It's time! 100k proactive maintenance

OCC installed... just waiting for new manifold gasket to come in the mail today. Wish I could put it all back together! Tempted just to use my old gasket. It doesn't seem cracked. Thoughts? @NutzAboutBolts in your video you mention it being "flat" how do I know what's normal and what's flat? I feel a slight bump when I roll my finger over it, so it's not quite flush with the manifold, however, it's not nearly as noticeable as the EGR gasket on the manifold which is about 2-3x as rigid.

 

DONE!

Re: gasket: mine came in the mail shortly after I posted. I compared and WOW - now I understand what @NutzAboutBolts meant by flat. Definitely get a new one when you do this!


Anyway - I haven’t done a coolant flush yet. Can I start the car being slightly low on coolant or should I preform that before trying to start??

 

For now it’s in the same location as yours. Sorry @Raytheeagle hopefully I'll go low soon. But want to see how this does.

 

Well, my jack doesn't lift the car high enough to get stands under it! LOL. So I'm heading over to my father in-law's house tonight to use his car lift. That will be much easier anyway.

As for the OCC install, here's a snap:

 

Well, that was one hell of a night, but it's done.


Aside from spilling transaxle fluid all over the garage floor, my father in law's crappy no-name brand extension broke inside of his crappy-no name brand hex bit so I had to go find a new bit which proved to be tricky so late in the evening. Luckily, Hope Depot saved the day.


All in all, the worst part about the fluid changes is removing / installing that stupid cover! I despise those clips!

......but now everything is done. Here's what I preformed + the ~hours it took me.
(keep in mind, up until now, I have never done anything besides spark plugs & tire rotations, so I'm green, to say the least)

(First removed the wiper assembly & cowling)
√ Spark Plugs –– 30min
√ EGR Pipe & Cooler removal / clean / reinstall –– 7hrs
√ Intake manifold & throttle body removal / cleaning / reinstall –– 5hrs
√ PCV valve replacement –– 5 minutes
√ Oil Catch Can install –– 1hr
√ Transaxle drain / refill –– 45min
√ Coolant drain / refill (inverter & radiator) 2hrs

Started up the car this morning on a damp, cooler day, and NO KNOCK! So that's progress!

In review, I found the EGR somewhat difficult to remove, and it was a struggle to get some of the coolant pipes loose... but easy after that. The intake manifold was even easier. Oil catch can was a breeze...and it really just keeps getting beter from there... although, TBH the fluid refills proved to be the most cumbersome / annoying for me. Not sure I would bother doing that again myself, especially if I didn't have a lift like I did this time.

Finally, I certainly can't end this post without a HUGE thank you to @NutzAboutBolts! Without his videos, I would've never even attempted something like this. He's a pro. I also greatly appreciate he shows you how to put things back together instead of just pulling the typical Youtuber trick saying "reverse what you did to take it off!" lol

Cheers!

 

Yeah. I don't think I want to do that again, though. I might have to one more time...but hoping to get my hands on a 4th gen by then.