Altered Mental Status (1G AWD 5spd)

[CrackedDSM]

Straight to FP Black and call it a day

What’s funny about that is I heavily considered the black.

It’s just a little too laggy for my tastes. If I ever go with a black it’s gonna be a 2.3 spinning it. At that point I’ll need some kind of serious transmission and hopefully the neat gears are a thing by then.

But see how it snowballs? I think I’m gonna turn up the boost to 30-32 or whatever these injectors will allow and see how I like it. Gotta be reasonable and limit myself to a red at absolute max. Lol.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Ordered two of these.

They'll clip on to my ethanol content sensor so I can hook up typical fuel line to them. In the future when I go with PTFE AN hoses for the feed and return, I'll probably spend the (frankly ridiculous) money for the Motion Raceworks Ethanol Content Sensor adapter they have that includes -AN adapters and stuff and make it all clean.

Also after doing a ton of research, I ordered a couple tubes of Clear RTV for the back hatch. I'm gonna RTV all around the window channel, and around the spoiler too because I suspect that's where it's leaking and those are the only spots where water can even get in.

Hopefully gonna get the A/C functional this weekend. Gonna at least get all the parts installed at minimum. Exciting. Maybe try to throw in my cruise control assembly I got. Street car!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Well, not sure what to make of my findings.


I decided to do a compression test, just because and honestly...the results are weird.

Engine was....between warm and hot? I'd let it sit for an hour-ish after driving to the store so it wasn't stone cold, but it wasn't operating temps either. The spark plugs when I pulled them looked fantastic. Ground strap is that perfect color, not fouled or wet. Gorgeous.

My compression tester is...suspect. It's the cheapest I could find on Amazon, and it's like...a three piece design. One adapter goes into the spark plug hole that seals with an o-ring, the hose also screws into that and seals with an o-ring, and then it clips onto the gauge itself.

Anyway, the results were identical between all four cylinders. 100 exactly. 100-100-100-110. The last one I screwed in extra hard, so maybe it sealed better.

Either way...I guess I need to repeat it again with a better/more quality compression tester. But if a better compression tester says the same thing...is it my piston rings not sealed that are the problem? What could be the issue? It doesn't smoke, it doesn't blow oil all over the engine bay, the can doesn't smoke like crazy. But the "not wanting to idle" thing after the lifters is throwing me for a loop. I guess it's time to leakdown test it?

 

[Anfurnyy]

I would do a leak down if you're worried but compression testers are always weird, IMO. I personally think your compression is just fine since they were all near perfect. I wouldn't focus on the number it displays but rather how consistent you are across all cylinders.

 

[DSMPT]

is it my piston rings not sealed that are the problem? What could be the issue?

All cylinder's ring sealing gets failed in the same time is super rare. When the compression is equally low in each cylinder, usually a bad compression tester, wrong valve timing, lifters pumped up for some reason or low cranking speed (low battery power). In case if the issue is related to the piston ring's sealing, then IMO the ring land failure would be more possible than the rings themselves.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I would do a leak down if you're worried but compression testers are always weird, IMO. I personally think your compression is just fine since they were all near perfect. I wouldn't focus on the number it displays but rather how consistent you are across all cylinders.

My main worry is trying to figure out why the idle suddenly sucks after the new lifters. It’s not smoking and it still rips. Just can’t figure out the correlation. Maybe the idle tune needs to be adjusted again?

All cylinder's ring sealing gets failed in the same time is super rare. When the compression is equally low in each cylinder, usually a bad compression tester, wrong valve timing, lifters pumped up for some reason or low cranking speed (low battery power). In case if the issue is related to the piston ring's sealing, then IMO the ring land failure would be more possible than the rings themselves.

Yeah I installed new lifters in it and I properly bled them before install. Most tapping/ticking went away but ever since then it struggles to idle on its own when it’s warmed up especially when there’s a load on it like fans or etc. Before I changed the lifters it would idle on its own like a champ even when both fans kicked on.

