cnc

Finally, a use for my physics degree! Clamp the business end of the torque wrench in a vise, with the handle sticking out flat horizontally. Hang a known weight off the end of the handle. Measure the distance between where it's clamped into the vise and where the dangling weight is. Now you have 'feet' and 'pounds'. Multiply those numbers and you have exactly the foot-pounds of torque at that moment. Well, you have to account for the wrench weight itself, but that is minor, compared to lots of ft-lbs that you are working with. So, say you want to check the wrench at 50 ft-lbs. Hang a 50 pound sack of sand, 1 foot out from the business end of the wrench, and the clicker should just click, there. You can get more elaborate and hang a 5 gallon bucket out there and start filling it with water until the wrench clicks, then measure the distance and weigh the bucket on a bathroom scale. Now you have feet and pounds. Check that against the setting you had the wrench dialed in to. cnc

"Welded rear diff"?? Eh wot? What's that do for you and what does it not do so well after that? cnc

The first gaskets I used were from the lowball gasket people on ebay. $34 for a complete set. They forgot (???) the little rubber gaskets that insert into the head gasket and the rest of the gaskets looked to be punched out of a cereal box. I bought a set of fat intake gaskets from Carquest and they were almost 1/8" thick. Been running the car for a couple of days and have not lost any water, at all. Woo hoo! Is that 'hose from Hell' something that I should just replace? 93 EA82, 180k miles, smile on face.

After chasing a coolant leak on a EA82 93 Loyale for weeks, it turned out to be two things. One; the little rubber line that goes from the thermostat body to the base of the throttle-body had a bulge and a little hole. Is this the "hose from Hell" I hear speak of?? Two; the intake manifold gaskets were both loose. Now that seemed strange to me, since I just installed them a couple of months ago. I think the problem is related to the use of the OEM extra thick gaskets that are specified for there. I originally put in cheap, thin aftermarket gaskets and water poured out of it before I could even start the engine. Pulled the thin ones out and installed thick ones. The problem appears to be that the intake manifold spans such a long distance that it's almost impossible to get the gasket surfaces parallel. Hence, the extra thick gasket. That worked at first, but it apparently relaxed, being a super thick gasket. I found one bolt on each side to be totally loose and another to be half tight. I think the take-away knowledge on this is to retorque those thick gaskets after a month or some appropriate time. Ok, wrenches of the Universe! Chime in!

Could it be a very clogged fuel filter that lets pressure seep through enough to have some to start on, but insufficient flow to keep it running? Have you checked the fuel filter under the back rear of the car? cnc

On my 93 Loyale, the fan relay and the A/C relay are both on a little rack, directly on the back side of the right hand strut tower. There is also a standalone 15A blade fuse holder right there. That is the A/C fuse, I'm told. cnc

Thanks for all the help, guys. Final parting thought: The engine can only produce so much torque, and the crankshaft is sized to well exceed that torque, but there must be a limit to how much torque can be applied to the crankshaft before you bend it or otherwise mess it up. I'm hoping that strength is well beyond what a knuckle-dragging shadetree wrench such as myself, can produce. Think I'll keep the breaker bar in the car for a few weeks, just to be sure. cnc

I don't think you can sneak the radiator in there with the fan on. Correct me if I'm wrong, though. cnc:-\

In putting the EA82 timing belts on, you have to reinstall the crank pulley. Sounds easy enough. I put some blue Loctite threadlocker on it and screwed it in, then used a ratchet to beef it down pretty hard. Thought that would be fine. Sat for a day before starting car. Plenty of time for Loctite to set up. Started car and let it run for a half hour, to see if anything would go wrong. Sure enough, started getting hot, but the fan was going around (too slow, it turns out) and a funny scraping sound started, followed by the brake warning light. Shut it down immediately and investigated. The crank pulley nut had backed off but was still engaged in the threads. Put car in 5th and used a breaker bar to retighten pulley nut. Checked with torque click wrench and it was 76 ft-lbs or more, per spec, now. Drove fine on a trip. My consternation is this: There is no positive lock on the crank pulley. It depends upon friction by the big crank bolt only. That seems odd. There is no taper I can see. And, the direction of rotation is such that any load on the crank pulley, like the alternator, A/C pump, water pump, and brake pump all try to unscrew the crank bolt. I'd expect to see a Woodruff key or something to positively lock the pulley from rotating, and the crank bolt is just there to keep it from moving outward. Is this right? Makes me nervous to turn on the A/C, knowing that I'm adding to the load and possibility that the crank pulley will fall off while driving. With the engine out, I can hit it with a manly-man's rattle-gun, but not when the engine is in the car. Is this a problem? Thanks. cnc

Finally figured out a system. Problem is the 4 hex nuts that affix the fan to the hub. Need a 5 year old's hands to work in there. Here's my solution: Tools needed: Long hemostat. 10 inches, minimum Long flat blade screwdriver. Same length. Long 10mm open end wrench, cut and extended to a foot. 22mm open end wrench. 1. Place fan on hub. Cram a glove or something soft between the fan and radiator to hold it in place against the hub. 2. Using the hemostat, place the nut on the end of the stud and hold it in place with the flat blade screwdriver by pressing lightly on axis. 3. Remove hemostat and use either the hemostat or the long wrench to spin the nut onto the threads as far as it will go. 4. Repeat for the remaining 3 studs. 5. Put 22mm open end wrench on the fan shaft. It has a couple of flats, specifically for this task. Hold shaft in place while you use the modified long 10mm open end wrench to tighten all the hex nuts. Done. No fiddling. Works like a charm. cnc

