It was sticking in various positions. Nope, all 5 ports are wet, and there’s a sensor too. Whoever designed it should be shot. It’s a very stupid design in that you have to force it in two directions at a right angle, unless there’s more more removal of parts that I don’t see. In any case its pretty tough to swap out despite being on the front top of engine. I was able to do it but it took a lot of swearing and some blind fastening and high dexterity moves.
Variable vane pump? Is that really true? Wow. I hadn’t considered that. Why would they design that in?
I wonder if a coolant filter would be a worthwhile install.