I did not remove the cams to install the lifters or mess with timing at all. I used the special tool to compress the spring and remove the rocker.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Well, I was hoping this post would be a success story. Alas, it was not the success I wanted. I guess I'll take a consolation prize and state there's a small victory of sorts. Anyway, here we go.


Story starts Saturday. Actually managed to sleep a few hours so I wasn't dog tired, and got a nice early start. It was already like mid-high 80's with mid-high 90% humidity, but better than mid 90*. Anyway.

First thing I decided to tackle, because I LOATHE A/C WORK, was the rear hatch. It leaks worse than my other hatch, and after I removed the spoiler again I think I figured out why. The gasket for the wiper arm is dry/hard and loose. I feel like water would just go right in without any kind of resistance. I previously ordered a couple tubes of clear RTV after doing some research, and I know it needs hours to dry so that's my justification and I'm sticking to it. I RTV'ed every single opened on the back hatch. I did the sprayer nozzle, the trim, and the trim at the bottom of the window too. From there, I RTV'ed around the gasket for the wiper arm, AND the gasket for the third brake light too just to be sure.

View attachment 769135View attachment 769135

I'm really confident in this. If it leaks after this, then it's magic and I have no clue where and how the water is getting in. Lol. You can see the clear RTV on the trim in the second picture.

Once I got that squared away, I couldn't procrastinate or put it off any more. Time to focus on the A/C system. It needs O-rings everywhere, and I have a brand new Denso dryer for it so I pulled the front bumper and intercooler off.

There we go. Popped the dryer off, and the line it attaches to and threw in new o-rings. New o-rings on the driver's side line too along with a new nut. I had a brief struggle if that hard line you see on the right of the condenser needed an o-ring or not. But for whatever reason, no one answered me when I asked about it, so I just went with no o-ring. Same with the hard line in the engine bay that the suction line attaches to. I already had the R134A conversion fittings on the lines, so didn't have to do that.

Nice little small parts pile. I removed the battery because it's in the way of the lines on the firewall that go to the evaporator.

Now, on to the compressor. Not looking forward to this. After looking at how little room you actually have to put the compressor in, and how big the pulley is on it...I decided screw it. And yanked the intake manifold.

Parts pile is now getting just a tiny bit bigger.

I regret nothing, and this made it an absolute breeze to not only put the compressor in, but to attach the new o-rings to the lines and bolt them onto the compressor too. I did not replace the gasket for the top of the compressor/compressor manifold, but ordered that and it's on the way.

From here, I threw the intake manifold back on and got everything bolted back up.

Once I got this far, I realized shit...I'm gonna have to pull the alternator's belt in order to get the A/C belt on. And that the belt needs to be put on the a/c tensioner too before you try to lower that in. But, with actually very little struggling(not kidding), I got it in there and sitting pretty.

Really pleased with the tension on the belt and how it worked out. I was expecting this to suck waaaaay more. I know I said that already, but man was I expecting a monumental struggle. Pleasant surprise.

Anyway, on to the dreaded moment. Put the system under a vacuum and see if it leaks.

Eagle eyed viewers will notice that I did this before I reinstalled the intake manifold. But the result didn't change between the two events, there's a very slow leak. It doesn't just immediately discharge/bleed off vacuum, it happens over a good long while.

Either way, I decided in order to better spot the leak I'd charge it with some disposable Freon and see if I can find it. So I started the car up, hooked up the first can of Freon and attempted to charge it. At first it pulled Freon into the system, built up around 30lbs of pressure then it just...gave up. It stopped pulling Freon in, and the compressor never kicked on by itself. On advice I remembered getting in the "What did you do today" thread, I jumped the connector for the pressure switch and it kicked the compressor on. Which immediately put the system into a -20 vacuum, but still wouldn't suck in anything from the can.

I messed with it a bit, shook the can up, to no avail. Closing the valves and kicking the compressor off results in it holding a steady 10lbs of pressure. I went over the entire system with my UV light trying to find a smoking gun, and couldn't find any kind of massive leak or really any kind of leak. There's a ring around the compressor manifold, but nothing dripping out. It could just be excess Ester Oil I used to lube the old gasket that got sandwiched when I tightened it down.

