aaronnn

Everyone's been having problems with this and some were confused about the difference between the 99TL and all the other ones 00TL and up.

today was a nice sunny but breezy day so it was perfect to take apart the engine for some cleaning and alittle extra..

we started off by taking out the intake manifold and throttle body. not too hard, alotta unbolting, unscrewing, and unplugging, but that takes no more than 5-10 minutes.




once we got the intake manifold out, now that's where it gets messy. take a bunch of carb cleaner and start spraying into every hole. get it real clean by scrubbing with brush and towels. remember to use something pointy and thin to clean up that clogged EGR passageway.. that thing was a pain.

once that was done, we didnt exactly put it back together, we went alittle extreme. we decided to take a dremel and smoothen out the EGR passage for better flow and reduce future clogging. then we basicly semi-port and polished the intake manifolds




as you can see in the pic below (the small hole in the middle to your left, we sanded out the egr passage and made it bigger and smoother. we also smoothened out all the other passageways for the intake manifold for better flow.



after we made the holes bigger and smoothened them out, we needed to hose all the metal shavings and all that carbon gunk out. sprayed a whole load of carb cleaner down and then watered the whole IM out. lovely.







even got the throttle butterfly shiny by spraying a bunch of intake and throttle cleaner all over it.



yes, we shot water through every hole and even plugged some up so the water gets all of the metal shavings and gunk out. then we just let it dry in the sun, put the whole thing back together, went out for a spin...

AND WOW!!! the whole engine is running smoother than EVER! i could tell EASILY that now there's nothing clogged and its as if the engine is alive again. it definitly did help my gas mileage by alot, the idle got alittle lower, and the engine feels much more powerful. making the intake holes and the EGR passage bigger and smoother probably helped alot.. another great thing, the check engine light is GONE!

gotta love it, now i just need to get the outlaw engineering spacers on there. hoping for that soon!

whatwasthat

nice write up. i was hopeing for a step by step DIY, but nonetheless, great work

i always thought of making the holes bigger, but was scared of the metal shavings (and the fact that i don't know what tool to use)... which bit for the dremel did you use?

aaronnn

well.. any bit would work.. something small like finger width and just smoothen out the insides. remember not to press too firmly against the wall, those things cut metal like nothing..

oh and for the egr one, just get something half the size of the hole and work around it. try to match the hole with the size of the outer circle so the carbon stuff goes in clean without clogging up.

fsttyms1

do a search on this. i have posted a diy on it before


congrats on the job. i smoothed out mine last time i took it off too. (might as well since you have it off, it doesnt take that long to smooth it out)

aaronnn

yeah.. the total time took about 2.5 hours to do.. it was actually easier than other little self-mods i have done in the past. i think this is probably the best one. gets rid of the check engine, it feels good knowing you have a free-er much smoother flowing engine, and having it restored and feeling brand new again!

andrew_gordon

One quick n00b question. How do you disconnect the throttle cables from the throlle body?

fsttyms1

manually pull it open. then the cable will be loose. you will see where it conects to the butterfly there is a slit that teh cable slides out thru

PenancE

uh oh, i cleaned my IM like a month ago, but didnt know that hole was for the EGR and id idnt know it should of been cleaned too, big problem?

fsttyms1

if you have it off you clean EVERY THING

PenancE

yea i cleaned everything then......another question


u guys heard of those NOS fuel additives for street racing/track racing? supose to help mileage, i popped a bottle in, and it did increase my mileage, but then after couple weeks or so, my mileage went to shit (i know its a 1 time thing) but it got worse for mileage. so is there any additives that i can put in to help out mileage for a long period of time?

blk_tl

bg44k

nick04tl

if you have a clogged egr passage the best tool is a drill bit. actually at the dealer we drill the hole slightly bigger and tap in an aluminum sleeve to prevent future clogs

aaronnn

woah.. exactly what is this "Aluminum Sleeve"?? i would like to stick one in too if it helps smoothen out the passageway.

fsttyms1

why would they tap in an aluminium sleve into a aluminium IM?

dark inspire

"...Just in case..."

aaronnn

thats true.. it wouldnt make sense to stick another piece of aluminum in there. wouldnt that make the hole slightly smaller too?? i dremeled the hole bigger for better flow and to prevent clogs. but the aluminum sleeve would help in a way, if it was just a straight aluminum strip that wrapped in the inner part of the passageway so its just straight and smooth instead of the bumps that the hole originally has..

dark inspire

maybe they put the sleeve in there so that if it gets cloged, they just pull the thing out and put a new one?

