98 Sub 2.5L DOHC, MT

 

I just need some clarification on this issue. I made marks on the old flywheel before removal. The new flywheel has a white paint mark. All ref marks on old does not line up with new. I am not sure if the old flywheel is an aftermarket, but the new flywheel, pressure plate, disc & bearing are all OEM.

 

Does the paint mark on the new flywheel tooth line up in any particular direction when reinstalling it?

Past posts show to align the balance marks on flywheel & pressure plate 120 deg apart, is this accurate?

I installed the new flywheel, the paint mark is on 3 of the teeth. The Haynes says the flywheel can only be installed in one direction or bolt pattern, but this is not true here. The bolts seem to be equally positioned, not offset.

 

I mounted the flywheel to the shaft so the teeth are at 11:00. It was either that position or the next rotated position was around 1:00 or 2:00. It wouldn't align to the position of the last flywheel, nor would the white paint marks align to 12:00 or 6:00. I then mounted the disc, and then pressure plate. I tried to use the mark on the pressure plate as described in a past post to be 120 deg from the flywheel mark, but it won't align to 120 deg. due to the pressure plate bolt marks(son't have the PP bolts tightened yet). I believe these are balance marks, still not sure how to align.

Flywheels with an even bolt pattern are not used to balance the engine internally so it doesn't matter how you put it on which is why they don't have an asymmetric bolt pattern. The pressure plate should only be able to go on one way because of the dowel pins used to center it.

 

each flywheel is balanced on its own to make up for slight differences in their manufacture thus no two flywheels are exactly the same so a mark on your crank referencing an old flywheel isn't going to mean anything to a new flywheel.

 

Just put your car back together and enjoy the new clutch.

The flywheel and clutch cover (pressure plate) balance marks aren't supposed to be offset by precisely 120 degrees, but rather by more than 120 degrees. Ideally they would be offset by 180 degrees, assuming the bolt pattern would allow it.