Rich Sandor

I'm sorry for the amateurish drawing, but for some reason I felt that this would be really helpful and if I didn't do it now, I'd never get around to drawing it.

Anyways, this is how Wes and I removed the Snap Ring from his S2:



Rich

Rich Sandor

BTW, thanks to whomever it was (i think Danno) who suggested this method to begin with.

Danno

Good job! Nice drawing! Doing it from one end is the easy way; and only way that I know of. Has anyone actually ever actually compressed the two ends together so that they touch and actually pulled off the circlip all at once?

IceShark

Yeah, ME! I got a pair of Husky bent (~ 75 degrees) needle nose pliers from Home Depot for about 5 bucks, filed the tips down a hair and out that snap ring came pretty easy. I wrote about it in that other thermostat thread a day or two ago. It was really quite easy, especially after screwing around with a pair of SnapOn ring pliers for about 2 hours. Those SnapOns won't work because the handles are too long and you can't get the right angle unless you probably take the radiator out.

Chris_924s

Isnt this the way the "killer thread" started?

"How to remove that #$%^ing Snap ring!"

I f you dont remember it- thats's ok. It was the sole reason for "The Abyss" IIRC.. and you wont find it if you search- it's gone forever.
That is, perhaps, and asset..

BruceWard

I was able to remove and reinsert the snap ring using heavy duty snap ring pliersfrom Autozone. Once I had the heavy duty pliers and adjusted to 45 degrees heads it was pretty easy. The other snap ring pliers I tried had a 45 degree adjustment but were not strong enough.

theedge

I used a pair of small screwdrivers and a crapload of R rated language. Of course, thats when the pump was sitting in my lap...

pete944

I did it with some very cheap snap ring pliers from Autozone.
I had to file a notch into the ends until it grabbed the holes in the snap ring but after a few hours I had the notch just right and it grabbed it without letting go.
It's much easier with the pump off the car.

Sam Lin

Yup, add me to the list, took the Lisle tool and modified it to take some more force, and now the thermostat is a breeze.

Sam

Granite 944

Rich, that is a heck of a good drawing! Wish I could draw even half as well.
I've removed the snap rings from both my cars, and a couple of parts cars as well. IIRC, I ended up doing something very similar to what your drawing is showing. I did end up (pretty quickly like) going to Harbor Freight tools, bought a two peice snap ring plier kit for about $15.00 IIRC, one is 12"straight, the other had a 45 deg. bend that I heated up, bent more to my liking, and filed the ends a little. This pair of pliers works mighty well for me from below or from the top, providing the ring ends are not positioned to far off to one side or the other. Dang I wish I could draw that well!



I bent the nose of pliers to about 80 degrees, even though it doesn't look like it in this pic.

User 41221

I have done it a couple of times in the car with various snap ring pliers... If you have a big enough set, its not that bad.

Regards,

Rich Sandor

Yup. If you have the right tools, anything can be done easy. If you don't, however, you have to become resourceful, and expend a bit more energy.

MM951

Why is it sucb a bitch on our cars?

All my other cars just take the 2 bolts off of the t-stat housing on the upper rad house and pull that sucker right out

why did they engineer it like that?!

Rich Sandor

Disgruntled engineers maybe???

Or maybe they made it that way on purpose so that the longer labour rates would keep the shops busy and make more money. (that's what I think...)

Randy_J

Rich - I have a pair of 90 degree snap ring pliers..... should be easy, but then half the battle with these cars is trying to get the right tools to fit in such tight areas. I never get over how cramped the engine bay is for a relatively small motor.... gotta find that leaking water hose (I hope it's the hose anyway) tomorrow.