I am swapping a 96 1.9 with the EGR valve into a 92 without the EGR valve and wondering if this is going to mess with the engine computer or emissions test? Do I need to swap out the intake manifold and fuel rail and exhaust manifold to eliminate the egr or can I leave it in there?
The emissions laws require that all original emissions stuff on the car be left intact, but since you are putting in an 'EGR type' of intake manifold into a car that never had that; it wont cause any problems with the check engine light nor the codes. That is assuming the EGR valve is not leaking air into the intake manifold. Thats the good news. The bad news is that the sticker on the hood may show the non-egr manifold and its non-egr vacuum hoses, and a safety or emissions inspector might object to the apparent discrepancy of an intake manifold with either an EGR valve not connected to anything, or a blanking plate to replace the EGR. That would be a really vigilant inspector. To be totally safe, keeping the non-egr intake manifold would solve that problem. The fuel rail could be swapped, since its easier to let it remain in the non-egr manifold. If you can get the egr fitting unscrewed from the 96 exhaust manifold, just plugging the hole with a pipe thread plug of the right size should do it. ......But a super vigilant inspector might wonder what was originally connected to that plug in the manifold. As I mentioned the emissions laws require that all original emissions stuff be left intact. Hopefully we never get emissions inspectors that would know to look for the two tiny bolt holes in the back-side of the bracket under the coil pack - that originally braced the side of the EGR air tube!! Im curious why you are swapping a 92 engine for a 96 engine, since they are the same internally and horsepower-wise. Is there something wrong with the 92 engine? My route would likely be to pull the 92 out, do a rebuild and put it back. (It would go back in with [at least] the 5 new freeze plugs and an engine head rebuilt with newly installed intake valve seat inserts; and anything else it needed for renewal). The one larger freeze plug on end of the Escort engine blocks can only be replaced when the transmission and flywheel are out of the way.
The 92's engine is worn out with 210,000 miles on it and by the looks of the inside of the engine, the oil was only changed by me in the last 5 years. The poor girl was neglected and sent for auction, abused and beat up and then dumped on me. Took two years to get a clean title and I absolutely love the car. I tried to rebuild the top end of the engine but had a hell of a time finding new valves and correct valves. I figures the 96's engine may solve my problems. I didn't really know what a huge pain it is to pull the engine. Trans has to be pulled and the axels? My God, I am in deep with the BBE now and I am not very skilled, smart or possess the best tools for this job. Thank you for the info. Inspectors around here rarely lift the hood, but do look under the cars for cats. I changed the exhaust manifold and intake with the old parts. If it doesn't for some reason set off a CEL, then awesome. Assuming I can even get her running again. Damn axels won't click back in. Life is beautiful, isn't it?
It can be hard to get the CV axles to go back into the trans all the way. They have a spring inside the inner CV casing whose purpose is to take out any 'play' as the driveline and suspension go around corners and over bumps. You need to push in firmly on the end of the CV axle (where the hub nut goes), and smack it with a hammer. It wont hurt the threads at all, as they are back-spaced. Then you might be able to see the inner casings all the way seated into the trans. The gap is perhaps 1/4" or less. My Escorts are all the LX kind, and I dont know how difference the DOHC enginges are. Anyway; I always prefer to hoist out the driveline, with eng. and trans. still bolted together. If the engine is still in place, auto trans and the manual trans can only come out downward. I dont like to do this because of the difficulty of getting the trans lined up again and shoved into place -upward. The engine can come out upward if its an automatic. With a 5-speed the long input shaft prevents the engine from coming far enough out of the trans to be able to be hoisted. Hence my preference, to hoist both engine and trans together. You have to disconnect the cv axle outer joints (the Birfield-Rzeppa joints), and pull the CV axle assembly out out of the trans, before anything can be hoisted out. This is also when I check that the ball joints are not loose - or even 'nearly loose'. Good Luck.
Thanks for the reply. The axels are giving me fits, but I will get back on the BBE in a little bit. I just hate when my vehicles are messed up for long periods of time. It feels like I am hurt also. Sympathy pains maybe? I will smack the axels with a baby sledge and see if they go in. I just hope the gears didn't drop in the trans like I have read about. If that happened, I don't know where to go from there. Thanks again.
