Author: Mike

Posted on

How to change the clutch in a Honda Passport or Isuzu Rodeo

How to change the clutch in a Honda Passport or Isuzu Rodeo

Before you begin, coat your hands with Market America Clear Shield for easy clean up.

Before lifting the truck, remove the two shift knobs and the shift boot. There are four Phillips head screws that hold the boot in place. Two are hidden under covers.

Put the transmission in neutral. Remove the three 12mm head bolts that hold the main shifter n place. Pull straight up on the shifter to remove it.

Put the transfer case in 2wd. Remove the two bolts that hold this shifter in place. Pull straight up to remove it.

Locate two wires connection to one of the sensor on near the top of the transmission. Disconnect these through the shifter boot opening. It is much easier to get to this way than from below.

Raise the vehicle and support it firmly. Remove the front cross member that goes from one front wheel to the other. This step is optional, but gives easier access.

Remove the two skid plates. Support the transmission and remove the transmission support cross member. It is held to the frame by eight bolts with 17mm heads and to the transmission support by two nuts.

Remove the oxygen sensor wiring connector. Disconnect the Y pipe at the down pipe and at the catalytic converter. These bolts may be rusty due to heat so using a rust breaker solvent like PB Blaster may help. Be careful not to damage the gaskets if you plan to reuse them.

Remove the lower round inspection plate and check to see if the throw out bearing is still connected to the pressure plate. If the clutch pedal does not cause the clutch to disengage, it is usually because this connection has come apart. If it is still connected, the normal service procedure calls for it to be disconnected at this point. To disconnect it, insert a flat screw driver between the throw out bearing and the pressure plate and twist. You may have to twist it in a couple of places to get it loose. Or, you can leave it in place and carefully let the bearing slip off the fork when you pull the transmission.

Remove the slave cylinder by removing the two 12mm headed bolts. You can leave the guard attached to the cylinder and the hose attached as well. Remove the wiring guard.

Remove the one 10mm headed bolt and the one 17mm headed bolt that holds the cover to the transmission. Leave the cover in place. The starter can stay in place as well.

Disconnect the rear drive shaft from the transfer case. Use a pry bar through the U joint to keep it from turning while use a 14mm box end wrench on the four bolts. Tie it up out of the way.

Disconnect the front drive shaft from the front axle using a procedure similar to the rear drive shaft. Leave the shaft attached to the transfer case and tie it to the case.

Remove the wiring harness by disconnecting the bullet connector and the connector for the sped sensor at the rear. Mark the wires so you can put them back to the proper sensor.

Secure the transmission to a transmission jack. This transmission seems exceptionally heavy for its compact size so be very careful. The balance point is near mount.

Remove the six 17mm headed bolts that hold the transmission to the engine. I use several extensions and put the socket on a swivel joint to get the out.

Slide the transmission straight back off the engine being careful not to let any weight rest on the input shaft as it exits the clutch disk. Continue moving the transmission back until it clears the exhaust and then let it down.

Inspect the clutch and pressure plate assembly for damage and wear.

New parts are normally only available as a matched set. Be sure to resurface or replace the flywheel if the clutch disk is replaced.

Install the new clutch disk using the alignment tool with the kit. Make sure it is centered and the tool slides in and out easily.

In order to prevent the throw out bearing from popping loose at its disconnect point, I chose to weld the disconnect clip to permanently fix it to the pressure plate. I did this by putting the throw out bearing on the pressure plate and MIG welding the clip in several places to keep it from coming back off.

To reconnect it as the factory intended, slip the throw out bearing over the input shaft and put the pressure plate up as normal. Connect them together after the transmission is in place.

Make sure the clutch plate is centered and bolt the pressure plate in place. Tighten the bolts is a crisscross manner to compress the springs evenly. Check again that the alignment tool moves easily in and out of the disk.

Remove the oblong inspection plate from near the slave cylinder mount. Position the transmission on its jack to slide straight into the engine. You may have to support the rear of the engine to help with the alignment.

