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axels, pan gasket, return line connection and fitting etc
Yeah, oil pan gasket is one thing I'm afraid of, really didn't want to have to pull the pan. I am going to start with the return line, probably scrape off the old gasket if there is one, clean the surfaces and apply some high temp RTV silicone.
I really hope there is not fluid coming out of the differential. Know of anywhere I can find some detailed images or diagrams of where the potential leak points would be on the transmission? Gaskets where the axles go in, any leak points around the shift linkage, etc?
Attempted to tackle the oil leak tonight, pulled the return oil line and fitting off of the turbo. I then scraped and sanded off the old gasket material, and applied a new layer of copper RTV silicone.
Interestingly when I removed the hose, about 1/4 quart of oil poured out of the fitting in the oil pan, even with the front of the car raised. The fitting is as close to the top of the oil pan as it can be, so this makes me think the dipstick is not accurate and I may have overfilled it slightly. This could explain partially why the return line was leaking, if it was not able to flow readily back into the pan.
You can see the location of the oil pan fitting here.
Additionally I had noticed that my front left caliper was scraping against the wheel near the hub at some point. My quick fix will be to add some 3mm spacers, but eventually I will be in the market for bigger brakes and/or new wheels.
With the weather forecast looking positive this weekend and into next week, hoping to be able to take her out soon
I drove the car to work a few days ago (22 miles each way, mostly highway). Figured it was running good enough, wanted to feel out the other issues.
- I am 99% sure my passenger side inner CV joint is bad. I ordered a new axle to swap it out and hopefully it resolves the issue. Will inspect the diff while I have it out. Basically anytime I would get on the throttle from around 35-45mph, the car would shake pretty bad. I am hoping this might also resolve the clacking sound when decelerating. The axle seal also leaks a bit of fluid, leaves a couple drops anywhere I park.
- The oil leak is mostly fixed. It still leaves like 1 drop after I park, but it only does after the car is turned off, not while it's running. Not enough to concern me, and could still be that when not running the oil level is at or above where the return line enters the pan.
Otherwise, the car ran good if I tried to ignore the noises from (I think) the axle. It shifts pretty good, though it is a pain in the *** to get into 5th sometimes. The AFR's were decent at cruising between 14 and 15. When I got on it, there seemed to be a lot of lag in the AFR readings, like 1-2 seconds before it would richen up after I open the throttle. I have heard this is normal with AEM widebands. Either way I am not going to push it very hard until I fix the axle or shaking issue, and also get real e85 into it since right now it has e70 winter blend in the tank.
Oh, I also got my 3mm wheel spacers for the fronts, and some hub centric rings in the mail today. I'll throw those on when I do the axle, just for peace of mind with the brake clearance. It didn't seem to be a problem when I drove it, I just don't like it being that tight.
Got the new axle today and more MTF. All I need is a 32mm socket and I'll be ready to tackle this job as time allows. Should have some decent weather coming in the next couple weeks so I'm pretty excited to get this thing goin. Fingers crossed there aren't any other issues.
About $50 shipped from Rock Auto. I've heard bad things about the remanufactured ones. But either way, this will just be to get me by and make the car driveable until I get a set of decent axles in it.
That's a great looking CRX bro. I just picked up a 91 EF hatchback SI a few days ago.
My buddy unfortunately took his life and I'm taking over ownership of his EF and I'm going
to completely rebuild it/tune it the way he would have wanted. I can't wait to get started!
That's a great looking CRX bro. I just picked up a 91 EF hatchback SI a few days ago.
My buddy unfortunately took his life and I'm taking over ownership of his EF and I'm going
to completely rebuild it/tune it the way he would have wanted. I can't wait to get started!
Sounds good man, I will look out for your build thread. Sorry to hear about your friend.
I got the new axle installed yesterday, along with the wheel spacers and hub rings I had purchased. Didn't get any pics of the install because I was pressed for time. I checked out the old axle and there was nothing noticeably wrong with it. So I am just hoping like hell that it fixes some of my issues.
In the process I tore the dust boot on the lower ball joint with the separator fork I used. So now I gotta get back in there and replace the boot soon. Note to self: anytime separating ball joints, have a new set of dust boots ready to go in.
I also found out that whatever brake/hub kit the PO used to mate up with the B series axles, there is basically no hub left protruding for the wheel to center on. The wheel studs also seemed rather short. So I was a little hesitant about adding the 3mm spacers. But after seeing the groove that was cut into the back of the driver's side wheel from the brake caliper, I decided to go ahead with the spacers. Still have 3-4 turns threaded on the lug nuts by the time they were tight
Just waiting now for the weather to be nice enough that I can drive it and see if the axle fixed anything. We've had rain every day that I am able to drive it, which is only a couple days a week when I don't have to drop off the kids on my way to work....
Haha well, I actually found out yesterday that the reason it starting cutting out, is it was low on gas.
Turns out it is empty when my fuel gauge reads just under 1/2 tank. Luckily I made it to a station nearby that has e85 and filled up, then that problem went away.
