GeneralDisorder

The one under the car is always the clogged, forgotten, filter. It's actually the primary filter - the one under the hood is actually a vapor seperator that just also happens to have another filter in it. The first filter always gets 98% of the crap though, so the secondary under the hood is rarely bad. Cut it open and see. Your bad missing is probably feedback related being that it comes and goes like that. Bad coolant temp sensor perhaps. Get the codes. GD

Fuel filters generally do not cause hessitation issues from idle as that is when the float bowl is likely to be full as fuel demand is low. Plugged filters cause issues when demand is high. But yes - there are two. One under the car, and a vapor seperator/filter under the hood. Not likely to be your problem though. GD

You can't - on fuel injected engines the crankcase is part of the manifold vacuum system - that's how the PCV works, and the air circulateing through the whole system is metered by the MAF. It's a closed system and each of the little filters you added is a vacuum leak. A carburetor is what's known as a "demand feed" system. It's entirely dependant on manifold vacuum to "pull" in air and fuel. Fuel injection is not demand driven - the ECU introduces fuel based entirely on the air passing by the MAF sensor. Thus a closed system is needed or you are pulling air (past the rings, ect) from places other than through the MAF sensor. All those filters are supplying "unmetered" air to the engine and the ECU is cutting the fuel down based on an incorrect MAF signal - result being the engine dies from lack of fuel. The initial cold-start enrichment is the only thing keeping it running for the first few seconds. GD

That's a picture of an EA81, not an EA82. Beyond that you can just plug the lines - you don't need that valve. GD

Accelerator pumps are rarely bad on the Hitachi's. The problem is most likely a combination of several things - vacuum leaks, worn throttle shafts, ignition timeing, distributor vacuum advance, idle speed, idle mixture, ect. At 224k, many if not all of those are probably shot. The carb needs to be rebuilt, the primary shaft will need to be bushed and reemed, all vacuum leaks fixed, and then tuned after installation. You also have a feedback carb - it's got a computer, and several sensors. Read the codes from the computer under the kick panel and make the appropriate repairs. GD

Rather than pounding the bearings in, it's better to draw them in with a large peice of all-thread, some nuts, a section of iron pipe and some washers. Pounding on the races is bad - if you have to - do it evenly using a proper sized driver or section of pipe with a cap on the hammer end. The reccomended procedure is to use a press - but even then only a hand operated arbor press is all that's required. The fit is not all that tight. Heating the knuckle and putting the bearings on ice will make them go in very easily actually. Overall the job is quite easy - but it's also easy to screw up the bearings and have them not last very long. As mentioned replace the seals and DO NOT put too much grease inside the knuckle. In fact you should just order sealed bearings. If it's a 6207, then order a 6207-2RS for sealed, or a 6207-ZZ for sheilded. Sealed and sheilded will come pre-greased and offer another layer of protection over open bearings. And just go to a bearing house - ordering from an auto parts store has no advantages when it comes to bearings. GD

The drive gear inside the tranny is shot. There is probably a bad tooth on it somewhere and it's chewing the gov. gears up. Replace the tranny or do a 5 speed swap. GD

Dealership is the only source. GD

You sir, are clearly ignorant of...... nearly everything. I'll not waste my time with you. GD

I just replaced one of the original, factory u-joints on my 83 Hatch. It did not have a zerk but managed to last 223,000 miles. Granted one pin bearing was dust, but it got there without any zerking. I agree with you that a lot of the aftermarket stuff is junk - zerk or not. The seals are crap to begin with so any grease you add will probably just leach out. Lawnmowers are so poorly built that it doesn't surprise me there either. I'm merely saying that most of the *factory*, or OEM quality stuff is better left alone, and adding aftermarket parts with zerks will likely not last any longer than a quality OEM part with quality grease, quality seals, and no zerks at all. Yet another reason to shop at the dealer. Again and again I find that it's cheaper in the long run to just buy the right part to begin with. There are notable exceptions, but the rule is reinforced more times than it is proven wrong. Given the choice of cheap part without a zerk, and cheap part with a zerk I would go with the zerk style if for no other reason than when it does seize up I have a way to force something in there to keep it moving till I can replace it, ect. I just want the readers here to understand what they are doing, and think twice before wantonly adding grease to everything they see. Most of the time a good cleaning, check for play, and inspection of the seals is sufficient. Corrosion, dirt, expansion and contraction of filled grease cavities, ect are what cause the contamination in the first place. Make sure to wipe away any grease leaking from a seal as it can contract back into the assembly and carry with it contaminates that will severely shorten it's life. GD