If you have welded the throw out bearing, carefully work the release forks into the tabs on the bearing as you mate up the transmission. Use a long screwdriver through the inspection hole to put the fork in place.

Slide the transmission firmly into place. Replace the six bolts that hold the transmission to the engine. Make sure the lower cover is aligned properly before tightening them to their proper torque.

Replace the wiring harness and reconnect the sensors. Leave the top one for when you are back inside the vehicle. Replace the wiring guard.

Replace the slave cylinder and make sure the actuating pin properly indexes in the release fork. If you did not weld the throw out bearing, use the release fork to press it into place before connecting the slave cylinder. Replace the two inspection plates.

Put the front cross member back in place. Reconnect the two drive shafts. Reinstall the Y pipe and reconnect the oxygen sensor wire.

Reinstall the transmission support cross member. Reinstall the two skid plates.

Lower the vehicle and working from inside reconnect the top sensor wire. Replace the two shifters and the shift boot and shift knobs.

Test the clutch. If the throw out bearing pops loose as indicated by the pedal suddenly going all the way to the floor, take it all back apart and weld the clip.
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Exhaust Leak

My friend Ed took his one ton van in for an emissions inspection and they would not test it because there was not enough exhaust gas coming out the pipe for them to test. They rolled their mirror around and verified that he had a catalytic converter in place but they refused to inspect him due to the lack of exhaust flow.

It took a few days for us to get together for me to look at it but I finally got time to travel to his place and take a look. I tossed my pit mat down in the dirt beside the van and crawled under to take a quick look.

What I found was a one inch gap between the pipe out of the cat and the muffler. It had rusted completely in two. How they did not spot this with the inspection mirror is a mystery and makes me wonder just what they are inspecting for.

Exhaust Leak

I let him know that I could make a temporary patch there and he could bring it to my shop later for a more permanent repair.

We went to Autozone and bought a 3″ pipe coupler and the one clamp they had that fit. My plan was to slip the coupler over the gap and clamp it down.

I had quite a time getting the old rusty clamp off. I soaked it in WD40 and used a brush to clean the threads. I then worked the rusty nuts back and forth to finally get them off without breaking the clamp. I had to put my jack under the clamp to hold it to keep from bending the pipe as I put torque on the nut.

Once the clamp was off, I noticed that this was a slip connection and that the rear pipe was going to be the same size as the coupling I had just bought. I used Ed’s hacksaw to make several slots in one half of the coupling and used the tongue of his trailer for an anvil to flare it out so it would slip over the rear pipe.

I slipped the coupler over the front pipe and then worked it back over the rear section. I centered it the best I could and installed the new clamp on one side and reused the rusty clamp on the other.

I had him start it up and I checked for leaks. There were some small leaks at the end of each cut but nothing serious. I think I should flow enough gas for him to get his emissions inspection now.

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Lula Lake and Lula Falls

Lula Lake and Falls

Lula Lake is located on Lookout Mountain near the Tennessee Georgia border. Old postcards indicate that this beautiful lake and water fall have been a popular tourist destination for decades.

There is a old rail road grade that makes the main trial through the property. This railroad was apparently used to log off the area in years past. The delicate environment of the brow was ravished by the logging operations so the land was sold cheap over the years.

Now the Lula Lake Land Trust has taken over the area to preserve the rich natural beauty of the area. They open the area to the public only two days per month to preserve it.

The narrow road in is slightly rugged and we were glad we were in our 4wd Suburban and wished for our Jeep in a few spots. However, we never actually had to engage 4wd, it was just nice to know it was there.

At the bottom of the hill is a large grassy parking lot. There was a blue tent set up and we were greeted by a friendly person with maps of the park and he was happy to answer any question we might have. He suggested a couple of different paths we might take around the maze of trails.

We chose to walk down the gravel road on the old rail road grade as we wanted to see the lake and water falls. We left the road about halfway there to take a trial that paralleled the road on the other side of the creek. This involved crossing Rock Creek but there were plenty of stepping stones to make it a dry crossing. The children with us used this time to cool off and play in the water.

