Yes you can get everything back into place. Just don't let the clutch pedal go until that front hub bolt is bolted back on with the cover on. You'll be fine. Hope you didn't forget the 10mm bolts that are under the oilpan connecting to the front cover!

 

No, I haven't got to those yet. Nor have I removed the crank angle sensor, or the lower oil line to the cover.
I still have a lil bit to go, I'm gonna try to get to those today.
I gotta get it up on some stands or ramps.
I need to get it up pretty high so my fat *** can slide up under it. he he

 

If you have the front cover off, you can get everything back into place should the bearing fall. It's worth checking before you put the cover back on anyway. Remove the bolts that hold the front stationary gear in place, then remove the thrust plate after sliding off the eccentric key, torrington bearing, etc. Pull off all the bearings and plates, clean 'em up, grease them, then put back in place. Don't worry about holding the clutch if you are going to pull the thrust plate.

If you are really insane, you can remove the front stationary gear, keeping the eccentric shaft COMPLETELY STATIONARY and MOTIONLESS and check the condition of your bearings after all that nasty oil went through. But I don't recommend doing this, especially as a "first" job...

BTW, I have almost the same electric impact wrench. Makes short work of almost everything.

 

I don't have the cover off yet, remember I am just trying to replace the freeze outs. i don't want to get into anything unneccesary.

Woohoo!!! I finally have an avatar!!!!!!

 

It's good to know that taking the front cover off is not as big of a deal as i originally thought. I'm going to have to do this to fix the oil leek, but i'll have to get hold of some new tools as well.

 

Yeah it's not too bad, i've just been taken my time trying not to mess anything up.

 

that is some real nasty gunk. I am glad your taking this slow. One suggestion I have, if it is infact the freeze plugs and a simple fix, after assemble change the oil and filter immediatly, then again after runnning the engine for an hour or so and agein in 100 miles, just to get all of the crap out.

good luck!

 

Yeah, that's what I was planning on doing. That way all that gunk stuff, would be diluted and flushed out after a couple oil changes.

 

I just hope if in fact it is the freeze outs, you guys will help me get it back together as much as you guys have helped me get it apart.

:o)

 

oh damn wish i saw this thread earlier, i just did a front cover job 2 weeks ago, for some reason timing was horribly off when i put it all back together (knocking and barely starting). I reset the CAS and everything and it was all dead on. pulled the front cover back off (45 min, record time!!) checked everything, made sure i didnt crush the bearing. Put it all back together, reset the CAS and low and behold ran fine, never idled right after that thoug hmmmm?? anyways hope thats your problem good luck, ill try to keep my head in this thread, been through this all before and pretty fresh in my mind.

 

Excellent.

 

I don't really need to remove the crank angle sensor, to pull the cover do I?

 

Yes, you do. You'll have to pull it anyway when you put it back together, and it makes it easier to pull the cover off if it's not in place still.

 

Okay, thanks for the quick responce. :o)

 

So gnome311, how's the project going?

 

Well I've pulled the crank angle sensor, and the oil pan. having to remove the motor mount to get to the pan sucked. Good thing I had a 6 foot breaker bar to break those bolts.

 

After removing the oil pan, I checked the housings and from what I could tell they all seemed to look alright, without any cracks.
So I'm feeling a bit more confident that it's the front freeze outs.
Hopefully I'll make some more progress tomorrow, I didn't mess with it today any, I had a bad hangover.

 

this project is like watching paint dry - pull the cover (any bets as this is the time)

 

lol, yeah i'm bit slow.

 

werd.

get this little project finished up.

damn all you people that have other cars you can drive. if this were me trying to do this project i would have completed it in a night fixed or not because i have no other car to drive to work

 

like watching paint dry - meaning you just can't see the progress. I am with you. in the time our friend has started this I have been on two business trips, pulled one s5, cleaned and preped another and just spent the afternoon trimming new side seals (WHAT A PITA THAT IS!)

Gnome just keep asking questions as you get stuck, at least your post count is increaseing due to the process....

 

i was not aware that you had to trim the sideseals... (never done a rebuild before, just bought and installed a shitty reman)

 

I just read all 5 pages and now i'm anxious to see what the cause of the leak is. Its like waiting for the kicker on a football team to attempt the game winning field goal.

 

its like watching grass grow.

lol

 

Okay, enough with the cracks on me. I think I'm doing pretty good being I only have a hammer and a baseball bat. lol

But anyway. I have finally got the cover off, and in the pouring rain.......

here's some more pics, it is the freeze out plug........