01.07.06
The Joys of Being Your Own Mechanic
I finally broke down and took care of a few maintenance items on my car recently. Just posting this little guide on the off chance it’ll be of use to anyone. The car in question is a 2002 Acura RSX Type-S (random factoids: this car is commonly known by its chassis code DC5 and is powered by the K20A2 engine; it’s still sold in Japan as the Honda Integra). I know this little guide would have been many times more useful if I had pictures, but alas, my hands were in no condition to handle camera (next time I’ll have an assistant). Here we go.
Fixing Brake Squeals
The first item was squeaking from the brakes, and a rough griding noise while braking. The first thing to do is check that your brake pads are still in good shape. If the pads are gone, there are metal tabs called wear indicators that rub against to rotors and squeak, warning you that it’s time to change the pads. The other cause for brake squeaks are the metal parts in the brakes rubbing against each other.
(this section refers specifically to disc brakes, I’m not familiar with drum brakes so this may not apply.) To get to the pads, first jack up your car and take off the tires. The brake assembly is held on by 2 bolts. Take these off and the entire assembly comes off. Be sure to rest the assembly on something, do not let it hang by the brake lines (the thin rubber tube that the assembly is connected to) as these are easily damaged and then you’ll be in for a world of hurt.
The pads (2 per rotor) will still be connected to the rotors by some metal clips, pop the pads out with a flathead screwdriver. By now you’ve probably noticed that everything is covered in a fine dust, inhaling said dust is a Bad Thing™.
After inspecting my pads, and seeing that most of the friction material was still there, I knew my problem was metal rubbing in the brakes. To fix this, all you need is to apply some special brake grease on the pad. This is sold in most auto shops in small blister packs and can be had for less than a dollar. Remember, the grease does not go on the side of the friction material (the side facing the rotors), it goes on the back of the pad. Actually, the back of my brake pads also have a metal shim on them, so I took these off, and applied the grease to both sides of the shim, you just need a thin layer. It’s probably a good idea to clean all of the grime off before applying the grease. After greasing up my brakes, I haven’t heard a peep from them. Yay.
Changing Manual Transmission Fluid
I was noticing a little more resistance trying to get the tranny into gear when shifting, so I decided to change the manual transmission fluid (MTF). Before even starting, the first problem I had was figuring out what to replace it with. The manual says to only use Honda MTF, problem being no one carries it. I read a lot of contradicting information about various MTF products, some saying they worked fine, but other claiming that in the long run, these don’t provide enough protection for the transmission. In the end, most recommendations said if you can’t find Honda MTF, to use regular 10W-30 motor oil. I felt even better after visiting Royal Purple’s website and having them confirm that their 10W-30 oil was suitable for Honda manual transmissions. Well, I guess I’ll find out for sure in a few years. I went with Royal Purple for peace of mind, though I’m pretty sure any full synthetic oil would have worked equally well (I use Mobil 1 for my engine).
Having chosen an MTF, it’s now time to get down and dirty, literally. I don’t know what Honda uses in their factory MTF, but it is the most foul smelling substance I have ever had the displeasure to encounter. And due to the location of the MTF reservoir (and just a little bit… ok, a lot of clumsiness on my part), by the end of the job there’s was oil everywhere.
To change the MTF, jack up the front of the car. At this point, do yourself a huge favor and remove the front left wheel for easier access to the reservoir. On the reservoir, there are two bolts, the higher one is the fill bolt and the lower one is the drain bolt, you’ll need to remove both of these. The fill bolt you can take off with a normal socket wrench, but the the drain bolt, I needed to use my socket wrench without anything attached (it’ll make more sense if you look at it). After draining the old MTF, I poured some of the new MTF into the fill hole and let that drain too, to try to remove some of the crud in the transmission. Now replace the drain bolt and now we’re ready to fill the transmission. At this point, we jacked up the rear of the car and made sure it was perfectly level to make sure we got the right amount of MTF in. Fill the reservoir until oil starts to spill out of the fill hole. Now just replace the fill bolt and you’re done. Of course, after all this work, I haven’t noticed any difference in the shifting feel. Doh.
