[Stefan]

Thanks nightflyr:

just another question – do I need to remove or loosen the axle nut and then test for rocking in the wheel bearing?

I wonder if the Axle nut would keep things “together” so the rocking won’t be noticeable.

[Stefan]

hi All:

I guess I should have posted an update long ago, but life got busy.

After following the video, it was the caliper (again). I hope the current one lasts longer than. Now I’m rolling down the hills as I should.

Cheers 🙂

[Stefan]

ACCORD UPDATE #2:

So I searched on the internet and one of the things to note was the negative cable and its connection to the transmission. And low and behold, the cable was broken.

I used my jumper cables to connect the negative of the battery to the body of the starter and vroooom – immediate start. Good thing the parts store is close by and I got myself a new cable.

so you may wonder how was I able to take my voltage readings earlier – well I was connecting them to the negative terminal of the battery so there was always a connection. Lesson learnt…

[Stefan]

CIVIC UPDATE #2:
After replacing the starter, the Civic works like a charm; it’s been a week of going to and back from work, grocery stores, etc and it started every time.

ACCORD UPDATE #1:
The accord seems to be a bit more problematic. I replaced the starter. I did the same direct connection to the battery and the old starter didn’t do a thing. The new starter works on direct connection. However, when I hook it up to the car, I’m only hearing a click, but no crank. Even after performing a battery boost from my car, no crank of the accord engine.

I started doing some electrical diagnostics with an analogue multimeter, which isn’t particularly accurate and has limited functions. For instance when I set the meter to 50 DC volt and touch the positive and negative cables of the battery, the meter rises to 33V (yeah I know). It does it on every single battery so I’m thinking the meter is either bad or not properly calibrated. Either way I took the readings and compared them to the Civic as a control test. Please note, I only tested voltages and here’s what I found:
– there is electricity flowing through the main cable of the starter. (33v on my meter). Civic shows the same
– when turning the ignition key, there is electricity flowing through the solenoid valve. (33V on the meter between solenoid valve and ground). Civic shows the same
– when turning the ignition key, there is electricity flowing through to the brushes cable although with quite the drop.(barely reaching 27V between the cable and a ground). I did a control test on my Civic, although there was still lower voltage, the drop wasn’t that much. On the Civic, that connection showed around 31V on the meter.
– I checked every single fuse and none appear to be burnt out.

Other observations are:
– when turning the ignition key, the dashboard lights up like a X-mas tree and more. For example in some cases the gear selection lights up the P and D4 simultaneously even though the car is only in Park. In other cases the speedometer arrow rises above 0 when the car hasn’t even started yet.

All in all, car doesn’t crank at all. So aside from giving it to a mechanic or the local wreckers, what do I need to do to get the car moving? How do I go about diagnosing the electrical problems and how do I find what is draining the power? What tools are ‘best’ for the job? My multimeter isn’t exactly good.

Thanks 🙂

[Stefan]

CIVIC UPDATE #1

So it is a starter issue (for now). Considering that I just replaced the battery 2 months ago and car was working fine on the way back yesterday (after being started with a push), I decided to remove the starter. The procedure was straight forward and then I decided to wire the starter to the battery bypassing all the ignition components.

I hooked up negative to the body of the starter and then tried the positive on the solenoid and the motor. No response from solenoid; no response from motor. I also checked the connection to the starter brushes. Even hooked up the positive to the wire brushes. Again no response. so i can safely say that I narrowed down the culprit; Next step is getting new starter; making a quick test, and installing it. If the car doesn’t start then, then I have additional issues.

ACCORD UPDATE: none so far. I suspect it’s the same starter issue, but i will tackle the car once I get the civic up and running. And purchase better tool to diagnose electrical problems – that way I can check if anything else is going on aside from the starter.

[Stefan]

I see that I got way too excited from the newly discovered heat that I forgot to write the other pat of the story.

So the cooling system forced me to flush it – as soon as I disconnected the return hose from the engine block, the coolant started flowing from the block area. Then, I opened up the petcock and cap and drained the rest. So there’s new coolant in.

I wish I had taken a picture, but after the first compressor blow job (the one where I clean the heater core with air), there was a small fragments – dirt as well as a small rusted metal piece. How did those get there (especially the shrapnel)? I don’t know.

I checked the reservoir and it was full of sludge. Needless to say, I cleaned that to the best of my abilities and the abilities of the chemical rad cleaner so at least I’m not pumping sludge that can potentially accumulate somewhere and cause additional blockages.

When I flushed the system – both from rad and heater core – the coolant was still green in colour so I’m assuming the ‘passageways’ should be in fairly decent shape.

As a precaution, now that it’s not winter, I may run the heat for the first 5 to 10 minutes of driving just to move all the fluids and see if heat loss is observed.

[Stefan]

SUCCESS!!!!

