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Apr. 11th, 2020 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
psipsyLatest project: Chasing oil leaks on Nozomi! The ones I'm tackling are fairly superficial, as in I don't have to remove major parts to get to them. I have to remove some parts, but nothing crazy such as dropping the engine.
-There's a small one on what's called the VTC solenoid. As the gasket is made of rubber and is constantly in contact with hot motor oil, it has a tendency to harden, flatten, and get brittle. There's a tell-tale sign of oil leakage coming from that. Sure enough, it was at its end. Buying the gasket from Honda cost me a whopping four dollars.
-I've heard of people rounding off the heads of the fasteners on that part. Despite Nozomi's age and mileage, I had no such issue. The bolt heads looked a little gnarly but I was able to reuse them. That said, 6-point sockets are almost always going to be better than 12-point.
-The valve cover gasket was also original. It was still "ok" but it has seen better days. The spark plug seals, which are jammed into their openings, were starting to crack. I thought about repainting the valve cover itself while I had it out, then decided not to. That can be done the next time I have it off.
-Getting the valve cover off involved destroying a small-but-vital section of hose that began to glue itself to the part I was trying to remove. Getting the exact sized replacement would have meant buying a whole meter of it from the dealership for $40 just to replace a stub less than 2 inches long. The local auto parts store sold something similar in a "just close enough" sense by the foot for only a couple dollars. A foot is still more than enough but that also means I'll be ready when it's time to do this again.
-Did an oil change, as it was due and because I was mucking about in the engine. Nothing out of the ordinary, aside from me grumbling about the poor placement of the filter itself (on the back of the engine, right above the driveshaft). I have yet to succeed at preventing the remaining oil from dumping out from the filter.
-While I was at it, I also changed out the gearbox fluid. As it was with Ai, the fill plug felt like it was cranked down by an angry gorilla. At least this time I was ready with the striking wrench.
-The manual calls for 1.6 quarts of fluid, and to fill it until it starts coming out of the fill port. Except I put in just under 2 whole quarts and it's not quite up to the fill plug yet? I'm confused.
-When I did Ai's last year, I just had a tube going down and beer-bonged it in. This time I tried using a small hand pump that screws onto the bottle and succeeded mostly at making a mess and giving myself cramps in my hand.
-Following leads on the internet: I made up something using one of those garden sprayers, some tubing, a valve, and some assorted fittings. That seems to work much better; it has a much more controlled flow, I can turn it on and off, and I can pre-load it with 2 or 3 bottles of fluid. Shoulda done this sooner.
Other news: Bunch of orders coming in from BrickLink soon. I have some plans, as usual.
-There's a small one on what's called the VTC solenoid. As the gasket is made of rubber and is constantly in contact with hot motor oil, it has a tendency to harden, flatten, and get brittle. There's a tell-tale sign of oil leakage coming from that. Sure enough, it was at its end. Buying the gasket from Honda cost me a whopping four dollars.
-I've heard of people rounding off the heads of the fasteners on that part. Despite Nozomi's age and mileage, I had no such issue. The bolt heads looked a little gnarly but I was able to reuse them. That said, 6-point sockets are almost always going to be better than 12-point.
-The valve cover gasket was also original. It was still "ok" but it has seen better days. The spark plug seals, which are jammed into their openings, were starting to crack. I thought about repainting the valve cover itself while I had it out, then decided not to. That can be done the next time I have it off.
-Getting the valve cover off involved destroying a small-but-vital section of hose that began to glue itself to the part I was trying to remove. Getting the exact sized replacement would have meant buying a whole meter of it from the dealership for $40 just to replace a stub less than 2 inches long. The local auto parts store sold something similar in a "just close enough" sense by the foot for only a couple dollars. A foot is still more than enough but that also means I'll be ready when it's time to do this again.
-Did an oil change, as it was due and because I was mucking about in the engine. Nothing out of the ordinary, aside from me grumbling about the poor placement of the filter itself (on the back of the engine, right above the driveshaft). I have yet to succeed at preventing the remaining oil from dumping out from the filter.
-While I was at it, I also changed out the gearbox fluid. As it was with Ai, the fill plug felt like it was cranked down by an angry gorilla. At least this time I was ready with the striking wrench.
-The manual calls for 1.6 quarts of fluid, and to fill it until it starts coming out of the fill port. Except I put in just under 2 whole quarts and it's not quite up to the fill plug yet? I'm confused.
-When I did Ai's last year, I just had a tube going down and beer-bonged it in. This time I tried using a small hand pump that screws onto the bottle and succeeded mostly at making a mess and giving myself cramps in my hand.
-Following leads on the internet: I made up something using one of those garden sprayers, some tubing, a valve, and some assorted fittings. That seems to work much better; it has a much more controlled flow, I can turn it on and off, and I can pre-load it with 2 or 3 bottles of fluid. Shoulda done this sooner.
Other news: Bunch of orders coming in from BrickLink soon. I have some plans, as usual.
