Yeah, I always used a heavy oil filter wrench, one of those with the pivoting handle.

**Don't forget to THOROUGHLY exhaust the pressure before unscrewing it. That will take 30-40 solid presses on the brake pedal WITH THE IGNITION OFF. Makes a mess and can spray you right in the face if you don't.

Good luck!

 

Yeah, that's what I've been using. I even went and bought an 8mm brake caliper bit and it still wouldn't budge. I'm afraid of trying any harder than I have in fear of breaking some of the pump housing.

And I did depressurize -- 100 hard presses just to make sure.

 

My post on 4/16 has the photo of the housing. I had the same fear about breaking something. You have to be careful. Yes as I mentioned the allen wrench was useless, only good for re-installation.

They should have built in a boss into the housing just below the accumulator to attach a big wrench to hold it. Shame on them for not doing that.

Remove the long narrow bolt that has the rubber mounts. Pull the rubber mounts out. Insert a long 1/2" drive extension in the housing to use as leverage. The idea is to help hold the housing firmly to give you leverage. It's not at the ideal angle but it helps.

Then I used my strap wrench on the accumulator. It certainly was very tight.

Rich

 

Well you don't really have much choice......it's gotta come off there. You might try giving it a quick rap with a medium hammer while you have it torqued up with the oil filter wrench.

Good luck!

 

Finally got it off and reinstalled new one on Friday. Then I drove the car for about an hour. Braking was ten times better and the car sounded and drove great. I drove it for the first time again this afternoon and while in park the car sounds great and idles at around 1,000. When I put it in drive, I have no power. It would barely go 20 mph with the gas to the floor. I back down a slightly steep hill to get it out of the drive and while in reverse I felt the rear of the car kind of jerking (as if maybe the bake was stuck). I also think I can smell something different in the exhaust. I'm scared.

 

STOP RUNNING THAT ENGINE! Most likely you have lost the ignition on one bank. When that happens one of the catalysts is flooded with fuel and lights up. Run it too long and the cat will melt down, literally. I've seen them get so red hot that the interior carpet melts or catches fire. You need to find out whether you have lost a Marelli coil or burned thru the distributor rotor, those are the two most likely failures. A power module could have failed, but that is more rare than the other two causes. If you can do it, great; if not, get it taken to someone familiar with the V12 engine.

Good luck!

 

That's exactly what it sounds like. I agree....DO NOT RUN THE ENGINE.

When you loose one bank of ignition, the injectors continue to inject fuel to that bank, and since it cannot ignite, it continues to fill the exhaust with fuel. The catalytic converter is the lowest spot with no exit path and fills with fuel. If the cats are old they are likely clogged, making the problem worse.

If and when you find the problem, I would recommend you remove both cats and break out the elements and leave them clear. The secondary cats should still be good.

At least you fixed your brake problem, that's a good thing.

Rich

 

Thanks for the info guys. I parked the car as soon as I realized something was wrong, so the engine was probably own no more than five minutes -- hopefully I haven't done any further damage. A few questions: how difficult is it to repair the suspected problems (I am a novice but I love working on the car and feel like I can learn to do about anything with a little patience)? How much money am I looking at in regards to parts (and possibly service)? Can anyone reference me to the applicable page numbers in the service manual? Are any special tools required? Again, many thanks.