But at this point, I just decided to call it. All this happened over the time span of two days, and I only literally just now finished shortly before I wrote this. I was...extremely discouraged, to say the least. Two days and a LOT of sweat for no payoff sucks. However, after talking with my dad (who despite being a huge drug addict, is really good with A/C systems) he mentioned that it could be the expansion valve, or a clogged condenser/evaporator. The only two things I didn't really replace/check.

So after some thinking, I figured screw it. Worth a try. My own opinion is neutral as I have no clue about A/C systems beyond the basics of how they work. I do wonder about the gasket for the compressor manifold that is old and dry, so I'm thankful I ordered that a day or two ago. I also am pleased as punch that I managed to find a brand new condenser on eBay for less than $600 that scalpers wanted, and I ordered a brand new expansion valve.

Plan is try the gasket for the compressor and condenser first. Re-test. If it's still not going, then I'm gonna pull the dash and clean/flush the evaporator and check it for leaks or pinholes. Also replace the expansion valve at that time too. I kind of hope in the meantime I can find a brand new evaporator, that way everything in the system will be brand new basically.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me on this journey. Not the result I wanted, but I'm gonna count a success on a few things.

1) The system seems to work. The compressor kicks on and functions, and it doesn't just lock up or scream or make noise. I don't know if the high-side pressure switch works or not since I had to jump it, but honestly it probably just didn't see enough pressure to kick on I'm guessing?

2) I got all the hard parts there. The compressor is on, the bracket is on along with the belt, it's all there. Nothing is missing. This makes diagnosing and repairing hopefully way more straight forward.

3) I did it all myself, and learned a lot. Hope to learn more, and above all I really...really hope I can just get this A/C system working. It'll be something else I taught myself and did all my own, which I never thought I'd do 5+ years ago.

Words of advice, constructive criticism, and your own personal experience are welcome and appreciated, fellas. As always.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

My son and I are putting all new AC stuff on his 1987 Accord Hatchback, so we have been thru all of this too and some parts are impossible to find so we have to flush it and reuse it. There is a new condenser sitting at Oriellys right now, waiting for him to get off work and drop by to pick it up. The Rock Auto unit didn't let our hard line bottom out, like the fitting ID was too small.
Best of luck on the AC!
How hard was it to get your fitting on the compressor to vacuum it down?

 

[CrackedDSM]

My son and I are putting all new AC stuff on his 1987 Accord Hatchback, so we have been thru all of this too and some parts are impossible to find so we have to flush it and reuse it. There is a new condenser sitting at Oriellys right now, waiting for him to get off work and drop by to pick it up. The Rock Auto unit didn't let our hard line bottom out, like the fitting ID was too small.
Best of luck on the AC!
How hard was it to get your fitting on the compressor to vacuum it down?

Not at all, it’s thankfully in an open spot. I was curious how bad it would be but it’s not. Easy peasy.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

My White 90 GSX is all original and when I swap a fresh motor in (as soon as I get a little more healed up) I'd like to freshen up it's AC also and the fitting on the compressor appeared to be kinda tough to see. Thx for the confirmation.

 

[CrackedDSM]

I am not looking forward to pulling the dashboard to replace the expansion valve, but everything points to that. Lol ugh.


Pray for me brothers. May the machine spirit have mercy on me. Praise the omnissiah.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Discovered the cause of my idle issues that somehow (palpatine) returned.

The idle set switch/stop switch has gone MIA. It is as if it ninja vanished. No idea where it went or how, considering it was locked down with the nut.

I scoured the internet in an attempt to find an M10 x 0.75 bolt, but they do not exist outside of bulk ordering 200+ from China.

So, I'm just gonna tap the hole for new threads to something more common, like M10 x 1.25. Idiotic to use such a fine thread. But, least I found out why it was being a complete r-tard when it comes to idling.


