505 GTI - Removing the gearbox front cover - Not so simple

[Hugo]

Hi everyone

I have a 1993 505 GTI station wagon with an automatic transmission. I am having trouble removing the gearbox front cover.

I'm removing the engine and am up to the step in the Haynes manual (Chapter 1, section 27, step 14) "Unbolt and remove the gearbox front cover, and the TDC sensor cover...". Unfortunately there are no pictures to guide that step.

The 1986 Peugeot Workshop (page B4.106) says "Remove the torque converter housing closing plate..." and shows the picture (the cover is the half moon shape here):

My cover plate also has a triangular reinforcement. Here is a photo of it (looking up with the engine at the bottom and transmission at the top of the photo):

And here is my rough drawing of the shape of cover (as much of it as I can see):

I have removed the four hex cap bolts on the bottom edge of the cover and two normal hex bolts attached to the RHS side part of the cover (as viewed as in the photo), but it still won't come off.

Is another bolt or two to remove? Or is there something else I should know when removing it?

Cheers
Hugo

 

[dacia4x4]

Hi hugo, if I remember correctly there is a roll pin in the extra small hole in the cover near the bolt hole to the right on your picture,you may have to get a thin straight blade screwcriver and pry the cover rearwards in that area,......just a thought,jim

 

[Beano]

Get things quite clean and shine a lot of light in there.

 

[Hugo]

Thanks Jim for the tip, I''ll keep an eye out for it.

And Beano, yes, clean is a good idea.

Slight jimmying of the cover shows that it is still stuck on the RHS of the picture.

If anyone had a picture of the cover once it is removed that would be very useful.

Does anyone know which models have this triangular reinforced cover? (It is absent in the 1986 Peugeot Workshop.)

Hugo

 

[Hugo]

Hi everyone

Victory!

After looking more closely at the cover, I realised that part of the cover extended up to be sandwiched between the engine and the engine mount! I then removed the engine mount temporarily to release the cover.

This is the cover once removed:

It has extra metal parts compared to some earlier models) that clearly acts as structural reinforcement.

The equilateral triangle at the back of the part gets sandwiched between the engine mount and the engine. You can see the triangle here after the engine mount was removed but before the cover itself was removed (yes, the engine is very dirty!):

So, the steps involved to remove the cover are:
1. Remove the four cap bolts on the half moon part of the cover
2. Support the engine with a jack on the passenger side at the front to take the tension off the mount
3. Detach the rubber dampener from the top engine mount bracket (2 smaller bolts)
4. Remove the bottom engine mount bracket from the cross member (2 larger bolts)
5. Now all 3 bolts attaching the top engine mount bracket to the the engine are exposed
6. Remove the top engine mount bracket from the engine (3 larger bolts) - this also frees the cover
7. Remove the cover
8. Replace the engine mount brackets and dampener by reversing the above (it may be necessary to use the jack to bring the dampener sufficiently close to the the top bracket to correctly align the mounting bolts) and remove the jack

I hope that helps someone one day.

Cheers
Hugo