How to replace the coolant pipe above the water pump

The plastic pipe has a crack in it, so I've got another one ordered and should be in by next week. I've been trying to get the part removed without having to take off a bunch of other parts as well, but it is being stubborn. Does anybody have any tips or tricks for removing this pipe?

 

I got the pipe off. It's a whole lot of shaking, twisting, pulling, and everything else to get it loosened up. I had to loosen the coolant pipe between the EGR cooler and the head in order to get the space needed to finally get it out. I think it's a 10mm for the bracket clamp, and 17mm for the bolt holding the pipe to the head. I'm hoping that there's an updated design, since it looks like from the parts I ordered that there's a spacer on top of the pipe where it connects to the thermostat housing area. If I can twist and bend the shorter pipe into place, then slide the spacer in afterwards, it should be a lot easier. I was pretty lucky to catch this leak while it was happening, otherwise it would've been pretty hard to track down. It's a small crack in the valley part of the pipe that would only leak while pressurized.

 

The part is not an updated one, it's the exact same thing that I removed. Installing it was just as tedious as removing it. Lubricate the gaskets, rotate the pipe while getting it in, and use a prybar or something to leverage it in place. Make sure you get the orientation as close as you can so the bolt holes line up, since it's hard to rotate once you get the bottom O-ring settled in. Line up the top and put one bolt in but not all the way. You can use leverage to slightly rotate or move the pipe so the 2nd hole is lined up. I used a camera on selfie mode to help, then put bolt #2 in. I found it's easier to leave the EGR coolant pipe on in order to use it as leverage for the prybar. If it disturbs the gaskets on that pipe and you get leaks, repair it afterwards. I filled the system up and got to operating temperature with no apparent leaks. Good luck to anyone else that decides to tackle this repair.

 

So if anybody ends up needing to replace this part, it might be a good idea to replace the thermostat housing if it's the original one. It is made of the same plastic material and ends up deteriorating. I started getting a small leak from the hose connection on it, so I tightened it up and it got worse. The barb part of the housing ended up being crushed by the hose clamp, and the inside is kind of delaminating like wet particle board. PAI makes an updated part that looks like it is metal. Hopefully the holes are in the right place, because the water pump I got from them had one hole slightly off so the gasket wouldn't seal without using Permatex.

Removing the EGR pipe makes it easier to get a 12mm wrench on the lower bolts. Updated part is metal, easy to install.