If someone wants to hook me up with a replacement IPS/Stop Switch for free.99, please hit me up. Preferably it's one that's bad/non-functioning so I don't feel guilty.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Discovered the cause of my idle issues that somehow (palpatine) returned.

The idle set switch/stop switch has gone MIA. It is as if it ninja vanished. No idea where it went or how, considering it was locked down with the nut.

I scoured the internet in an attempt to find an M10 x 0.75 bolt, but they do not exist outside of bulk ordering 200+ from China.

So, I'm just gonna tap the hole for new threads to something more common, like M10 x 1.25. Idiotic to use such a fine thread. But, least I found out why it was being a complete r-tard when it comes to idling.

You could just use TPS to simulate idle switch for now as well.

 

[CrackedDSM]

You could just use TPS to simulate idle switch for now as well.

I do because my old one was bad, but the idle switch itself is a physical throttle plate stopper too. Without it, the throttle plate stays fully closed.

 

[Anfurnyy]

I do because my old one was bad, but the idle switch itself is a physical throttle plate stopper too. Without it, the throttle plate stays fully closed.

Ahhh okay okay that makes sense.

 

[DSMPT]

1G IPS is also works as the fixed SAS to maintain certain amount of air into engine when the throttle position is 0% besides BISS and ISC. It would be important to have the stable idle. As the IPS you can make it work via ECMLink but you still need something to keep the throttle plate open slightly.

 

[Anfurnyy]

Well, I was hoping this post would be a success story. Alas, it was not the success I wanted. I guess I'll take a consolation prize and state there's a small victory of sorts. Anyway, here we go.


Story starts Saturday. Actually managed to sleep a few hours so I wasn't dog tired, and got a nice early start. It was already like mid-high 80's with mid-high 90% humidity, but better than mid 90*. Anyway.

First thing I decided to tackle, because I LOATHE A/C WORK, was the rear hatch. It leaks worse than my other hatch, and after I removed the spoiler again I think I figured out why. The gasket for the wiper arm is dry/hard and loose. I feel like water would just go right in without any kind of resistance. I previously ordered a couple tubes of clear RTV after doing some research, and I know it needs hours to dry so that's my justification and I'm sticking to it. I RTV'ed every single opened on the back hatch. I did the sprayer nozzle, the trim, and the trim at the bottom of the window too. From there, I RTV'ed around the gasket for the wiper arm, AND the gasket for the third brake light too just to be sure.

View attachment 769135View attachment 769135View attachment 769146View attachment 769147

I'm really confident in this. If it leaks after this, then it's magic and I have no clue where and how the water is getting in. Lol. You can see the clear RTV on the trim in the second picture.

Once I got that squared away, I couldn't procrastinate or put it off any more. Time to focus on the A/C system. It needs O-rings everywhere, and I have a brand new Denso dryer for it so I pulled the front bumper and intercooler off.


View attachment 769148View attachment 769149

There we go. Popped the dryer off, and the line it attaches to and threw in new o-rings. New o-rings on the driver's side line too along with a new nut. I had a brief struggle if that hard line you see on the right of the condenser needed an o-ring or not. But for whatever reason, no one answered me when I asked about it, so I just went with no o-ring. Same with the hard line in the engine bay that the suction line attaches to. I already had the R134A conversion fittings on the lines, so didn't have to do that.

View attachment 769156

Nice little small parts pile. I removed the battery because it's in the way of the lines on the firewall that go to the evaporator.

Now, on to the compressor. Not looking forward to this. After looking at how little room you actually have to put the compressor in, and how big the pulley is on it...I decided screw it. And yanked the intake manifold.

View attachment 769151

Parts pile is now getting just a tiny bit bigger.

View attachment 769150

I regret nothing, and this made it an absolute breeze to not only put the compressor in, but to attach the new o-rings to the lines and bolt them onto the compressor too. I did not replace the gasket for the top of the compressor/compressor manifold, but ordered that and it's on the way.

From here, I threw the intake manifold back on and got everything bolted back up.

