Thread: TD5 Thermostat Replacement hell!!

On difficult jobs with a Land Rover the key is...

Do it a hundred times or more on different vehicles and it will become a simple exercise

Practice may or may not make perfect but at least it will put you in a passive head space.

ok ok... less Zen, having the right tools such as hose clamp pliers is a good investment.
Also, some pipes you need to open the clamp with your hose clamp pliers, then slip it over the pipe (such as the outlet of the thermostat closest to the engine) then position the hose on it, then bring the clamp back down over the hose. The bottom outlet on the top radiator hose is like this too.

I hate those spring hose clamps.
When we did his waterpump and fuel cooler leak, told brother that if he didn't get proper hose clamps, he's on his own!

When we removed all of his clamps(the ones we had to do), we used long nose multigrips. Easier to lock them open when removing the clamp over the hose, rather than having to manually squeeze and remove at the same time.

Dremel with cut-off wheel!
The perfect spring clamp removal tool.

Those spring clamps are a real PITA to work with But they are far more effective than the common hose clamps because of the fact that they are spring loaded and don't come loose like the other clamps do over time.
Persevere with them, you may loose a little skin fitting them but that is far better than blowing a hose in the middle of WoopWoop.

Originally Posted by trout1105

Those spring clamps are a real PITA to work with But they are far more effective than the common hose clamps because of the fact that they are spring loaded and don't come loose like the other clamps do over time.
....

Some Jap cars use them too, and I've had them fatigue and not clamp tightly.
Other than reusing very old crappy screw clamps, never had an issue with them, and renewing them on the road is a simple affair. Screw clamps are a much more common part type to locate in remote areas too.
if you use cheapo wormscrew clamps, like you get in some silicon hose sets, then of course you're asking for trouble, but even the common cheap type(tridon/norma/etc) you get at the average auto parts store can work well, as long as you don't over tighten them, and strip them.

At the moment, I'm using the typical tridon brand worm screw hose clamps, just about everywhere on my Tdi, but have plans to eventually replace as many with the heavier duty T-bolt types(especially for the turbo hoses).
My airbox to turbo inlet hose won't clamp as well as I'd like it too on the turbo inlet side

Like these: Heavy duty hose clamps.

No spring clamp will have the holding ability as that type of hose clamp if required, and no special tools required to make it easier to remove-refit years down the track!
I prefer to use my 1/4" socket set, with either the screw driver handle, lots of extensions for those hard to reach clamps, etc, etc. Where some clamps have very restricted access, like the fuel cooler rear hoses, a 1/4 ratchet makes life easy.