My advice for the CV shafts. Buy new ones if need be. But if you buy a generic CV, remove the cir-clips from the ford ones and install them on the new ones!!!!! Usually, the problem is an aftermarket CV wont come out. When it finally comes out, you find a mangled clip that got wedged where it shouldn't because it is too thin. Hard to explain. Just pulled one of my duralast cv's with a ford clip out of the passenger side without a pry bar.
If you have one cv axle that is not fully installed, you can pull it out to look in there with a mirror, to see if the splines inside the gear are lined up with the hole where the CV axle goes in . I like to put a chunk of PVC pipe into the opening after I get the CV axles out of the differential. That will keep them from dropping out of place. That said; I have worked on 8 Escorts axles, and have yet to have any gears drop out of place. If that happens, it requires the trans be removed, and opened to to where you can split the case halves. Then you can put the diff output gears back into place.
Good advice in the previous posts. I believe there is a special tool made that keeps the axle gears in place if both axles are removed. As Pizzaman has said, it is probably better to reuse the original axle retainer clips. I tried reinstalling a Toyota axle shaft a while ago with no luck, and then noticed that the replacement clip was much heavier than the original, and upon close examination it seemed that it would be impossible to get the assembly together with it. Even with my biggest hammer.
You only have to hold one axle gear in place - because it will prevent the opposite one from moving out of position. There is a tool useful for getting cv axles out of the drivers side of the transaxle; an OTC-7140. I got it from ebay, for about $40. But for $39 less than that you can use a 6" chunk of broom handle of pvc pipe. I have run into the matter of the "C" clips being of a thicker metal. I wish there was a source for the correct size. As it is I usually replace the CV assemblies once I take them out - due to worn or torn boots.
Well I went for it and put the Bitchin' Blue Escort back together with all my limited experience and no training or help from anyone but you good people at the feoa forums. Unfortunatly it went pretty much like I thought it would. I fired it up today and got a good cloud of smoke for all my efforts. I think she is done and it was pretty much the last try. Thanks for the info guys. I don't expect I will be back here in the future seeing as Escorts are fading away pretty quickly. Good luck and take care of each other. Thanks again. Andy B.
I can probably find a video of my cold starts on new head gaskets. But any fluids or sprays in the exhaust or intake are gonna burn off for a while. A horrible mix of coolant, PB blaster, and oil for about an hour. Here you go: it was like midnight and we were feeling good... My buddy and I put this motor in about 3yr and 45 k ago. We just swapped it into my 91 last week. I spent 3k on a rebuild once. It burned oil for 5 k miles.
There just may be a God! With little hope left in me, I retimmed the damn thing tried to check compression and then the damn thing started. And she started STRONG. I about shit myself. Still in shock. The BBE may live another day. So now I think I messed up the clutch. It's in neutral and won't go into any gears. Pedel seems fine. Where could I have messed up the clutch when I had the trans removed? I'm looking at the linkage and the extention shaft seems loose but still can't get the gears to move at all. Any suggestions, oh holy forum Gods?
When you say it wont go into any gear, can you move the lever into the various positions - with the engine running? - and not have the wheels spin? And is the car still in the air, so the wheels can just spin in gear? Even in neutral they might turn slowly with the engine running. It should at least 'grind' a little when the shift lever is pushed to the right and pulled back for reverse. Im wondering if the slave cylinder is merely not pushing the release fork down far enough for the throwout bearing to be pushing on the pressure plate - so it comes to a halt when you have the pedal pressred to the floor. (Total bleeding of the mastercylnder and slave cylinders takes patience!) I only now about the LX escorts, so measure my advice based on that. There is a shifter shaft sticking out of the bottom rear corner of the 5-speed trans. It gets connected to the long 'shift control rod' at the double bushing, (Ford name for it), and moves when you put the shift lever into gear. It connects to the shift control rod via a small bolt that goes through the shifting shaft and the front end of the shift control rod. A small rubber bellows covers this up, and to get the bolt undone for trans removal, or reconnected after trans reinstall, you have to force the bellows to one extreme so you can see the bolt. If you are under the car (with engine stopped), you should be able to slide the shift shaft fore and aft, and slightly rotate it (using pliers). Being twisted toward one side and shoved forward (toward the front of the vehicle) would be putting the trans into second or reverse. Moving the shift shaft forward without forcing it to one side (its spring loaded) would put the trans into 4th gear. I hopy you were able to get the VSS out, so you can check the fluid level - and recheck is within the next year.