View attachment 769152

Once I got this far, I realized shit...I'm gonna have to pull the alternator's belt in order to get the A/C belt on. And that the belt needs to be put on the a/c tensioner too before you try to lower that in. But, with actually very little struggling(not kidding), I got it in there and sitting pretty.

View attachment 769153View attachment 769154

Really pleased with the tension on the belt and how it worked out. I was expecting this to suck waaaaay more. I know I said that already, but man was I expecting a monumental struggle. Pleasant surprise.

Anyway, on to the dreaded moment. Put the system under a vacuum and see if it leaks.

View attachment 769155

Eagle eyed viewers will notice that I did this before I reinstalled the intake manifold. But the result didn't change between the two events, there's a very slow leak. It doesn't just immediately discharge/bleed off vacuum, it happens over a good long while.

Either way, I decided in order to better spot the leak I'd charge it with some disposable Freon and see if I can find it. So I started the car up, hooked up the first can of Freon and attempted to charge it. At first it pulled Freon into the system, built up around 30lbs of pressure then it just...gave up. It stopped pulling Freon in, and the compressor never kicked on by itself. On advice I remembered getting in the "What did you do today" thread, I jumped the connector for the pressure switch and it kicked the compressor on. Which immediately put the system into a -20 vacuum, but still wouldn't suck in anything from the can.

I messed with it a bit, shook the can up, to no avail. Closing the valves and kicking the compressor off results in it holding a steady 10lbs of pressure. I went over the entire system with my UV light trying to find a smoking gun, and couldn't find any kind of massive leak or really any kind of leak. There's a ring around the compressor manifold, but nothing dripping out. It could just be excess Ester Oil I used to lube the old gasket that got sandwiched when I tightened it down.

But at this point, I just decided to call it. All this happened over the time span of two days, and I only literally just now finished shortly before I wrote this. I was...extremely discouraged, to say the least. Two days and a LOT of sweat for no payoff sucks. However, after talking with my dad (who despite being a huge drug addict, is really good with A/C systems) he mentioned that it could be the expansion valve, or a clogged condenser/evaporator. The only two things I didn't really replace/check.

So after some thinking, I figured screw it. Worth a try. My own opinion is neutral as I have no clue about A/C systems beyond the basics of how they work. I do wonder about the gasket for the compressor manifold that is old and dry, so I'm thankful I ordered that a day or two ago. I also am pleased as punch that I managed to find a brand new condenser on eBay for less than $600 that scalpers wanted, and I ordered a brand new expansion valve.

Plan is try the gasket for the compressor and condenser first. Re-test. If it's still not going, then I'm gonna pull the dash and clean/flush the evaporator and check it for leaks or pinholes. Also replace the expansion valve at that time too. I kind of hope in the meantime I can find a brand new evaporator, that way everything in the system will be brand new basically.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me on this journey. Not the result I wanted, but I'm gonna count a success on a few things.

1) The system seems to work. The compressor kicks on and functions, and it doesn't just lock up or scream or make noise. I don't know if the high-side pressure switch works or not since I had to jump it, but honestly it probably just didn't see enough pressure to kick on I'm guessing?

2) I got all the hard parts there. The compressor is on, the bracket is on along with the belt, it's all there. Nothing is missing. This makes diagnosing and repairing hopefully way more straight forward.

3) I did it all myself, and learned a lot. Hope to learn more, and above all I really...really hope I can just get this A/C system working. It'll be something else I taught myself and did all my own, which I never thought I'd do 5+ years ago.

Words of advice, constructive criticism, and your own personal experience are welcome and appreciated, fellas. As always.

I'm definitely going to be hitting you up for some pictures of how the AC pulleys get installed. Neither of the engines / cars I've had have had them so I don't have much to reference. I thought about talking at least installing the compressor and pulley's soon but I'm not even sure I've got all the hardware either actually..

 

[CrackedDSM]

1G IPS is also works as the fixed SAS to maintain certain amount on air into engine when the throttle position is 0% besides BISS and ISC. It would be important to have the stable idle. As the IPS you can make it work via ECMLink but you still need something to keep the throttle plate open slightly.