This trail was actually an old road as well. I sure wish I could explore the area in my Jeep. The creek crossing would have been really fun in the Jeep. Unfortunately they do not allow motorized vehicles on the trials. They do allow bicycles however and the park is dog friendly.

We hiked thought the woods until we intersected the creek again. Here the gravel road has a nice new bridge to cross the creek at the top of the first falls. This is really a cascade into Lula Lake. The rail road grade made a huge cut through the rock at this point so there are steep rock walls on either side of the road after it cross the bridge.

The Trust has added picnic tables and grills to a wide spot they have created overlooking the lake. The lake was much smaller than I expected form the pictures. It is very pretty however with eh falls cascading down into the still pool. I have heard estimates of the depth form 20 to 40 feet. I have heard stories of it being a popular place for scuba diving in years past but swimming or even wading is prohibited now.

Continuing down the path for a few hundred more yards we found the over look to the main falls. This is a huge water fall that drops over an under cut rock. There is a large cave or rock shelter under the falls.

The trail down to the base of the falls is steep and treacherous. There are some cross ties set in the dirt but they seem to be more for erosion control that for steps. Expect a difficult climb down the steep hill to access the bottom of the falls.

The climb is well worth the effort however. At the bottom the trail opens up into the rocky creek bottom.

When we visited it started to rain just as I made it to the bottom. As I hurried across the exposed rocks to the shelter of the overhang, I slipped on one of the polished slabs of rock. The rocks are very slick when wet. I finally made it under the over hang and we waited out the storm with a dozen or so other visitors. There is a large cave that I did not explore as it was filled with more slick rocks and debris that had washed in from the creek.

We enjoyed the view of the back side of the falls while we waited out the storm. The children with us enjoyed playing on the rocks and in the water.

The climb back up the hill is really tough. I had to lift the smallest child that was with us as the steps were too high for him to negotiate. We were all pretty worn out by the time we made it back to the gravel road.

We elected to save the bluff trail and other side trips for another visit. We hiked the gravel road back to the parking area and were happy to be back in our trusty Suburban.

The road out has one steep climb that some cars seemed to be having trouble with. However the climb is paved and our truck had no trouble at all.

I look forward to returning and hiking more of the trails to see more of what the park has to offer. The limited opening schedule may prevent me from going back right away however.

For more info about the area and to see the opening schedule see http://www.lulalake.org
Ford Road
Lula Falls
Lula Falls

Posted on

How to Replace the Front Motor Mount on a Mercury Villager

How to Replace the Front Motor Mount on a Mercury Villager

Motor mount failures seem to be a common problem for Mercury Villager vans. The same vehicle is also sold as the Nissan Quest.

The front mount is the most common one to fail. This mount takes most of the load when starting off from a stop. Repeated failures have been reported by some. Make sure you buy a replacement part that is form a quality manufacturer and has a lifetime warranty.

Raise the vehicle and support it safely. Remove the plastic splash guard by removing the fasteners that have 10mm heads. They also have Phillips screwdriver slots but will likely be too tight to easily remove with a screw driver.

Remove the oil filter. Support the engine using a jack under the oil pan. Raise it to the approximate position it will be in once the new mount is in place. It will likely have dropped down some if the front mount has failed.

Remove the two bolts that hold the mount to the cradle under the engine. Next, remove the bolt that goes through the center of the motor mount. Keep track of where each of the bolts came from. They all have 17mm heads but are different lengths.

Tilt the mount forward and then twist it out. If it will not tilt forward, raise the engine a bit more to make room. You may have to unclip the wiring harness that is fastened to the cross member to make room, but I was able to get it out with it in place.

Pull the mount out through the opening created by removing the oil filter. Insert the new mount through the same opening and tilt it back in to place.

Replace the center bolt through the bushing first. Put the nut on but do not tighten it all the way. Align the other two holes by raising or lowering the engine on the jack. Replace the two bolts through the cradle and tighten them down. Now finish tightening the center bolt in the bushing.

Clean the mounting surface of the oil filter and replace the oil filter. Replace the plastic cover. Lower the van and test it out. Check for leaks at the oil filter.
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