Hello guys. I am embarking on a journey with my wife's S80 this weekend. Among other things I will be replacing the timing belt, struts, water pump, thermostat and inner and outer tie rod ends. And with the exception of doing the brakes, I have never turned a wrench on this car. I am in dire need of a shop manual that can give me torque specs for the above items, but I don't have time to wait to order a set of VADIS disks from eBay. Is there any where that I can buy one online and download it immediately, or better yet, download it for free?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm in the east end of Toronto and have a Vadis disk, if you're nearby..

 

Sorry Bimmer, I'm in Dallas and that would be quite a drive.

 

strut bolts tight as you can get with 3/8 ratchet, use impact for lower bolts.

water pump bolts, again 3/8 ratchet, you want them snug with a little bump if you put too much pressure you break the bolt (done it before). use a tiny bit of silicone.

thermostat...careful getting the torx out. use 3/8 extension with 3/8 ratchet. if you strip one, carefully use a chisel and whack the head of the torx off. putting back on, use tiny bit of silicone and want them tight, same as water pump bolts.

tie rods, use white out and mark where the bolts sit on the shaft. measure and put new ones on at same distance, go to alignment shop to be sure if you aren't. want end bolts tight tight with 1/2 inch breaker. use pipe or prybar to but pressure on the rod end when tightening.

good luck I have been doing this for 7 years, I got a feel for torque.

 

Thanks Life. Your comment about stripping the heads out of the thermostat bolts made me research that part of my project a little further. In reading the boards, it seems that almost everyone who attempts a thermostat replacement has at least one of the torx bolts strip out. Is this really the case? With all that I have to replace this upcoming weekend, I am starting to think about not changing out the thermostat. How often do they go bad? Should I expect to be able to get 200,000 miles out of the original one (that's about the time I think I will be back into that part of the engine)?

 

they rarely ever go bad I only ever change them when the cootnet temp sensor located right bellow it goes bad, the housing has to be removed anyway.

Tip on the torx bolts. Have the engine warm before you try to remove the torx.

I have only stripped 3 torx doing the t-stat/ temp sensor change out. Did 2 today (temp sensors) my count is up into the 60s I believe. Its a PITA when they strip.

 

Thanks Life. I wish I had as good of a feeling for torque as you do. I didn't feel comfortable thinking that I would get the torque right by feel so I ended up purchasing a year's subscription to Alldata last night. I basically paid $29 for peace of mind. I think it might come in handy if I get in a bind though. Wish I hadn't had to buy it, but still glad I did.

 

???????? $29 !!!!!! for All-data

its $350 month subscription.

 

for torxs and alens get it lined up and hit it with a hammer to get it seated. most of the striping is from not holding the ratchet right causing it to twist i like to hold the head of the ratchet if there is room so it cant twist sideways. if you hit the socket with a hammer it really helps seat it so you dont stip it for not being in the whole way.

 

$29 is for 1 year access to 1 vehicle's information. The $359 is likely the cost for professional shops to access their whole database for all cars. It's actually alldatadiy.com rather than alldata.com

 

ohhhh, I didn't know they had that option, learn something new every day WOOT!