I aquired a second gen TL from a friend for a great price... at a great price comes needed work. I know the motor is locked up and it needs another one. I plan on doing a swap as soon as I get the replacement in my garage. What I am looking for here are the "little" things that I dont know about these cars yet. I have done alot of reading here the last few days and feel like I have only scratched the surface. I will be looking for a AV6 trans while its all apart (even though there has been no mention of trans problems). I plan on fluid changes and it makes sense to me to change the timing belt while its all out in the open. What i need help with is the little things.... like the sensor that is just easier to change with motor out, or the <insert thing I dont know about> that should be replaced/updated because its not easily reachable when its all together.

I am no stranger to a little motor work as I also own a 6.0 Super Duty that has me turning wrenches occasionally.

I appreciate any and all help, and will be around as i get the pieces together for this project. Shooting to get it started in the next two weeks or so.

Thanks
Jim

 

Dman needs engine and a transmission? I sure hope you got the car for free.

 

Engine mounts, at a minimum the rear
Water pump
Main seals
Thermostat

 

Shook... I did.... Previous owner had no issues with the trans so I got that goin for me.... ha ha
01acls, Those are pretty much what I thought.


Thanks

 

Another option for the engine is the Type S motor or just the pistons and rods from the Type S motor to raise the compression for more HP.

 

Consider dropping in a J35A3 from a 2002 MDX rather than the J32A1/J32A2 from a 2nd gen TL-P/TL-S. Everyone swears it'll bolt right up and the J35 gains gobs of torque over the J32. Just a thought. Enjoy your new ride, and welcome to the family!

 

01acls, not really looking to rebuild a motor right now, but will definitely keep that in mind in case i need another project.

Professor, I will look into that... thanks.

Jim

 

Finally got the project started yesterday, Found a donor motor and have it on the stand and gave it a once over. Have the engine bay cleared of obstructions to pull the motor and todays plan is to get the donor motor a new timing belt, water pump, pulleys and belts.

 

Wow good luck. Should be a fun project. Hope you got the car (almost) free.

 

Any updates? What engine did you go with? J35 or the J32's?

 

Ok, Got kinda busy and was unable to work on the car for about 2 weeks.. But here it is....

Got the old motor out after a little tugging and prying and as i already knew it was toast. I needed to reuse the oil pan from the old motor onto the new one. The new motor is from an 02, and I needed to change the oil pick-up tube from my 01 to get the oil pan to fit. I would have never guessed that would be different but it was. The new motor got a new timing belt, tensioner and water pump. Dropped it into place and had it bolted in pretty easily. The plumbing is all reconnected and ready to fill with fluids. Wiring harness is all plugged in and just about ready to go. I need to put the right axle back in and reconnect the front end "stuff" that i disconnected.

Now for the one issue I have..... There are two connectors off the wiring harness that I cannot find the opposite connection for. The old motor/wiring harness has the same two connectors and of all the pictures I took I cannot see those connectors. One is on the back (firewall) left (driver) side of motor attached to the valve cover. The other is a short one that exits harness on top of transmission where a bunch of other wires exit harness. This one is only about 8" and naturally wants to point toward firewall and down behind trans.

My plan for later today is to fill fluids and start. I figure it will either throw a code or not start. If it throws a code I will have a direction to look. I also found a pull your own parts yards that have a few second gen TLs and may swing by to see if I can get any indication of where those "other ends" are located or if they even have one.

I wish I would have taken pics and kept a running thread on here but I didnt think about it until I had the old motor just about out and figured that was a little to late. If anyone has any idea of where to look for those I would appreciate it.....

Thanks
Jim

 

Well, Got it all buttoned up and filled her with fluids aaannnnd...... crank with no start.... Had limited time to work on it as it was Easter and family activities beckoned. Its getting fuel as noted by the fuel leak at the fuel block I took care of. Need to check spark next and triple check all other electrical connections. I still have two connectors without "mates" that have me baffled. I have been watching for one running around that I can take a peak at the engine compartment.

I gotta turn wrenches on the ol' super duty so this may take a back seat for a few days but Ill post back later.

Thanks

Jim

 

Nice work!
hope you can troubleshoot her shortly and get her started up!

 

Well, went out today and triple checked everything and tried a few times with no luck. FIgured what the heck, and gave her a shot of starting fluid and she rumbled to life !!!! After she got running she stayed running and will start each time I turn the key. Started to put all the other stuff back together and I need to get a new axle nut to finish off and take it out for a ride. It sounds a little rough, and the check engine, service engine, and TSC (which I have no clue what that one is yet) lights are on, but she runs. The power steering pump sounds a little suspect, so that may be on a list of next to replace. Of course Advanced Auto cant get the axle nut so i need to order that. Wont be able to get back to it for a day or two, but Im still keeping my fingers crossed that its good to go.....

Jim

 

Glad you got it running.

If you are just worried about dimpling the axle nut in the same place, just swap the left with the right. should be good to go.

as far as the CEL and TCS lights, get the codes 1st and go from there.

Power steering, check fluid level then turn the wheel stop to stop several times to get the air out. Use nothing but Honda PS fluid as these pumps are fairly sensitive to what they use.

Good luck. The hard part is behind you

 

Had it out on the road a couple of times with no issues noted. Still havent gotten the codes read/cleared yet as it is still not registered or tagged. Once its legal, then I will get it to someone with a code reader and figure it out.

 

You can totally have AutoZone or NAPA print/clear the codes without being street legal. Now, getting the car there without cop troubles is another story lol

 

Yeah, i thought of that while I was out test driving, but I didnt want to push my luck.....

 

Well you can always just put some plates from another car on it to at least get you there, just use your blinkers and abide the laws and they'll have no reason to run your plates. Besides, wont you have to pass an inspection before you get it legal? Meaning sooner or later, you're gonna have to drive it on the road.

 

Order an OBDII bluetooth code reader from Amazon for like 20 bucks and then you can read your codes whenever you want

 

Ah^^^ touché!!

 

Eh, Its not my everyday driver so it wasnt a big deal to wait another day. Had all the codes cleared and took it to work which is a 350mi round trip and it ran good with no codes popping up. So far with what little money I have in it I am happy. Definitely better mileage to work than my 3/4 ton diesel....

 

haha dang, that's quite the drive. I'm getting maybeeee 275 miles per tank so, I hope you're doing even better than that.

 

I am doing much better than that Kris... I run the round trip with about 1/8th of a tank to spare. I figured it out and I am getting 27-29 highway MPGs. It is mostly highway so I set the cruise for 75-80 and go....

 

Must be nice, congrats man! I haven't taken a full highway trip on one tank yet so maybe I could break 300 but, something's up for me. I drive very conservative too, weird. Well glad you got the car up and running on the cheap. We have very similar stories!

 

Good work Jim!