thinhthan

im putting in a used motor from the junk yard this weekend. the car been siting there for months so i know i should change timing belt, tensioner, water pump, crank and cam seals, power steering fluid, brake fluid, coolant, spark plugs, air filter. what else do you guys recommend changing. the car it self has over 200xxx miles

'03TL-S

iTrader: (10)

You should put in a type s motor instead.

juanclopez2786

iTrader: (3)

check all the motor mounts while u have it out. itll be super easy to change. other than that u pretty much have everything else covered.. maybe clean up the engine bay if its dirty?

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Put some Seafoam in the tank to soak up any moisture that has built up

01tl4tl

+1 on seafoam at 2 oz per gallon in gas tank-now,,, it will degel the gas and make the water droplets small enough to go thru the system and out-
will clean everything as usual~

Get a new thermostat from Honda- not aftermarket
pressure test the rad cap or replace with honda ---thats being smart~

Whenever we replaced an engine at the shop- radiator went to the specialty place for a full cleaning--take no chances overheating the new baby

the front motor mounts are often found broken at trans replacement- and they are vac assisted so a leak will make engine run funny
bad mount = mystery vac leak!

01tl4tl

While the TB assembly is off, clean and lube the throttle springs and all important inner round plate is cleaned on both sides and edges-carb cleaner or deep creep approved

On the bottem of the TB unit is a small round cover- remove it and remove IACV -clean and reassemble

Im guessing you will remove the intake manifold to clean the EGR ports, and adjust the valves while its out and easy to do- everything you can do now to make it run better is worth the time
May as well install an outlwaw brand thermoblock spacer too- make it run like sealevel air temp and has the gaskets dealer gets 60 bucks for- spend 100 and it pays you back

thinhthan

i just bought new timing belt, water pump, cam and crank seals, idler, tensioner, 1 gallon of radiator fluid, 6 power steering fluid, six tranny fluid, and my drive belts all for 400 from honda. ill prob go buy some seafoam to. i still need to go buy some more radiator fluid so i can flush the system. ill prob go buy a new thermostat tomorrow or something

travs 2002 tl type s

front mount is hydrolic so....

01tl4tl

the front and rear mounts are hydraulic fluid filled thats correct, so spotting a fluid leak is fairly easy, look on the ground or look up at the mounts from below

AND some years also have a vac line that boost the stiffness of the mount under hard throttle,,if thats leaking it will cause a drivabilty issue thats hard to figure out- unless you happen to know~

on gen3 they switched the idea and now use vac assist at idle to make the mounts smoother

01tl4tl

thin- I would run plain water thru the `new` block with the drain bolt removed- get out whatever is there before its installed in the car--
With the water pump removed and the thermostat off, you can spray water right thru the passages

Do the same for the radiator if it didnt go to a shop for full cleaning

rad and engine refill capacity will be nearly 2 gallons
clean the res bottle and refill with new coolant
coolant should be 50/50 mix

thinhthan

what do you mean run water through the block? like run water through the radiator hose that goes into the block? right now im having a really hard time getting the lower ball joint off so i can remove the axles. its like its so rusted and been siting there for so long that its stuck. i been siting here banging on the control arm for the ball joint to come off and still cant. i hit it so much that i end up busting the ball joint boot so i guess im getting new ball joints. any one got tips on removing the ball joint. i try jacking it up with a jack and hiting it and still dont work. i try straying rust eater and still nothing. please help someone this is the only thing holding me back from taking out the motor. i plan on taking the motor out from the top instead of the bottom like the service manual says because i dotn got a lift.

juanclopez2786

iTrader: (3)

soak them with power lube or wd40 and let it sit for a lil. worst case just get a propane torch and heat it up a lil with it and then bang it out.

thinhthan

i tried spraying rust eater and pb blaster but it still doesnt work ill prob try a torch since i already messed up the ball joint. is there any other ways i should try to

01tl4tl

deep creep (seafoam aerosol) works well for busting corrosion, and there is a special tool for removing/seperating the ball joints- free `rental` from parts stores

What I meant about flushing the block was to stick a garden hose in the thermostat opening- have to remove thermostat or water doesnt go thru
Then pump water thru the engine block and it will come out the wp and the rear engine block drain bolt
Assume its loaded with crud from sitting and take the time to do it good

flush both directions- from both radiator/water hose port

thinhthan

can i pull the motor from the top instead of droping the motor from under the car? the manual says drop it from under but i dont got a lift to jack the whole car up.

01tl4tl

yes you can do it from the top- see the thread by fsttyms1 on 6speed diy, that removes engine form the top with pics
no big deal, just mark all the wires and connections

thinhthan

i already removed the engine harness from the pcm and pulled it through the firewall. thats what the SM said to do. all i gotta do is remove my axles and the tranny and the mounts than i can pull the motor out. can i pull the motor with the tranny or do i need to remove it?

totaledTL

Don't you need a special tool to remove ball joints, some type of forked tool? Get a loaner from Auto Zone.

thinhthan

the way i alwas did it was to hit the side of what ever the ball joint is in and it will pop right out

01tl4tl

depends if you plan on replacing them~

ck Kris' thread on the 6speed diy- that should have all the info on removing the engine- iirc it does come out as 1 unit...at least most cars do

or ask phee- he has done this a few times now

thinhthan

ok i just pulled my motor out and everything. i was wondering is it ok to run that bg auto transmission conditioner in my tranny with some new atf than flush it with some atf only?

01tl4tl

NO on any type of flush stuff in the acura trans

Once its all back together in the car, do a straight 3 qt or the full 12 qt 3x3 method
but NEVER use anything else added to the honda ZR fluid

no machine power flush either-
just manually drain and refill- drive 5 minutes using each gear up and down- drain 3 and refill- drive 5 minutes yadayada

01tl4tl

seafoam the engine oil and vac port methods to start the engine off to a good life

thinhthan

dont worry i will for sure i was gonna do it in the oil to.

thinhthan

ok so i think i got a 00 motor because of the intake manifold. the engine harness that i got the connector part was busted so i just used the harness from my 99. i had to do some things to get the harness to fit right so that the manifold sit right. i bolted my 4 speed tranny on it. is there anything else i need to do so the engine runs? or should everything just plug and play?