Hello
I'm in the process of pulling my motor out of my 2000 XKR 4.0 and could use some help on how to disconnect the heater hose near the firewall. The JTIS manual calls this a "Norma push and seal 'R' type".

A local jag shop mechanic claims he has never not broken one of these when attempting to disconnet it. If it breaks the hose it is connected to costs $175! I hear perhaps a ford tool might work but which line tool?
Norma was of no help when I contacted them and the dealer knows of no tool. Any suggestions? This is about the last thing holding me up.

 

The connector(s), there are one on each side of the engine, are reported to be subject to breaking. Or, in my case, causing a long term slow drip. I couldn't get my right side apart at all.

One poster replaced the connectors with a larger hose and clamps rather than spend the money on replacing the Norma connectors. Left and right are different.

 

Can anyone tell me the size and thread of the holes in the Harmonic ballancer used for pulling it off. Several of the suspension bolts appeared to have non metric heads while all of the bolts and nuts on the motor appear to be metric.
Does this sound correct?

 

If you are needing to pull your XKR/XK8 vibration damper read on.
I was able to use the standard harmonic balancer puller available for free rental at AutoZone and Pepboys. I did have to purchase (2) M8 1.25 100mm bolts to use instead of the ones with the puller. Pepboys had the bolts for under $6.00.
Getting the crankshaft bolt loose required a home made tool with 4 bolts welded into a square pattern. I could post a picture of this tool if anyone wants to see it.
I now know that the correct tool for holding the pulley can be rented online but it is not available at local auto parts stores.

The plastic coupling on the heater hose broke as soon as I started attempting to get it off. If the other owner has any shots of his repair of this hose to share it would be helpful and save some of us $175.

 

I do not remember any pictures or even which forum on which that discussion took place. The description I remember is that he cut on both sides of the Norma connector with a hacksaw blade (only) and used standard heater hose and clamps to splice back together.

I believe that you have to replace the entire octopus heater hose to get a replacement connector.

 

If you use the plain heater hose to the norma connector you may want to consider painting the connection with permatex hi tack prior to assembly. This could save you from having to get back in there to fix a drip.

 

Your suggestion of painting with permatex high tack would probably be a big help for this type repair. But since this hose is such a pain to replace, I decided to take the $180 hit and replace it with a new one while the motor is out of the way.

 

Did you have the harmonic balancer center bolt out when you used the puller? I would be worried that if the center bolt was out, the torque required to pull the balancer off might distort the center bolt hole.

 

Yes I did have the center bolt out. The ballancer came off pretty easily with the puller. There is no keyway like on most other engines I've worked on. The end of the crankshaft is instead tapered and so is the inside of the crankshaft pully. As soon as the puller "breaks" the stickion loose, your job is done and it is off. My crankshaft was worn too far to be reused but there did not appear to be any damage to the bolt hole.

By the way DON'T SPRAY THROTTLE BODY CLEANER ON YOUR M.A.P. SENSOR. It said safe for O2, but I made the almost $300 mistake of not using M.A.P. sensor cleaner. Even after re-cleaning it twice with the correct stuff my performance was down and "too lean bank 1" & "too lean bank 2" error codes kept popping up until I replaced the sensor.

It now runs like a bat out of... and will get your heart pounding in a flash.