Thanks to the un-cooperating weather, I finally got around to do this, and yes I started with a heater core flush. I watched the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcL_0TWeZJY several times and finally I did it.

Due to the awkward location of hoses, I did improvise with extensions and my throttle control was a valve (images attached) – that way no mess and coolant in my face.

The flushing flushed debree, some of them were sizable which might have clogged the heater and hence the reason for the drastic temperature readings I took earlier on. I also did the CLR cleanse; and I decided to blow air in both directions – just to ensure free passage.

After throwing in coolant today and running the procedure as explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpXgAJ1gjU three times, I don’t think there’s any air in the system now. The gauge is where it’s supposed to be during all the three tries; and internally, the fan blows heat at 50 Celsius (120 F).

Tooaasstty!!!

Attachments:

• IMG-20160327-00090.jpg
• IMG-20160327-00091.jpg

[Stefan]

Happy New Year to all!!!

Now that the effects of the eggnog have worn off, I’ve been reading on synchros. But one thing is reading and another thing is having actual hands on experience.

What my question is, has anyone had any experience with the syncrotech synchros? For my model Honda they have the carbon syncrhos shown here – http://shop.synchrotech-transmissions.com/Pro-Series-Carbon-Synchro-Set-1-5-01-05-SYN-113.htm, so I was wondering if anyone would recommend them.

[Stefan]

After bleeding the breaks again and adjusting the rear drum breaks, the pedal feels better.

So all is good – another conquest!!

[Stefan]

yes, the power steering fluid is designed for (but of course, not endorsed by) Honda.

[Stefan]

Aaah yes, evacuation – I intended to do it – even got fittings to fit to my pump, but somehow my brain focused on refrigerant, sealer, and leaks, and nothing else registered. Much like a horse with blinders (not the first time it happens either)…

Question now is, is it worth evacuating the system now? I know damage may have already been done since the sealer have being circulating already.

yeah I know, I may have screwed this one up… :unsure:

[Stefan]

UPDATE:

I went with the notion that the system is empty and the refrigerant has leaked out. The complete drop in pressure and the fact that the AC hasn’t been used since the purchase of the car in the winter of last year (add to that the number of months where the car has sat on the lot) – there’s high probability that the refrigerant was negligible, if any.

So I filled it with R12a refrigerant – new technology that’s a direct replacement for R12 and R134a and environmentally friendly (I know the name can be really misleading) Specs are here: http://redtek.com/English/product.asp?ID=18. I used a can of sealant in addition just to lubricate the O-rings and stop any minor leakages if any. I didn’t hear any big whooooosh so that’s a good indication of no major leaks.

Now when A/C is on, the pressure drops to 38PSI – which is normal operating pressure according to the instructions. The operating pressure was tested 4 hours apart and it still maintained the 38PSI. Cold air is blowing – I didn’t need a thermometer to feel the difference between the fan just blowing and A/C working. Over my test drive, I felt the compressor engaging and disengaging so it all seems to work. Over the next few weeks/months, I will be monitoring the performance.

As a note, yes I’ve read about mixing refrigerants. But with an empty system, I decided to proceed.

[Stefan]

Final Update: SUCESS

So the problem has been fixed. Despite the corrosion, the cooling coil was not faulty. The leak originated from one of the metal pipes that come from the engine and gets attached to the rubber hoses that connect to the cooling coil. There seem to have been corrosion around one of the junctions and when I tried to remove the clamp the metal pipe from the engine just snapped in my hands (no force applied either). Fortunately, there was enough ‘good’ metal to attach a new hose to a new cooling coil and so far no leaks observed.

If it leaks again, I would have to cut the metal pipe and install a longer rubber hose making sure it doesn’t touch any moving parts, but for now it seems like it’s working as expected.

[Stefan]

AN UPDATE:

so it turns out it’s not the pump. After more investigation it turned out the power steering fluid was low so it was sucking air hence the noise. After topping up things went back to normal, but there’s a leak somewhere. So far I’ve seen drops of oil gathering around the power steering cooling coil and the surrounding hoses.

gotta wait for the part to arrive and we’ll see if there’s additional leaks somewhere else…

[Stefan]

SUCCESS!!

Parking break cables replaced and new piping on the tank installed. Did the city drive test and the highway test with full tank and all is good. Hopefully the rain holds of today so I can go and have the car oil sprayed.

There’s always the joke about on TV comedies where a ‘husband’ takes an appliance apart and once assembled there’s extra parts lying around, but in my case all bolts are accounted for. and all of them were anti-seized to prevent future headaches.

We do get stuff from China and for things like electronics, there isn’t much of price variance. Car parts is a different story. Biggest example is the shift cable for the gearbox that I did last summer. Honda dealership around my house quoted me CAD$300 for the part (no installation etc.); a US dealership has the same original part for US$130. I start to think that there are items only US gets and Canadian importers just bring it here, so they need to recover the $200 shipping charge on a $5 bulb.

[Author]

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