is a good seal. i use my fingure to make sure there is a even coating over the whole width of the cover edge. as YOU DO NOT WANT A OIL LEAK.
Usually let it dry for around 5-10min then go over it again to put another thin layor.
Now youl will want a flat head screw driver under each valve cover behind the Thermostat housing to hold the cover up slightly.
Put some gasket material on the black gasket and a little on top of the timing cover.
Slowly push the cover back on evenly.
Start putting the bolts back in ( I would recomend replacing all of them as they are way to soft and it hurts when they brake esp if last one and have to take everything off remove the bolt and put a new one in) They normally brake at the head or in the middle so no drilling is neaded just a pare of plyers.
Do all bolts fingure tight just (work around top of cover to bottom then back up to top to make sure all even) untill the sealant is starting to get squeezed out the edges no more! Cruicial for a good gasket seal.
Let the sealant cure for a hour ( Have a beer or coffe wrists prob need a brake at this stage)
After a hour slightly tighten bolts again to 11NM Wait 10-15min then check bolt torque again as i found when tightening all it did was push the cover more towards the engine block so alot of other bolts came lose.
Once all bolts are properly torqued. put valve cover nuts back on. Tighten to 10.5NM
Put P/S Braket back on 27NM PS pump back on bracket.
Put crank pully back on (Now this is a tricky bit you need to stop the motor from turning, make sure you also have the woodruff key in the slot. Greese the seal and pulley where it goes into the seal. Slide it on. You need to put gasket sealent on the bolt hat where it sits against the pulley. I used a Honda Motor Bike Sproket botled to the pully with some vice grips resting against the bottom cross member. You need to tighten the bolt to 150NM, This is why i had to purchase a Torque Wrench (around 79 from bunnings or auto store)
Put waterpump pulley back with belts (its easy to put belt on with waterpump pulley as there usually quite tight.
Put Fan hub and fan back on. bolts 25NM
Put Cooling pipes back on with therstat housings etc. Prob good to either replace thermostat at this stage. VENT HOLE GOES AT TOP NOT BOTTOM MAKE SURE OF THIS OR = BLOWN SOMETHING or ENGINE OVER HEATING as this is the Air Bleed valve.
Put Radiator back in and connect hoses.
Personally at this stage when everything is back on i would drain the oil. Let the motor sit with sump plug out and radiator cap off for 24 hours to make sure the gasket sealant is cured as the last thing you want at this stage is a leak.
Flush the cooling system how suzuki recomnds this is fill radiator up, let engine warm up till top radiator gets hot, this means thermostat is open.
Drain water, fill again with water and repeat process untill water comes out radiator bottom tap clean.
I would preferably fill radiator with hot tap water so there is no massive shock to the engine block getting blasted with cold water = Cracked block.
Again this is optional i would put in some cheap oil with a new filter and some engine flush to fully clean out the motor, Coolant and Oil = Seperated zink = Cloged oil lines = possible damage or blocked chain pretensioner = Ticking chain = Ticking time bomb.
I would use a detox like the liqui molly stuff, or penrite.
Once flushed replace filter again with some good oil. and some good coolant (Penrite has some really good stuff out now eg 6 year)
Let the car run with out radiator cap on for around 30min untilll bubbles settle, the coolant will raise and sink as air is flushed out the block etc. Suzuki says just put the cap back on but dont think this is good practice wont do harm as cap will release pressure but after all this hard work the last thing you want is excessive pressure around the waterpump seal and it popping on you.
After half a hour turn off motor top the radiator up if need. Empty and clean overfill bottle and top up half way.
You should now be done. Have a few beers as you probably well need it!

[murcod]

OMG. What a job.

Thanks for the pics/ write up.

[Baus]

how much would this normally cost if done by a mechanic?

[GeckoXL7]

Was quoted between 750 to 900 Labour and the water pump is between 75 (4wd products) and 130 for oem gmb pump. And that's a cheap mechanic. Don't know how much Suzuki mechanic would charge. Prob around 1200 they quoted 850 Labour to do timimng cover seals last and the last time I went back.

