Actual work time…probably 15-16 hours. That said, it took me a week and a half or so because I had to order parts. The hardest part is the driver’s side valve cover bolts and radiator removal. That said, now that I know where all the bolts/pins are for the radiator, it’s not nearly as bad as the first couple of times I did it. Wobble gears and some creative extensions are your friend when it comes to the valve cover. Plus, the 12V Milwaukee ratchet that can fit in some tight spaces helped A LOT! (Mainly for all the bolts behind the cylinder heads, and the bolts holding the HVAC eval core to the radiator. FYI, unlike some others, I did not disconnect my HVAC condenser core. My system works great and I didn’t feel like going in and replacing all the seals/drier, and recharging. There’s still plenty of room to get everything done with it still in there.
Try and order as much as you can ahead of time. I chose to replace just about as much as I could as I won’t do this again for another 200K miles. I bought the following: Timing kit, CVT gears(if you want to ), front and rear crossover tubes, water pump, thermostat and hoses, new crank bolt, spark plugs, coils (optional), injectors (also optional), gasket sealant, ungraded metal water pump to oil cooler connector, upgraded water pump to thermostat mini tube elbow (both metal tube upgrades were bought via Amazon.)
I also ended up needing a new bank 1, intake CVT solenoid and now it appears a cam pos sensor as well. (Although I’m not convinced I don’t have a short in my wiring harness.)
I had to wait for a little bit because the “complete” hose kit I got from AB didn’t actually have every hose…mainly the thermostat to engine and water pump hoses. Plus, I goofed and ordered the “non-rear climate” hose kit. Once I got that all straightened out, I was off to the races.
Make sure you get the toolkit to lock everything up. Also, buy it from Amazon, it’s cheaper and just as good. I broke the tooth off my cam tensioner tool, and had to buy an entire kit just to get that. (This was another delay) But it was only like $150 vs. $350 from AB.
One little trick I learned, when installing the crank lock underneath the vehicle, you can use a 24mm socket and breaker bar from underneath the vehicle to wiggle the crank back and forth to get it “just right” so the lock will seat. The first couple of times I did it, I kept getting up and trying to turn the crank slightly, then crawled back under the truck….it was exhausting….then I figured I could fiddle with the lock in one hand and the breaker bar in the other! Now it’s pretty quick.
All in all, just take your time and remove whatever you need to remove.
Oh yeah, one other tool I forgot to mention was a vacuum coolant charging system. I got the Air Lift kit, but there are a lot out there to choose from. Thankfully they all work off an air compressor and form what I can gather, even relatively small compressors can get the job done. Given all the issues we have trying to get the coolant system bled, these systems simply put a vacuum on it and let pressure do the rest! You don’t have to worry about whether or not you have air bubbles anymore. (Although I still do….cause I’m paranoid like that.).
Hope this helps a little!
