I'm tearing down my kombi's 2L Type IV motor. The heat exchangers seem to be stuck to the heads, I've taken off all the nuts and I can't get them apart. Is there a trick to this?

Wiggle. WiggleWiggleWiggleWiggleWiggle. Swear. WigglewiggleWiggle-Wiggle-Wiggle... Wiggle ......Wiggle. Take a break. Repeat.

The type IV heat exchanges can get very stuck. It is also common for their attaching studs to be slightly misaligned due to whatever reason, which makes them a pain to get off and near impossible to get back on. Some people seem to use some kind of loctite or something that makes the job even worse.

Because of the way they are, once they are unjammed you have to keep them as aligned as possible and do mini-wiggles if you have to because the heat exchanges tend to bind on the stud threads. Then at a certain point they'll try to drop off. Keep them straight! Because they'll try to put a lot of bending force on one stud. Stupid things.

I have to take mine off again. I forgot the O gasket things.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately they are rock solid, there is no "wiggle" at all. Maybe there is gasket goo or something in there. So I have to figure out a way to somehow get them unstuck before I can wiggle them off.

does it look like it has 'rust welded' itself to the head? otherwise, spray degreaser on the gaskets, let it soak and try wiggling it again... good luck

take your time, You dont want to have to end up helicoiling your exhaust studs. You will find there at pretty bad angles and may be holding onto the exchangers... Make sure a wiggle is just a wiggle not big push and pull.

good luck.

I did it!

I've found an easy way to get them off, even when they are rusted to the heads:

Have the motor the right way up, so that the head exhaust studs are pointing straight down, becuase gravity will help the heat exchangers to drop off the studs.
Put one hand under the body of the heat exchanger to catch it when it drops off: you don't want to damage it by dropping it on a concrete floor, and you don't want to break a toe. Be careful because it is heavy.
With the other hand, use a hammer to tap on the big flange where the heat exchanger bolts to the muffler pipes. This flange is thick enough that you can tap it without damaging it. Tap it downwards at first, until the rearwards exhaust manifold just comes away from the head: you have now broken the rust seal on this manifold. Now tap it upwards until the forwards exhaust manifold comes away: you have now broken the rust seal on both manifolds, so if the studs are straight the heat exchanger will drop straight off. If the studs are not straight and are still holding it on, tap that same flange some more, gently, and alternating between downwards taps and upwards taps. This will wiggle the whole thing off the studs. You don't need to pull it down at all, gravity will do the work for you.

You will find that you can get both off in as little time as it took you to read this post!




[ Edited on 1-2-06 by Purple Martin ]

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