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If you have leaf springs in the rear, check for damaged, or missing spacers between the ends of the leaves. They are only plastic, and often crack and fall apart allowing the end of one leaf to rub against the longer leaf above it. It tends to kind of polish the area where it rubs all the time during normal driving, but when you hit bigger bumps, the leaves move farther, and it will scrape against rusty metal that it doesn’t normally hit, making plenty of noise in the process.
If you have leaf springs in the rear, check for damaged, or missing spacers between the ends of the leaves. They are only plastic, and often crack and fall apart allowing the end of one leaf to rub against the longer leaf above it. It tends to kind of polish the area where it rubs all the time during normal driving, but when you hit bigger bumps, the leaves move farther, and it will scrape against rusty metal that it doesn’t normally hit, making plenty of noise in the process.
I went and looked up that oil seal for you, since you have oil in the dizzy, that is def a problem.
To be honest, I would probably pick up a used OEM dizzy from the scrap yard, then change out the seal, O ring, cap and rotor.
Anyhow, the oil seal you need is made by NOK, and is PART#: W0133-1640599 Google that and you will come up with plenty of sources for it.
I went and looked up that oil seal for you, since you have oil in the dizzy, that is def a problem.
To be honest, I would probably pick up a used OEM dizzy from the scrap yard, then change out the seal, O ring, cap and rotor.
Anyhow, the oil seal you need is made by NOK, and is PART#: W0133-1640599 Google that and you will come up with plenty of sources for it.
I would start with bleeding the cooling system. It’s nearly free, and air in the system would explain the unstable temperatures, and could explain the bogging as well.
I would start with bleeding the cooling system. It’s nearly free, and air in the system would explain the unstable temperatures, and could explain the bogging as well.
Although Honda does NOT sell the internal seal for the distributor any more, the original manufacturer does sell it. If I search around here some, I might be able to find where I got mine from, but I think I just looked the park number up on a Honda dealers parts site, then searched for the part number on the net. At any rate, tearing the distributor apart, cleaning out the oil that is in it, and replacing that seal (and you might as well do the O rings too. They don’t leak oil INTO the distributor, they leak it outside, but as long as you are there . .) isn’t a terribly difficult job. I did mine probably 3 odd years ago, and haven’t had a lick of trouble with it leaking oil since.
Although Honda does NOT sell the internal seal for the distributor any more, the original manufacturer does sell it. If I search around here some, I might be able to find where I got mine from, but I think I just looked the park number up on a Honda dealers parts site, then searched for the part number on the net. At any rate, tearing the distributor apart, cleaning out the oil that is in it, and replacing that seal (and you might as well do the O rings too. They don’t leak oil INTO the distributor, they leak it outside, but as long as you are there . .) isn’t a terribly difficult job. I did mine probably 3 odd years ago, and haven’t had a lick of trouble with it leaking oil since.
The bad news: Now that you have overheated like that, you may well have blown the head gasket. Keep careful track of your coolant level, and if you find yourself needing to top it off from time to time that is a sign that the head gasket may have blown, and you will need to test the cooling system for it’s ability to hold pressure, as well as do a compression test, and perhaps a leakdown test. When I did mine none of those tests revealed the bad head gasket. I didn’t find it until I started the engine with the pressure tester on the radiator, and saw the pressure in the cooling system skyrocket.
The good news . .. often, overheating with the AC on is a simple fix. Clean the bugs and leaves from the front of the condenser. Check between the condenser and radiator too. It is an nearly impossible place to access on most cars, and yet bugs and leaves manage to find a way in there.
Check that both fans (assuming you have two, some cars only have one) are running, and running at proper speed when you turn on the AC. There is a pretty fair chance that you will find a problem with one of the cooling fans. One is working good, the other isn’t. There is plenty enough air flow to cool the engine, but not enough to handle the added heat of the AC system.
The bad news: Now that you have overheated like that, you may well have blown the head gasket. Keep careful track of your coolant level, and if you find yourself needing to top it off from time to time that is a sign that the head gasket may have blown, and you will need to test the cooling system for it’s ability to hold pressure, as well as do a compression test, and perhaps a leakdown test. When I did mine none of those tests revealed the bad head gasket. I didn’t find it until I started the engine with the pressure tester on the radiator, and saw the pressure in the cooling system skyrocket.
The good news . .. often, overheating with the AC on is a simple fix. Clean the bugs and leaves from the front of the condenser. Check between the condenser and radiator too. It is an nearly impossible place to access on most cars, and yet bugs and leaves manage to find a way in there.
Check that both fans (assuming you have two, some cars only have one) are running, and running at proper speed when you turn on the AC. There is a pretty fair chance that you will find a problem with one of the cooling fans. One is working good, the other isn’t. There is plenty enough air flow to cool the engine, but not enough to handle the added heat of the AC system.
In my experience, if it is low on refrigerant, there is a leak.
The risk in “topping off” a system is that you might damage the compressor, turning what would have been a $100 repair into what might be a $700 repair. Lots of people do top off systems (I have been guilty of it many times myself) and get away with it. Just know the risk you are taking when you do it.
In my experience, if it is low on refrigerant, there is a leak.
The risk in “topping off” a system is that you might damage the compressor, turning what would have been a $100 repair into what might be a $700 repair. Lots of people do top off systems (I have been guilty of it many times myself) and get away with it. Just know the risk you are taking when you do it.
There is no way to be certain. The refrigerant carries the oil through the system. If the refrigerant leaks out of the system very slowly, it probably won’t bring any oil with it. When it comes rushing out like that, there is oil in it.
What caused you to want to add refrigerant in the first place? Was there a leak? Was the system not performing well?
The smart thing to do if you don’t know what you are doing, is to have a professional fix it for you before you do any damage to the system.
If you were low on refrigerant in the first place, you need to know where it went, why was it low, is there a leak. If so, you should probably find it and fix it. Once that is done, the factory service manual will tell you how much oil to put back into the system for a leak (you letting gas out is a leak) and also how much to replace for any part you replaced in the system. Put that amount of oil into the system while you are repairing it, before you seal everything up, then draw a vacuum on the system. Make sure it will hold the vacuum for 30 minutes, then charge with the correct amount of R134A according to the manual, or the sticker under your hood.
There is no way to be certain. The refrigerant carries the oil through the system. If the refrigerant leaks out of the system very slowly, it probably won’t bring any oil with it. When it comes rushing out like that, there is oil in it.
What caused you to want to add refrigerant in the first place? Was there a leak? Was the system not performing well?
The smart thing to do if you don’t know what you are doing, is to have a professional fix it for you before you do any damage to the system.
If you were low on refrigerant in the first place, you need to know where it went, why was it low, is there a leak. If so, you should probably find it and fix it. Once that is done, the factory service manual will tell you how much oil to put back into the system for a leak (you letting gas out is a leak) and also how much to replace for any part you replaced in the system. Put that amount of oil into the system while you are repairing it, before you seal everything up, then draw a vacuum on the system. Make sure it will hold the vacuum for 30 minutes, then charge with the correct amount of R134A according to the manual, or the sticker under your hood.
Never messed with a Prizm, but I doubt it is much different than most modern cars. I’ve replaced these switches on two different Accords, a Nissan Maxima, Geo Storm and perhaps one or two other cars. I think you will be pleasantly surprised.
You are thinking old school get out the steering wheel puller, and be prepared for a royal pain in the rear end messing about in a tiny column.
Modern steering columns are NOTHING like that. I’m thinking you will find this to be an easier job than you are expecting.