[laurie]

Three weeks ago my son got a timing chain kit , front and rear main plus other gaskets and a clutch done on his h25 $2200 . engine was removed for the work . local mechanic .

[Baus]

Jesus $2200 thats so expensive, I would be comfortable in paying 1k though.

[henno]

Baus wrote:

Jesus $2200 thats so expensive, I would be comfortable in paying 1k though.

Clutch alone will cost you 1k if you don't do the job yourself. I think $2200 for that amount of work is reasonable.

[laurie]

Rear main was leaking to fix engine came out so while it was out the rest got done .

[Baus]

Oh ok yeah makes sense.

[Mattis]

Just out of curiosity, why did the pump need to be changed the second time?

[GeckoXL7]

Had two issues the sealant never dried properly or bonded and the coolant was seaping past into the oil. Second issue was it had a hairline crack where the gasket was, which if the sealant was working wouldnt of been a problem.

Second time around was piss easy compared to first time as i know the front cover can come off with out all the top comming off. Pluss did a crap load more to the motor eg service all injector, replace all upper seals all hoses etc etc.

[Mattis]

I replaced the water pump about 6 months back now on my H25A when I replaced all the timing chains/sprockets/tensioners (with the same one as you got from 4WDProducts on eBay) but didnt notice any sealant around it from the factory pump that was in. So when I installed the new one I didnt run any sealant around it, just relied on the o-ring that it came with. However I've just had the car parked up for a few months and have noticed that the overflow reservoir has dropped, checking the oil has revealed coolant in it. Luckily I haven't run the motor so this hasn't circulated around. However I'm suspecting the issue to be the water pump o-ring leaking where it goes into the block.

I was dreading having to pull all the intake off again but having read this guide I'm going to try to replace the pump without taking the cam covers and intake off. Great relief.

Did you use sealant again around the pump the second time you replaced it and has it leaked since?

[GeckoXL7]

Yeah used sealant but a different one think it was the permatex Gray stuff had red before and that's what leaked. I didn't put it on the boring just on the lips next to it. Made sure the housing was dry, put pump in let it cure then tightened then let dry and put cover on.


I've been told by a mate who rebuilds engines that loctite is the way to go. More expensive but never a issue.

Took 3hours to take cover off the second time

[Mattis]

Thanks for that info, will run some sealant around the edge/lip of the pump when I insert the new one into it. I used the blue Permatex stuff around the timing cover when I did the timing chain etc last time and that hasn't leaked since (pity Im going to have to scrape all that off and go through the painful process of re-applying it to put the cover back on ).

I replaced the radiator not long before the coolant leak into the sump and flushed the cooling system (which in hindsight wasn't needed as the coolant wasn't that old and I was filling it back up with the exact same coolant as the stuff that was already in it). I think I've blown out the seal when I've over-pressured the system during the flush (used one of those compressed air assisted water hose fittings) - didn't wind down the regulator.

That's what I'm hoping is the case anyway, don't want to go through the whole process of removing the timing cover only to find out it's not the pump that's leaking.....

Im reasonable confident it is the pump though as it's been leaking even without the car running (the overflow reservoir level has been dropping even without the car running) and I know there is at least a litre or two of coolant that sits in behind the pump that would be dropping directly into the sump.

The only other place it could be is through one of the water galleries or between the head gasket, the latter of which doesn't seem likely as it would only drop the level if the car was running.

[GeckoXL7]

Yeah at the time I hoped it wasn't the head gasket but no steam coming out exhuat or plugs wet. Mine leaked pretty quickly eg half bottle in a day of driving. Then just blew blue smoke as the oil was so thin.

Maybe a. Pressure test would help? Remove oil have bowl under oil pan do pressure test and see if coolant goes into the bowl?

