RE: UrQ dripping coolant

["Buchholz, Steven" <Steven.Buchholz@kla-tencor.com>]

> Well, my UrQ sprung a leak today...nothing catastrophic, just 
> a steady drip.  
> I'm sure the water pump O-ring has let go-it's dead center, 
> front of the 
> engine.  I'll get it up in the air tomorrow to verify.  

All the parts to do a timing belt/water pump are not that terribly
expensive.  My '83 QTC does not have an idler pulley as the MC has, so that
helped keep the expense down.  Do think about doing the crank and cam seals
while you're in there.  

It sounds like a real PITA, but it isn't that bad to do the TB/WP.  You will
need to remove the bumper and the lower valence to get the best access to
the bottom end of the engine.  I find that it helps to remove the Aux
radiator (if your car has one) as well.  Perhaps the biggest frustration of
the job is the fact that in addition to the upper and lower timing belt
covers, doing the water pump means that the rear TB cover as well ... which
means that you have to pull the cam pulley.  Remember to loosen the cam bolt
before you loosen the crank bolt when the crank locking tool is in place.
It is also good to line the engine up to TDC Compression on cyl #1 and look
at how the timing marks on the distributor, cam, crank and flywheel line up
before you take everything apart.  

My final warning is to make sure that nothing falls into the area below the
crank pulley inside the timing belt covers.  There is very little clearance
down there (done deliberately to minimize the chances that the TB will jump
teeth on the crank pulley) and a small stone or screw in that area can
result in you having to go back again in a couple of months to do the TB
again ... this time having to pull the head as well ...

> BTW, are there any tricks to fishing out the air filter, or 
> recommendations 
> as far as this service goes? TIA!                           

... as others have also found, I actually find it is quite simple to do the
air filter on the ur-q by removing the right front headlamp.  My car has the
Cibie euros, so YMMV, but I remove the trim that goes above and below the
headlamp, the one above is held in place bay a clip that goes into the core
support, and the one below is held in by a screw at the fender end.  This
gives access the the screws that hold the headlamp unit in place, remove
thes and the two on top of the core support and the entire unit comes out.
now you will need to remove the hose that goes from the airflow sensor plate
to the turbo inlet (be very careful as this hose can and does get brittle
... and while you're here check it for leaks).  You should find that through
the hole where the headlamp was you now have amazing access to the lower
airbox.  The lower half of the airbox is held in place by a single bolt that
takes a 13mm wrench/ratchet.  The two halves of the airbox are held together
by the usual metal clips (4 or 5 of them).  Once you've popped the clips you
should be able to raise the top half of the airbox.  Make sure that the old
air filter doesn't stick to the upper half, and then slide the lower half
toward the engine to disengage the bosses and slide the airbox forward and
out ... not too bad a job IMO/E.  

HTH!
Steve Buchholz
San Jose, CA (USA)