Thanks for all the advice. I see the little boot where the stick connects to the trans and I bolted it on but it seems loose. May have missed what you are talking about in the little bellow. I have neutral and that is all for gears. It won't go into any gear. I have done the slave before and you are correct, bleeding that bastard takes patience for sure. It could be the slave or when I put it back to the ground, fluid levels will be more accurate. God, I am so close to finishing her up! I really can't believe that questionable engine fired up yesterday. I'm still in shock. September was my dooms day and if things were not looking good BBE was gone. I almost junked a perfectly good 92 Escort with 210,000 miles. So glad she came back to life. It also made a few doubting people STFU. Thanks again for all the help.
The shifting shaft that sticks out of the transmission connects to the shifting control rod - and the joint is covered by the small bellows. At least that is how my two 5-speeds are set up.
Yes, mine is the same. It just seems loose when I tighten the nut to the control rod. Maybe I dropped a bushing or something. I will inspect it before it goes to the ground. I don't get to "play" with my car until my daughter's heater core is fixed. Vw jetta HC is a nightmare. My God, the amount of parts to remove is insane. May take a day to get it back together. If I can. For someone no one believes is compatent on cars, people sure dump their issues on me. Oh well. Thanks again.
Hi, Escort Wagon, 1993, 160,000 owned from new. My local dealer in Portland,OR looks after me very well. I just wondered, is there any special oil or additives to help maintain? I am totally not mechanical. Any tips appreciated.
First off I appreciate all the help so far. Really been getting me through this mess with a bit of hope and confidence. Thanks. I started to pull the trans again and when I got the axels out I noticed something down the differential hole. I thought you could tap one axel to knock the other side out, but there is no way with the rod in the way. this would make sense why I can not get in any gears, but I am not sure. Bearings and fork look ok and move freely once away from the clutch. Could I have the clutch in wrong? Everything went together fine when I attached the flywheel but again, I am not sure what I am looking for. What needs to be corrected? Any help would be so great. Thanks again, everyone.
The rod visible by looking into the differential section of the trans is what keeps the differential bevel gears in position; they arent visible, but they mate with the side gears having the internal splines on them - which the CV axles mate with. Its normal, and is not the reason you cant get the trans into various gears - unless its rusty. When the CV axles are removed, the gears they slid out of (the ones with the internal splines) can move out of place. Not that its a likelihood, but if they move far enough to drop out of place, the only fix is to remove the transmission, unbolt the two halves of the case, and put the gears back into correct position. It cannot be done by working through the hole in the gear, because the gear would have dropped out of sight! (and believe me, I have tried!) That is why I always stuff a short chunk of broom handle or a piece of about 1" pvc pipe into one side of the differential, and hold it in with duct tape. It wont matter which side you put the 'plug' into, as keeping one of the gears in position also keeps the other one from getting out of place. It is possible to push out the 2nd CV axle inner joint from the open end where the first cv axle joint was. But it means you have to work past that rod. This may be possible with a very long screwdriver of -just- the right size, but the OTC-7140 tool makes it much easier. This tool is made with one end having legs on each side of a central slot, that are long enough to go beyond the rod, and bear against the innnermost end of the 'other' CV' axle assembly. Then one good smack with a hammer, and the other CV axle will have popped out about 1/4" - and from there you would be able to pull it out by hand. Maybe you were lucky enough to get the driver's side axle out somehow. ? As for putting the clutch in wrong, there are only two ways the clutch disc can face; the correct way, or backwards. The clutch disc has a raised center part holding sideways springs, and that raised part must face toward the pressure plate. Otherwise the raised section would be squashed against the flywheel, and not be able to be dis-engaged. It may be possible to have installed the release fork incorrectly, such as with the balance point not seated into the ball sticking out of the bell housing. I would still be thinking the problem could be a transmission that was out of fluid. If you have the trans out, its fairly easy to unbolt the sheet metal item at the driver's side, and see if there signs of fluid in it. And by the way, the amount of stuff involved to remove/replace the dashboard and heater core on an Escort makes it a big job too. I have done that to two of mine, both times to replace heater cores. One had begun to leak, the other one was done so my daughter would not have to face that repair job herself. She lives in western VA, and we spend winters in far south TX, 8 miles from Mexico.