Viscous fan bearing saga

Background: So, my viscous fan pulley bearing has totally failed - the fan has decided to detach it's self from the engine. I had a fiddle around following a very good thread on here, but the outer race is still stuck in the hole where the bearing sits. Since I'm very busy this week I decided to simply take it to a garage and let them sort it out. No such luck; just spoke to them and they seem totally unsure of how to sort this problem out. I am therefore tempted to bring the car home and crack on my self.

My question: as mentioned the outer race is still stuck in there. There isn't enough room to get a puller in there, so its going to have to come out by slightly more "inventive" means. I'm tempted to cut it out carefully with a dremmel, however the garage (who I'm not sure I trust) say this isn't an option as swarf will fall backwards behind the bearing into the timing gears. Is this the case? Is dremmel assisted removal going to mean suicide for the engine?

This photo (stolen from another thread) shows what I'm on about: http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/attac...-replace-td5-viscous-fan-bearing-img_0199.jpg

take the front cover off it will be easier in the long run ,isnt it disco 1 with 3oo tdi

This is a TD5. Sorry to sound dense; front cover off what?

ok was thinking of 300 ,cover that bearing sat in ,its somewhat more tricky with a td5 wih it sandwiched between head and sump try this link http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rc...64HABQ&usg=AFQjCNFSr-TYaXGN3V1kB1QpzQMp6E23Tg

Thanks for the tip - that's the thread I've been following (hence my reply at the end!).

If I can get the outer race out I'm home and dry. From memory, I think the bearing housing is sealed from the timing gears. If it is then I can just cut it out. If not, I have bigger problems.

This photo from that thread shows the same problem I have:

you could make an expanding tool for a slide hammer or puller ,lr use the idea to pull bearing races out of gear box input shafts ,isnt there a seal at rear of hole removing risk of metal dropping into engine

dont know what sixe bearing is off hand but if big enough you run beads of weld round inside of bearing it makes bearing shrink and will drop out ,link to tool as an idea http://www.dingocroft.co.uk/acatalog/LRT-37-004.JPG

jamesmartin said:

you could make an expanding tool for a slide hammer or puller ,lr use the idea to pull bearing races out of gear box input shafts ,isnt there a seal at rear of hole removing risk of metal dropping into engine

Click to expand...

I think it must be (sealed).

Clean the area well and push a piece of sponge tight into the hole, crack somehow the bl**dy thing then pull the sponge out, it will wipe out the debris

I think a dremel with a cutting disc is going to be the easiest option if you have room to swing it around in there,if the back of that hole is blind then no swarf will enter the timing cover area.