Cheers Lerk, your post saved me a lot of head scratching, if not a lot of swearing and cursing!

All the bolts on my 1996 300 tdi were seized solid and even with the assistance of a bucket load of wd40, a strap wrench and a length of pole I had to grind one of the power steering pump pulley bolts off after it rounded on me!

Thought the job was a good un after that if still a struggle fighting with every bolt that was packed solid with crud, then had to use a long chisel to split the nut on the end of the long bolt the holds the housing in place after it started rounding off on me too (bolt and nut c in Lerks how to).

Still job done now though and can only say if it wasnt for the easy to follow how to I think I'd still be at it yet!
+
My only tip would be, if your bolts are as welded on as mine, to make sure you've got a decent set of 6 pointed hex sockets as we burst two 10mm Draper Expert 12 pointed sockets while rounding off the two most stubborn bolts but got on fine with a random make 6 pointed set.
 
it helps if you whack head of bolt hard first quite a few times ,it usually loosens them,just makec sure you dont mushroom head too much unless youve rounded edges in which case mushrooming head is a good idea then tap socket on
 
Gotta say it,

Fantastic write up, just done mine, apart from one little job with a grinder on one bolt, all ( touch wood ) is good, now just to make sure it all bleeds OK.

Cheers
 
torque wrench settings......per Hayes Manual
Coolant Pump - Nuts & Bolts.......26Nm / 19lbf ft
Cooling Fan - Bolts....................35 / 26
 
Cheers Lerk. Fantastic posting and thank you for it. The photos has been a great help. The P-gasket on my defender 90 deciaded out of the blue to leak so am half way doing it. The plug on top of the radiator is not budgging and very tight. Being brass and soft I don't want to mess about with it too much incase it rouns off (already started). So ordered myself a gas blow torch so can heat it up to open and replace it. The three botls on the PAS pulley are stuck too. So need to get a strap wrength to crack these bolts. I am just hoping that I won't end up having to cut the heads off as they are really tight. While at it, i found it was quite easy to disconnect the battery and disconnect the alternator wires and take it out completely as gave me more room and made it easy ro access and unplug the drainage plug on the engine block. Someone on the utube was suggesting to take the fan and the plastic guards round it off for more access. Bought the spanner for the fan but never managed to undo it ( it is a left hand thread so you need to go clockwise to lossen it). In the end I found that there is reasonable access without having to take the fan and it shrouding off. Thanks again for a very helpful postion.
 
this is going to sound stupid but im still wet behind the ears in this department!! but what does changing the p gasket improve whats the need????
cheers
oli
It doesn't improve anything. It's just not meant to leak and many of them do :)
 
Cheers Lerk. Fantastic posting and thank you for it. The photos has been a great help. The P-gasket on my defender 90 deciaded out of the blue to leak so am half way doing it. The plug on top of the radiator is not budgging and very tight. Being brass and soft I don't want to mess about with it too much incase it rouns off (already started). So ordered myself a gas blow torch so can heat it up to open and replace it. The three botls on the PAS pulley are stuck too. So need to get a strap wrength to crack these bolts. I am just hoping that I won't end up having to cut the heads off as they are really tight. While at it, i found it was quite easy to disconnect the battery and disconnect the alternator wires and take it out completely as gave me more room and made it easy ro access and unplug the drainage plug on the engine block. Someone on the utube was suggesting to take the fan and the plastic guards round it off for more access. Bought the spanner for the fan but never managed to undo it ( it is a left hand thread so you need to go clockwise to lossen it). In the end I found that there is reasonable access without having to take the fan and it shrouding off. Thanks again for a very helpful postion.
Don't bother removing the brass plug. While it's not the 100% ideal way to do things, if you remove the little bypass hose on top of the thermostat housing you should be able to get rid of the air.
 
to empty the block or lower level youd need to remove block brass drain on block side, and to ensure syrstems full afterwards removing thermostat bung is necessary
 

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