It's a dual mass flywheel...I think that explains why it's "loose"...whether or not the level of movement is acceptable is beyond me so I simply ordered a new flywheel...simple as $500 but at this point, why take the chance.

 

Ordered one for $10, arrived in 3 days. Awesome....thanks

 

almost ready to put in the new engine...waiting on a few more parts this week and then the weekend to stuff her back in her home.

ran across an issue with my new coolant system....
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/engine-swap-cooling-hoses-question-mt-vs-auto-840015/

If anyone has any thoughts on my proposed fix, please chime in.

thanks

 

duckengine i ran with exactly the same problem, but it was too much trouble to switch out the part so i just plugged the holes and no problems yet.

 

Dropped the new motor in Saturday, took care of the coolant issue by plugging the extra lines on Sunday and she fired up on the first try! What a relief!

Had a couple of little scares at first...a few seconds after the car started there began a high pitch squeel...we immediately determined the new power steering pump and power steering line had sucked the reservoir dry...so we quickly shut it off, refilled, and started it back up. I got out of the car to overlook the motor while it was running....when I closed the door, all the doors automatically locked....followed by the high pitch squeel, which meant the power steering reservoir was dry again! I ran into the house, grabbed my extra key and unlocked the door and shut off the car...my brother was already pouring fluid into the reservoir so he was thinking a little faster than i was. The power steering fluid eventually leveled out, the squeel was gone and the engine purred like a kitten. There was a short period when the car computer had detected/assummed the car was in motion...except it was in neutral on the jack stands! It kept warning me the parking brake was still on and was the reason the doors locked when I shut the door.

TIP: always leave your window open while you're working on your car.

So all in all, i spent ~$3600....$1100 on the new motor, about $500 on tools and about $2000 on new peripheral parts (i.e. power steering pump & hose, clutch, flywheel, gaskets, HFPC's, timing kit, water pump, belts, tensioner, thermostat, rear main seal). Compared to the shop that wanted over $6000 for the job that only included the motor and the clutch kit - it was so worth the effort. Had they bought all the other parts i bought, combining their mark-up on the parts and the labor to install, the price tag could easily have been well over $7000.

I'm amazed at the power I have again - I think its even more than when i first got the car...it would be logical since I replaced the CC's with HFPC's. Of course that's just my butt meter telling me that so i really don't know.

I have 2 small issues to deal with:

1. the check fuel cap warning keeps coming on - i never saw that, even before the engine swap. I realize it make take a few days to go away so i'm just being patient right now.

2. I removed the check valve from the slave cylinder...for those of you that know this process, you know what i'm talking about...anyway, I haven't been able to get consistent pressure to disengage the clutch. I can pump it a couple of times to get the pressure and it shifts real easy, but if its sitting for any length of time (i.e. driving from point a to point b, or after I first start it); i'll need to pump it a couple of times to get enough pressure to easily shift gears.

The slave cylinder issue is just a minor issue and could really just be worn out - it has 155,000 miles on it and I should probably have just replaced it but i wanted to test the check valve removal on the old one first. Also, it seems my clutch pedal needs to be adjusted. It begins engaging the flywheel almost immediatly after i begin releasing the clutch. I thought these were self adjusting clutches?? Do i need to manually adjust the clutch pedal due to the new clutch?

Once again, minor issues but I am, afterall, in the fine tuning stage.

sorry for the long winded message.

 

great thread...I like it when people use their garages

Did you try bleeding the slave cylinder as outlined in the manual (w/ a block of wood)? Having to pump the clutch pedal is telling me that there's either a leak or air in the system.

Do problems in the EVAP system cause the fuel cap warning to come on?

Where did you source the replacement j32?

 

Whoa that's a lot of money. Glad you got it running

 

great work DuckEngine....i would have given up but you did awesome

 

Good job!

 

I had bled it....not with a block of wood though?? Anyway, it seems better but I would like it if the clutch didn't engage until just another 1/2" or so...just my preference.

The fuel cap issue went away after about a day and half.

I bought my motor from http://www.aaajapaneseimports.com/...it's a/was JDM.

I did notice what looked like a small oil leak from the rear main and the head gasket on the old motor...slight staining on the motor. There was never any oil spots on the driveway so it must have been very subtle but does help to further explain why the oil was disappearing...besides acquiring the car from a previous owner that really abused the car, I think I got a Friday afternoon motor.

Thanks guys

 

I don't see the 04-08 TL J32 on that site, do you have a link?

 

Exactly. This is how every clutch kit (also Luk) I've used and how every clutch has gone together without any special tools other than what's supplied in the kit.

 

Nice Thread! It is good finally see a fellow TL owner doing real wrenching on this forum. My wife's TL has a bad cylinder wall in #6 and I am about to order a new short block from Acura. Is it easier to pull the engine from the top or the bottom on this car?

 

Once you figure out you can fail miserably 2+ times before it starts costing you money to do it yourself it helps with the balls part

 

Any updates?

 

After reading this in comparison to what I did yesterday, I feel like I just changed an air filter haha. I upgraded my CC to HFPC all by my self and it was a pain in the ass..

 

I got a meesage asking for an update so here it is....Just surpassed 10,000 miles on the new motor and all is going well. The clutch engage and disengage process is ok but I probably need to bleed the slave cylinder or replace the cylinder all together as it seems to hang up on some of the gears a little, randomly and infrequently. Removing the valve in the slave does seem to give more feel to the driver and a smoother ride to the more experienced driver but it's not much especially when you throw in the dual mass flywheel that seems to create the same "feel" issue the valve in the slave cylinder does. Anyway, the car is humming along well and if anyone is looking for specific advice on the whole swap; let me know and I'll be happy to provide specific detail.

 

Did you drop the subframe or did you just pull the engine/transmission out from the top with an engine hoist?

 

good stuff, now you know your car on a more personal level!!

congrats

 

Great work!

 

out the top....I had no option to drop it as the manual suggests. I did this in my own garage and did not have enough room to get the car the required height.

 

Great work and I agree with others, it takes alot of guts to do it on newer cars. I have wrenched on older VW's for years....not sure I would want to do an engine swap on my TL if needed.

Having a nice enviorment to do this type of thing is always helpful and it looks like you had a nice garage with alot of room to handle it.

Again, congradulations on doing it yourself. If you can do that, you should be able to fix/repair anything on your ride.

 

Good job on the engine swap!
Lots of useful info in this thread too.

 

This should be a sticky or something. There is very little info on engine/trans swaps on here. Glad you did it. Now I feel like I can do it. deep breath.....