PenancE

why not port and polish the IM everytime lol

dark inspire

then you won't have anything left!

PenancE

meh

aaronnn

there's no point in making the hole any bigger since if the diameter is wider than the part that leads to the intake manifold it wont have any affect. all you can really do is smoothen it out. thats what port and polishing the first time is for..

fsttyms1

that and on mine where mine was clogged every time was that upper passages, and the 6 holes in the upper IM

kobayashi

What I found was the metal gasket was creating a lip(the holes in the gaskets were smaller tahn one side of the ports) on which the clogs were starting. I almost drilled the gasket out at each of the 6 ports but then figured the Acura guys had them sized already for metering.

I may drill them anyway next time in.

k.

kobayashi

Aaron what MIL code were you throwing?

k.

aaronnn

MIL code?

whatwasthat

MIL (maintenance indicator light) does not throw codes. only CEL (check engine light) does

kobayashi

MIL = Malfunction Indicator Lamp = Check Engine Light

k.

fsttyms1

No. i Dont have a MIL. I have a CEL

K ???

kobayashi

Ok

So what was the CEL code?

k.

aaronnn

i dont know the actual code, but the computer read "EGR: FLOW INSUFFIENT"

subtledreamer

very sweet writeup & pics bro

i'll definately do this sometime in the future

fsttyms1

thats a p0401

kobayashi

Mine's a PO133:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116059

k.

dands99tl

fsttyms1

Before you say search for this, I have, and at pretty good length. I looked for your DIY on the subject but couldn't seem to find it. If you could post the location that would be most helpful.

What gaskets are needed to complete this? I guessed IM, TB, and EGR if there is one. Am I close? I have direct access to World-Pac (OEM Honda/Acura parts supplier) so I planned on just getting whatever gaskets I need. I do drive my TL everyday though, so I need to pick the gaskets up in advance.

Thanks in advance.

fsttyms1

If your carefull you dont need any gaskets. and you dont need to take off teh throttle body
this is just a quick rundown, come pics in this link
http://www.acurainspired.com/forums...?showtopic=4003
and this link
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116316

Post #4

start off by getting 3 or so cans of SPRAY carb cleaner and acouple small scrub brushes.
if your engine is any thing like the 2nd gen
baisicly you take the plastic engine cover off 4 10-mm bolts. then disconect the battery. they disconect the rubber hose that goes from the air box to the throttle body. continue to unplg any thing that goes to the intake (any plugins hoses) then there are 10 10mm bolts on the top plate (the part that sticks up thru the plastic engine cover) oull that straight up being carefull to not damage teh gasket. then there are like 8 bolts (12mm i think, i cant remember off the top of my head) then you are able to pull the upper part of the intake manifold off (double check before you pull straight up that every thing is disconected) then get your self a nice place to work and start cleaning. (stick a bag over the TB before you hose every thing down like in my pic to be safe)
it sounds like alot but its really easy should take about a hr to do

aaronnn

thanks!

its definitly an awesome thing to do. definitly improved gas mileage and made the engine run smoother and quieter.

yunginTL

hahaha i got a big red jack too, pepboys coupon

TheNuke

Hey Guys,

Just picked up an '02 Anthracite TL-P last week and have been reading the forums non-stop. Great info!

I came home today and decided to go ahead and clean the manifold and EGR. I pulled the plastic engine cover off, followed by the thin gray/silver cover. There is some liquid sitting in the chambers on top of the manifold. Is that normal? It appears to be engine oil. More prominent on the throttle body side of the manifold.

TIA

TheNuke

Well,

I cleaned everything up, put it back together, and it seems to run very well. I have a feeling most of the difference I notice is from tightening the throttle cables. There was a LOT of play in them.

I was planning on switching the car over to synthetic tonite, but now I'm a little nervous because of the oil on top of the manifold. I think the previous owner used non-synth oil, so I know that any small leaks will be exploited by the synthetic.

Any insight? Thanks.

fsttyms1

the oil is completly normal. its on all of them. dont worry. Switch over to Syn when ever you want!