They should be the same, but beware when ording clutch kits. 80 to 82 4WD's used the same 200mm clutch as the 2WD's. 83 on used 225mm for 4WD, and 200mm for 2WD. They could have a glitch in their computer parts system, and one or the other might in fact be a 200mm instead of the proper 225. Also with cars this old you never quite know what you'll find - best to open it up and see how big the clutch is before you buy one. GD

The oil can cause insulation of the sensor wire and failure due to overheating from the hot-wire in the MAF. Cleaning them is not the issue - the issue is the deposits causeing undo strain on the electronics. There's no reason at all to use them. Paper filters better, and the surface area of the stock element is larger than it needs to be for the EA82. It's all gimick - just like PTFE additives, headgasket in a bottle and all the rest of the junk sold to those with no sense of scepticism. GD

That falls more into the "feeling good about greasing things" catagory. Also a lot of heavy equipment joints are built in such a way that they will "belch" out the added grease - they have replaceable boots that can be squeezed to remove some of the grease when you force more in. But that is a totally different world from consumer automotive. The small Subaru u-joints use lip-seals, not boots.....Once upon a time I was a heavy wheeled vehicle mechanic in the Army so I understand what you are saying. But this topic was on regular 4-wheeler "automotive" components - not heavy over-the-road gear like tractor-trailer systems. GD

Ball joints and tie-rod ends.... drag links and the like are not high-speed, but they are load bearing. Friction creates heat, and you can get your friction different ways - light loads at high speed, or heavy loads at low speed. It all makes heat regardless. And u-joints actually do rotate quite fast - they also change direction rapidly and tend to wear uneavenly because of it. I agree with what you are saying to a point - there are definite difference between a C3 (motor rated) bearing, and a u-joint's pin bearings. But over the time they are required to operate (in hours) they are not all that different. And either one will fail if there is nowhere for the grease to expand to, it overheats, and loses it's lubrication abilities. Grease must expand and contract - if it's contained then it will exert pressure on the bearings and drive out the lubricating film. Adding good, new grease to grease contaminated with particulates of burned grease creates a "compound" and grinds away the metal in the assembly. It may quiet it down, and it may help for a short time, but overall it was the over-greasing that killed it in the first place. To some extent, once you have over-greased them the damage is done unless you dissasemble them to remove some so you might as well keep adding grease - at that point it can't really hurt you anymore anyway. GD

All that really just isn't true in the grand scheme of things. Cars last LONGER by far (with less maintenance) than they ever have before. A car in the 1960's was basically shot at 100,000 miles. Now people complain if they can't get to 200,000 or more. And that's with NO greasing of chassis components as there are no zerks and it isn't called out in the schedule. Sure a component fails from time to time but by and large suspension components last the usuable life of the car without even a glance from a mechanic. You have to see the forest for the trees here. Parts are expensive because fewer are needed in the replacement supply chain (less repairs means fewer parts are produced). It's also much faster and easier to redesign components now that all the engineering and proto-typing is done on computer. Lets not forget that grease has come a long way in that time as well. The grease of 30 or 40 years ago often may not have outlasted the life of the component as some of todays finer lubricants will. People that turn wrenches on cars are very rarely in the posistion to do proper failure analysis. They fix it and move on. Their business is volume. They are of a breed that often has very rigid rituals with regards to lubrication - ones that they can't always quite explain. You have given me no reasons other than anecdotal evidence to support your claims. I would now like you to offer some concrete reasoning behind your posistion. Just because a bunch of wrench monkey's wanted the zerks, and because you have seen some failed joints that you suppose failed due to contamination does not indicate that greasing zerks every 3,000 miles would have led to this not occuring. Indeed is it not possible that regular greaseing could have contributed to the contamination and actually sped up the failure process? There are good, concrete reasons to beleive that it might have, and there have been studies indicating that's exactly what happens in the vast preponderance of cases. Is in not possible that what you suppose was "contamination" was actually failed lubricant that had changed from a semi-liquid to a solid and contaminated itself? Were they any chemical analysis done on the supposed "contaminates"? This is the stuff I do on a daily basis. Failure analysis is a big part of some of the work I perform as my employer is the factory service center and we process warantee claims for equipment and components that can be in the 10's of thousands of $$. We have chemical analysis done at times by independant labs, ect. This stuff is rarely done in the autmotive world (or if it is it's done at the corporate/factory level as we do) because it's easier to just throw on a new part (possibly updated ), pat the customer on the butt and send them on their way. GD