Exactly. There's an amount the FSM specifies (I think 13/16 of a full turn? Something weird like that) once it makes contact with the throttle cable bracket. I'm still dumbfounded as to how mine could've disappeared.

I'm definitely going to be hitting you up for some pictures of how the AC pulleys get installed. Neither of the engines / cars I've had have had them so I don't have much to reference. I thought about talking at least installing the compressor and pulley's soon but I'm not even sure I've got all the hardware either actually..

Anytime! I'll post detailed pics. It's just one bracket/pulley amalgamation you install, and it's actually really easy. Two bolts that thread into the compressor bracket, and one that threads into the motor mount bracket that comes out of the timing cover. The pulley itself IS the tensioner, you just tighten/raise the pulley to the appropriate amount for proper belt deflection. I really like it.

Here's a SS of the FSM showing the bracket/setup.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Replaced the condenser and all the o-rings I could find.

Now it leaks worse than before.


Sigh. I really just don't even know why I bother anymore. This car always fights me so hard, it's the same thing every time. I get an idea, so I buy parts. I use parts, and it almost works but fights me a little. So I spend more money after being discouraged, only for the problem to then get worse than before, then at this point I should give up. I should stop, I should move on and call it a failure. But I don't. I keep going, and then after going through some biblical struggle, it works.

I really wish I had someone reliable or local to me that could help me with this. I despise A/C work, and I just don't have the money to take the car to a local shop and let them find the leak for me.

I hate this car.


Edit - local genius reminded me to try soapy water like a boost leak. I did it, and found a giant leak. It’s the gasket for the compression manifold and I am stoked.

I ordered that gasket days and days ago and have it. As a bonus I can say that nothing else is leaking outside of the dash. Gotta change the compressor gasket and then try it again. If it works, then we’re in business to try vacuuming it again.

I don’t know why the leak is worse now, but idk. Maybe it’s just getting worse because everything else is tight and new. Either way we’ll see.

 

[CrackedDSM]

Replaced the gasket for the compressor manifold and no leaks around the compressor anymore. I did a very short pressure test where I charged it with 30lbs of Freon and left it for 15 mins and not a single lb of Freon was lost!


I’m vacuuming it now. Then gonna let it sit and see what she’ll do.

Please let this thing be sealed. I’ll edit and update this post when I know more.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Sending good AC VIBES your way!

 

[CrackedDSM]

We have A/C boys!! The problem the whole time was either the condenser and the leaky compressor or just the compressor. Idk how hard it’s supposed to be to blow through a condenser but it took a decent amount of effort to do it on the old one.

It also had a little too much oil I think.

43* through the vents. 35-40psi on the low side, 250-290 on the high side. 93* and humid outside. Took around 24lbs of R134a.

Gonna let it sit for a few days while I work and see if it holds the charge. But so far, I’m ecstatic. I was so worried even after all the work the TXM would’ve been bad. But that seems to not be the case. I’ve got a spare one just in case but as of right now I am over the moon but exhausted.


Also: thank God for the FSM. Using just cans trying to charge it didn’t really work until I did like the FSM said and put the cans in a 120-130* water bath. Worked like a charm after that.

Can’t believe this thing actually has a working A/C system. Even if there’s a slow leak from here, this is still a victory man. I can’t believe it!

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Man AC is really a lifesaver. It's 103 heat index here today, so it is muggy as hell. I did ALL my work this morning and was still soaking wet sweaty. This changes everything!
Hoping our Honda job does the same thing.
Good job!

 

[CrackedDSM]

Man AC is really a lifesaver. It's 103 heat index here today, so it is muggy as hell. I did ALL my work this morning and was still soaking wet sweaty. This changes everything!
Hoping our Honda job does the same thing.
Good job!

Good luck for sure!

This was definitely an adventure. This car has taught me so many things.

 

[jesse12345]

High 80s here so when I hop in the car dripping sweat, it's straight to the lake. I'm happy for you! If I had the room I'd definitely stuff ac in the car.