[Mattis]

I was hoping that once I get the timing cover off it would show signs of leakage, but if not then yeh, might go the pressure test route and see if leakage occurs under pressure.

So annoying, I only just changed the oil on it too.

Will get started on tearing it down tonight and update once I get the cover off.

[Mattis]

Any suggestions/tips on prying the timing cover off once all bolts are removed etc (including the front cam cover ones)? I tried a putty knife but it just won't slid in between the cam cover seal and the timing cover. Even a razor blade has trouble going in its that tight. I tried whacking it with a rubber mallet a few times to break the sealant seal and prying it where possible with a pry bar, all to no affect.

Can the cam covers come off without the intake needing to come off?

[GeckoXL7]

I used a flat head screw driver in between cover and block and used thermostat housing to slowly pry it up the. Putty life to pry timing cover forward.

Maybe to can try from bottom if can squeeze the knife in there.

[GeckoXL7]

Loosen remove all valve cover bolts that you can get too. The cover only needs to be lifted a few mm to pry timing cover forward.

[Mattis]

Eventually got the timing cover off.

That permatex ultra blue sealant just didn't want to give up the bond. Loosened all the cam cover bolts, removed the intake pipe, then ended up running a screwdriver on the edge of the cam cover to pry it open enough to get the putty knives under the gasket. Then had to get the pry bar on the injector rail to pry the cover open enough (only just had an edge on it) to get a flat blade screwdriver in. Then just worked this around the cover.

Anyway, I'll pop the pump out and see if there is any coolant behind it (if there isn't then I know it's leaking). Couldn't see any obvious leaks around it but could be its all drained out already (here's hoping).

[GeckoXL7]

Hey good you got the cover off, sounds like you had better luck with permatex sealing than i have had lol, hopefully you found somthing, i think the leak will only happen when its under pressure. I could only tell when draining the water there was coolant floating on top and the oil was really thin.

I noticed my coolant has droped to about quater from half over last month. I also noticed white stuff around the cap. The cap is a gates but replaced it with the one that came with the radiator and it hasnt droped since. I think the system is creating more pressure than it should the upper pipe has been slowly trying to push itself off the thermostat housing. I have seen temprature radiator caps but they should make pressure ones as well

I am seriously thinking about going waterless coolant, as the engines getting old and no pressure in the system has to be a good thing.. I think.

Deciding between liquid intelligence or evans. Liquid intelligence seems to be a good price and he knows his stuff.

[atari4x4]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

I noticed my coolant has droped to about quater from half over last month. I also noticed white stuff around the cap. The cap is a gates but replaced it with the one that came with the radiator and it hasnt droped since. I think the system is creating more pressure than it should the upper pipe has been slowly trying to push itself off the thermostat housing. I have seen temprature radiator caps but they should make pressure ones as well

must have been the stage 14 racing water pump you fitted... or exhaust gasses pressurising the system after overheating it.

[GeckoXL7]

It's the hydrogen Joe fuel cell system under the bonnet.

[atari4x4]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

It's the hydrogen Joe fuel cell system under the bonnet.

so true, seems to be a good price and he knows his stuff.

[Chop]

GeckoXL7 wrote:

Hey good you got the cover off, sounds like you had better luck with permatex sealing than i have had lol, hopefully you found somthing, i think the leak will only happen when its under pressure. I could only tell when draining the water there was coolant floating on top and the oil was really thin.

I noticed my coolant has droped to about quater from half over last month. I also noticed white stuff around the cap. The cap is a gates but replaced it with the one that came with the radiator and it hasnt droped since. I think the system is creating more pressure than it should the upper pipe has been slowly trying to push itself off the thermostat housing. I have seen temprature radiator caps but they should make pressure ones as well

I am seriously thinking about going waterless coolant, as the engines getting old and no pressure in the system has to be a good thing.. I think.

Deciding between liquid intelligence or evans. Liquid intelligence seems to be a good price and he knows his stuff.

Can you drink that shit?