Aftermarket components are known for being poot quality. Has nothing to do with the maintenance when the components are built in pakistan and handled accordingly. One good drop from a few feet and a bearing's life will be cut by 2/3rds easily. Everything from quality control to handling in these cut-rate manufacturing facilities is extremely poor - many of the workers aren't old enough to be attending high school in the US. It's got nothing to do with maintenance my friend. Heavy equipment is a different application. It moves slowely - often heat is less of a concern (ie: 5 to 10 MPH *maybe*) thus over-greasing isn't a problem. It also suffers from the same ailment that I discussed in relation to manufacturers of electric motors - the buyers/owners/operators *feel* better about having something to zerk - regardless of weather it does anything or not. I have taken apart MANY motors that had zerks on the bearing covers and inside were SEALED bearings. Silly, but it's common. GD

Compressor should be fine, but I would replace the shaft seal - that's usually what fails on them. Problem is that removing and re-installing the clutch will almost always kill the bearings shortly after so doing a rebuild on it or getting a new one is adviseable. GD

You question makes no real sense. There are no fans that come into contact with refrigerant, so R134's working pressure has nothing to do with fans of any sort. It's purely a matter of hoses, compressors, and evap/condensor core's. GD

Doesn't hurt anything really. It's switching to synth on older engines that usually results in leaks. But switching in and of itself is perfectly safe provided you can keep the oil INSIDE the engine. GD

The key words are "change" and "repack". The problem with a U-joint is that you can't do either without truely dissasembling them. Thus over-greasing is a problem and one that manufacturers have solved by removing the zerks. You won't find them on u-joints in any new vehicles (or ball-joints, tie-rod ends, ect). Forceing grease out through the edges of the seals breaks them away from their sealing surface and when the grease heats up and cools down it will suck contaminates (water and particulate) back into the joint. You are seeing water and dirty grease come out because you have broken the seals by continually pumping grease into them. If you leave them alone they will last far, far longer. The best way you can care for the u-joints is to keep them clean on the outside so dirt doesn't have a chance to work it's way under the seals. I was just talking about a similar thing with one of the older techs at work. 35 years ago he worked for a Ford dealership and had a customer that insisted on having his oil, oil filter, and air filter changed every 3,000 miles and did NOTHING else to the car. He specifically made it clear that he wanted nothing on the chassis greased or lubricated. In the time my friend worked there he went through 3 cars - sold each of them at 200,000 miles (all without a single failure). The 4th one he brought in at 100,000 and my friend thought he would do the man an extra special service and greased the chassis (for free) - adding zerks to the joints (Ford did not put them in stock) and the man was so irate that he sold it immediately and bought a new car. Regardless of whether the bearing was made in china, the ukrain or Austria it will last longer without contaminated grease. Adding more grease is not better and will not make them last longer - it will break down the grease that's in there (through heat, friction, and pressure), and will cause further contamination and degradetion of the lubrication. The only time I've wantonly pumped grease into u-joints is when they were completely frozen and I needed to get to home/parts store/out of the woods, ect. But that's also when you pee in the radiator and pour engine oil into the brake reservoir too..... emergencies will call for drastic action at times. GD

It's not simple if that's what you want. First you'll have to find all the components. There's quite a bit of wiring and relays that go with it, as well as all the lines, the alternator/AC pump bracketry, evap core, condensor core (with houseing, and associated components under the dash), drier (new), pressure switches, ect. You'll have to replace all the hoses with R134 compatible, and all the o-rings as well. Then you pull a vacuum for several hours on the system, charge it with nitrogen and check for leaks. Once all that is done you can charge it with refrigerant and go to town. Of course unless you have access to a vacuum pump, nitrogen, manifold and gauge set, and all the neccesary tools to perform work on MVAC systems you are in for a large and tasty bill from someone that does. GD

You don't EVER drain Scotty's. You leave it in there for good. If you want something to flush and drain out use straight Dexron ATF. GD

To do it right you would want to heli-coil the threads. Sounds like they are shot. Best if you remove the head to repair it. Otherwise you risk getting metal into the cylinder. EA71's are easy to remove the head anyway - just pull them both and do a full reseal of the engine while you are at it. GD

The vibration definitely could be the u-joints if it's 4WD. I just replaced one a few weeks ago on my hatch due to vibration. If you notice a slight lessening of the vibration when you put it into 4WD at whatever speed the vibration is worst at you'll know for sure. Vibration can also be the inner Double Offset Joint on the front driveshafts. It's similar to a CV, but allows for axial movement of the joint for suspension flex. They usually cause more vibration than worn outer CV joints - which often just click and pop when they are worn. I've seen plenty of bad joints right out of the box so even one that is "a couple years old" is suspect. The boot does not need to be torn for them to fail. I would replace it on general principle. GD

Re-read my previous post. GD