However I still have reason to believe that my vibration may be caused by a misfire. If I try to throttle through it, it's like there is no power and my AFR's don't richen up as much as they should.
I pulled the plugs last night, they all look even and tan, none show any sign of a cylinder not firing correctly. I will throw a new set of plugs in and see what they tell me. But I also plan to pull the injectors and have them flow tested and cleaned.
Slowly but surely, I will eliminate all possible causes and hopefully get her runnin right.
Been a while since I've updated.... I am still battling with the vibration issue, just haven't had a lot of time to work on it.
What I've done recently:
- New passenger axle
- Injectors cleaned
- New spark plugs
- Fuel pressure tested OK
- Wheels balanced
- Alignment checked
- Checked motor mounts, sub frame, brakes, suspension, tie rods, every nut bolt and screw.
It is still running a bit lean under all conditions. During normal driving my S. trim and L. trim are both between 5 and 10%. I don't know how the tune could be this far off, but am going to try adding some fuel. I doubt that this is causing my vibration problem.
The only other thing it could be is the transmission, a bad bearing or something. Just wish there was some way to diagnose it and know what exactly is going on.
This has to be the slowest moving build thread ever, hah! To help with that, I went thru and cleaned up a lot of the old posts, keeping it just down to the progress and pics. I've also been working on the car a lot lately trying to get it going for the summer, so at last here is an update!
After driving it a few more times, tranny fluid was leaking more and more. Mostly from the shift shaft seal and intermediate shaft seal. So I got those replaced, and fixed the shift rod bushing while I was at it.
As long as I had all that apart and the tranny drained, decided what the hell, I'll put in a new driver's side axle and intermediate shaft to see if those were causing my vibration, even though there were no signs of a bad joint.
Unfortunately the ebay seller for the 90-93 intermediate shaft didn't really have one in stock, so my order got cancelled. I was unable to find another source, so I threw the old one back in along with the new driver's axle. There was some grease flung from the old axle inner CV boot which could have indicated a problem there.
Other stuff I did today...
- Changed engine oil and filter
- Topped off coolant in radiator, it took almost a half gallon. Also installed a custom water bottle fluid reservoir
After getting it all buttoned up I took it for a spin. I am very happy to say that the vibration issue is about 95% resolved now It also appears so far that the tranny fluid leaks are fixed.
After topping off the radiator it is running about 10-15 degrees cooler than it did before. I was pushing 210+ temps after driving and coming to a stop, now it holds at about 190-195 even without the fan running.
So far so good!
I took it out to get some fresh e85 in the tank, went ahead and let it rip to full boost in 2nd and 3rd gears. I have it turned down to about 16psi, and still need to tweak my fuel maps as it runs pegged rich under boost, but it felt great!!! A little bit scary, but awesome.
Only issue now when hitting full boost at about 6500rpm, something lets go and I'm not sure whether it's clutch or tires. Neither would surprise me much.
More updates and pics later this week, I am going to do some street tuning on Thursday.
I recorded some datalogs of 2nd and 3rd gear pulls, and compared the VSS to RPM to verify. It's crazy how hard it is to tell while driving if the tires are spinning at the top of the gear.
I turned the boost down to 13psi, and let my front tire pressure down to 26psi which allowed them to hook all the way thru third gear so I could get some good pulls and datalogs. So far the injector duty cycle is only showing 78% so I should be able to get back up to 17 to 18psi hopefully.
Tomorrow I will start tuning in open loop, I corrected my injector flow rate and dead time in SManager to match the report I got from the flow testing. Once I get the AFR's set where I want, I will start upping the boost until my duty cycle is around 95% to keep some safety factor built in.
I'll post up some datalogs once I get em dialed. The car is scary fast even at 13psi, so I'm excited to get it up to it's full potential.
Well, my street tuning session was cut short. All was going well, was dialing in some fueling in low fuel boost because it was still a bit rich.
Did a 3rd gear pull and right as I was hitting peak power and RPM, there was the slightest bump in the road, and that was it for my passenger axle.
I was still able to coast into a parking lot, but after I parked and tried going into reverse, there was a loud CLUNK then nothing, the car won't move at all. Hopefully it's not the transmission but it felt like the axle went.
Of course I am 20 miles from my house where I work, so I am going to try bringing the tools and my old axle and doing the swap in the parking lot rather than towing it home.
I was all set up to do a quick axle swap in the parking lot.....
Everything was going smooth since I've recently done both axles, I was prepared for a quick 20-30 minute job and I'd be happily driving my CRX again....
Then when I pulled out the axle, I heard something drop in the differential, I look inside and see this...
Diff broked. The axle is still perfectly fine.
I'd had some suspicions about the diff before, and had kinda planned on tearing the tranny apart next winter and checking everything out. I guess this will save the time of cracking it open and I'll just be putting in a new tranny.
I am not having very good luck with this car so far
02-25-2017, 11:28 AM
Re: 1991 CRX Turbo B18 project/build thread
It also appears so far that the tranny fluid leaks are fixed.