If it ran when it was parked, even though it got hot, it should start now, in theory. Unlikely, but the driver's side timing belt could have broke. That just happened to me the other day on my 93 Loyale. Distributor is driven off of the driver's side belt. An easy check would be to undo the two screws that hold the distributor cap on and see if the rotor spins around when you try to start it. If not, the belt is likely the cause. If not, keep looking. Did you look for spark at the top of the coil? Stick a test light right in there and see. Good luck.. cnc

I repaired a radiator on a 1955 army Dodge that was cracked. I used the stuff you buy at Carquest to do it. Probably the same as JB. Hasn't leaked at all in 4 or 5 years since I did it. The radiator is brass. I can't argue with success. cnc

You'll obviously be needing a head gasket set. Let me warn you about the cheapest ones on ebay. I got a complete set for $34 but it was missing the little doughnut metal/rubber gasket that goes between the valve carrier and the head. Also, the intake gasket was almost paper thin, and they need to be unusually thick in order to seal. They refunded me, but it took a tussle. Be sure to ask about those two (well, 4) gaskets before buying the cheapest ones. Works, otherwise. cnc:popcorn:

My fan shroud has 2 bolts and only extends 2 or 3 inches downward. Piece of cake.

I like the rope trick. Good suggestion on the small hands, too. I have neighbor kids that might like to earn some $. Whipped up a special tool today for the fan nuts. Took a junk 10mm box/open wrench and cut it in half and stuffed each piece into a mashed piece of pipe that just fit. Now braze it and I'll have a 20" 10mm wrench for that.

I like that idea. May take you up on that suggestion to add an EA81 thin fan in place of the mechanical one. Like to squeeze a few more miles out of a gallon if I can. Thanks.

Well, after crawling around the web, it appears that the hot ticket is to stick a breaker bar on the crank bolt and wedge it against something down there, like the skid plate, and crank the engine over for a second or two. Make sure the distributor cap is off, so it won't start! The bolt will back right off. Ok. To retighten, it looks like you need to use threadlock of some sort and tighten to some spec, maybe it's in the book somewhere. Still flummoxed about how to deal with the little hex nuts that hold the fan on. Can't find boo on that one. Ideas? Thanks. cnc

I can't be the first shade tree wrench to cuss the fan nuts or the crank pulley bolt. My 93 Loyale (EA82 engine) up and died all of a sudden, while driving. The drivers-side timing belt snapped open. Instantly lost spark because the distributor is run off of the left side. Towed home. No hint of any trouble at all until it instantly died. The belt was not new, but it was visually very nice looking. No nicks, no evidence of cracking, or anything. In fact, it looked virtually new to me. The cords inside the belt let go. Can't see in there. I guess the take-away info on this is to just change them every 60k miles (I think that is the number) instead of just inspecting them and checking tension. To change the belts, you have to remove the fan and crank pulley. Took me a good hour to fiddle with the nuts because it's so tight in there. There must be a trick to doing it. What is it? You can barely even touch the nuts, let alone start them or turn them. The crank pulley is another problem. Takes a 22mm hex socket, but how do you keep the crank from rotating while tightening it? I ended up using a chain wrench and busted the pulley. It has to be tight or the belts might spin it. There is no key on it. There is nothing to grab while turning it. When the engine is out, you can hit it with a rattle-rench, but not while in the car. Any tips are greatly appreciated. cnc

I will look for that microswitch tomorrow. Big help, and thanks! As for the A/C relay, I did find it next to the right strut tower, and found the red/black wire (I think that was it) and grounded it, which turned on the A/C and I think even kicked up the idle. Can't quite remember, but at any rate, the A/C relay seems to work fine. If all else fails, I should be able to run a switch to the dash that will ground one side of the relay coil, but I'm not sure what systems that would bypass. Thanks!

I was unaware of that microswitch. I will look for it next. By 'hotwiring' the system, all I did was unplug the clutch wire and run it to a cigarette plug to force 12v to the clutch so it will engage. Thermally, it works great. It's just trying to get the controls to instruct the clutch to kick in. So, if I understand correctly, this microswitch detects a properly opened vent? I'll poke around the foot well area. Thanks! There just isn't any info out there on where these various pieces are. I still can't find the A/C pulser amplifier. Appreciate the help.

Hi. Where in the circuits did you install the extra switch? I am still trying to figure this A/C out. I get fans and vents working but no clutch and no idle kick-up. Thanks.

It really does sound like a leaky head gasket. I just went through that. It is true that you need a very thick pair of intake manifold gaskets to get a seal. Hot water flows through the manifold as well as air, in separate channels. The thin gaskets allow them to leak together. I bought a cheap set of gaskets off of ebay and the intake gaskets were almost paper thin and leaked. The kit also failed to have the two little rubber/metal seals that go between the head and cam cover. So much for cheap gasket sets... The guy didn't even respond to me about the omissions.

Thanks. I may have to give up and hot wire it. Doing that now, but it bypasses literally every electrical system. I can also bypass it by grounding one side of the A/C relay. In so doing, the idle-up function seems to work, at least. It blows way cold. Wish I could find the real culprit. How do you get into the area where the A/C switch is? Probably with a long probe through the tail pipe.....

Hi. Trying to get A/C going on a 93 Loyale and can't locate the so-called A/C amplifier,also known as a pulser amplifier.Haynes and Chiltons say nothing as to where they are. Anyone know? Also have no info on how to check the low pressure A/C switch, which is a 4 terminal job. It may be bad but I don't know how to check it. Help, please. Jim

It's a 4 pin low pressure switch and I can't locate any electrical info on it in Haynes or Chiltons. I did find and test the thermostat behind the glove compartment and it seems fine. I unplugged it. No change. I shorted the two leads and still no change. I found and grounded the black/red coil wire to the A/C relay and the clutch kicked in. I cannot locate the A/C amplifier module. Anyone know where that little bugger is? Thanks. Jim