[98shprelude]

Hey PP people! I've got a coolant leak from somewhere near the front of my block, and from what I can surmise it's either the waterpump, coolant pipe, or one of the pipes attached to the coolant pipe. What I want to know is what sort of nightmare I'm getting myself into if I try to even get to the coolant pipe. I can't see it or feel it from on top or below the engine. I'd guess I have to pull the upper and lower intake manifolds and then inspect the pipe for leaks?

If it's the water pump, I'm stuck pulling the accessory pulley and timing belt right? And finding a really big torque wrench lol.

 

[J.eremy]

Hey PP people! I've got a coolant leak from somewhere near the front of my block, and from what I can surmise it's either the waterpump, coolant pipe, or one of the pipes attached to the coolant pipe. What I want to know is what sort of nightmare I'm getting myself into if I try to even get to the coolant pipe. I can't see it or feel it from on top or below the engine. I'd guess I have to pull the upper and lower intake manifolds and then inspect the pipe for leaks?

If it's the water pump, I'm stuck pulling the accessory pulley and timing belt right? And finding a really big torque wrench lol.

I'm going be completely honest with you, no matter what it is out of those things you listed they are all nightmares.

If its the water pump you will have to remove the timing belt as it is timing belt driven. don't put the old one back on. lol

the water pipe is bolted to the block with 2 10 or 12mm bolts, it just inserts into the rear of the water pump with an o-ring around the pipe. Its feels weird when you put it together but that's the way its supposed to go. same on the thermostat housing. Lube the ring when installing, it helps alot. Mine had a lot of corrosion and i cleaned it up and put it back on, well it leaked. :/ I ended up taking it apart again and replacing them. they are also cheap.

Removing the intake manifold is way more work in my opinion that dropping the ATTS unit, as half of the bolts to remove it are right above that water pipe that you cant access from the top or bottom with the ATTS unit in the way. Not to mention the entire fuel system and vacuum lines, throttle cable etc...
The ATTS unit comes right out with just pulling the drivers side axle, removing 5 bolts, connector and ATTS fluid cooling lines on top of the trans.

If it the O-Ring on the water pipe on the water pump side, and because you have an SH you will have to drop the ATTS unit in order to be able to get in there. You will have to drop the ATTS unit and remove the thermostat housing over by the distributor and slide the entire pipe out the passenger side (over by the transmission). Get the mew o-rings for both water pump and thermostat sides no matter how good they look, TRUST ME.

There are a bunch of rubber hoses back there also. 2 that come out of that metal coolant pipe and are used for the oil cooler that the filter sits on. Then there is a hose that goes from the pipe to the firewall. Those hoses are cheap.

Your best bet is to pull the drivers side axle and take out the 4 bolts holding in the ATTS unit. Once that is out start it up and find out where the leaks are coming from. Once that unit is out you can see the entire back end of the block. If you do that replace all the hoses back there because you don't want to go in there ever again

If you need any more info let me know

 

[98shprelude]

I'm going be completely honest with you, no matter what it is out of those things you listed they are all nightmares.

If its the water pump you will have to remove the timing belt as it is timing belt driven. don't put the old one back on. lol

the water pipe is bolted to the block with 2 10 or 12mm bolts, it just inserts into the rear of the water pump with an o-ring around the pipe. Its feels weird when you put it together but that's the way its supposed to go. same on the thermostat housing. Lube the ring when installing, it helps alot. Mine had a lot of corrosion and i cleaned it up and put it back on, well it leaked. :/ I ended up taking it apart again and replacing them. they are also cheap.

Removing the intake manifold is way more work in my opinion that dropping the ATTS unit, as half of the bolts to remove it are right above that water pipe that you cant access from the top or bottom with the ATTS unit in the way. Not to mention the entire fuel system and vacuum lines, throttle cable etc...
The ATTS unit comes right out with just pulling the drivers side axle, removing 5 bolts, connector and ATTS fluid cooling lines on top of the trans.

If it the O-Ring on the water pipe on the water pump side, and because you have an SH you will have to drop the ATTS unit in order to be able to get in there. You will have to drop the ATTS unit and remove the thermostat housing over by the distributor and slide the entire pipe out the passenger side (over by the transmission). Get the mew o-rings for both water pump and thermostat sides no matter how good they look, TRUST ME.

There are a bunch of rubber hoses back there also. 2 that come out of that metal coolant pipe and are used for the oil cooler that the filter sits on. Then there is a hose that goes from the pipe to the firewall. Those hoses are cheap.

Your best bet is to pull the drivers side axle and take out the 4 bolts holding in the ATTS unit. Once that is out start it up and find out where the leaks are coming from. Once that unit is out you can see the entire back end of the block. If you do that replace all the hoses back there because you don't want to go in there ever again

If you need any more info let me know

Thanks for the good/bad news. Seems like I'm stuck pulling an axle because the ATTS unit is in the way right? So how does one go about pulling an axle? Are there any special seals on the ATTS unit or a special procedure to refill it after it's pulled and leaks everywhere?

 

[J.eremy]

Thanks for the good/bad news. Seems like I'm stuck pulling an axle because the ATTS unit is in the way right? So how does one go about pulling an axle? Are there any special seals on the ATTS unit or a special procedure to refill it after it's pulled and leaks everywhere?

Hey its not terrible news. It definitely could be worse.

You only have to pull the drivers side axle.

Remove the drivers side wheel, seperate the ball joints on the spindle and the front control bar and pry the axle out of the atts unit. Once it pops out you can pull it out of the way off the atts unit. No need to remove it out of the spindle.

After that's out of the way you have to remove the exhaust mid pipe off of the exhaust manifold and over by the cat.

Next reach up and unplug the ATTS unit main connector. There is only one large electronic connector on the ATTS.

up near the connector there is a bracket that is mounted to the intake manifold. I believe it is a 12mm bolt through a black L shaped bracket. You can see it if you look up toward the electrical connector once its out of the way.

Unhook the 2 lines under the hood that go up over the trans for the ATTS fluid cooler. Don't remove them from the car they will slide down when you lower the ATTS unit out of the car. There is also a breather pipe up by the fuel rail that just hooks up to a nipple on top of the atts unit. remove it from the bracket and let it slide just like the ATTS cooler lines. The reason you have to let them pull down is because they are attached to the top of the ATTS unit and you cant access them with it in. So you have to let them slide down on removal and pull them back up when you raise it back in.

On the ATTS unit itself there are 2 12mm bolts right where the axle was and 2 more larger (maybe 17mm) right over by the connector that was connected. Support the atts unit with a floor jack before removing those. Once those are out then all you have to do is slide the entire unit toward the drivers side so the sleeve pops out of the transmission output shaft OR it slides off the ATTS unit.

If you lower it down level, no fluid should leak. If it does leak there is a fill hole right in the same area where that damn axle was near the top of the ATTS unit. It takes Honda ATF fluid. Just replace what leaked tho because it only takes 1 quart total. When I pulled mine I just drained it and refilled the entire thing.

The ATTS unit is not that heavy. Probably like 40 lbs or so, just keep it level.

I sent you a PM with some resources. Good luck