What's the deal?

iizbeastie · #1 09-04-2008, 05:03 PM

Ok, so a couple of weeks ago I picked up an SVX.... 92 Pearl LS-l. The guy had two (and a parts donor in the garage) to choose from, so I got the white one (the other was a claret) and oh yeah, I'm loving it!

But I'm confused on it's 'personality traits'?!?!

First off, I only remember ever seeing one stock spoiler? Mine has a support in the middle and doesn't come up as far on the corners..... oddly enough, I did see another one with a spoiler like mine last night, but I can't even find a pic of another one like it? Was there actually a second option in the 92's? I'm seriously starting to think it's an 'aftermarket' spoiler.....

Second quirk, she slips a little from first to second.... it just revs up and doesn't want to return to gear at the shift..... from what I've read here, it would be consistent with a brake band adjustment.... it gets a little more noticeable the warmer it gets. Any ideas/suggestions? The guy I bought it from said the tranny was supposidly rebuilt around the 110k mile mark by the previous owner (has 147 now)

Lastly, the rear passenger wheel gets really warm.... I've taken it apart and inspected the brakes and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong.... there are no real signs of the bearing being bad either? no play, no restriction with the rotor off, it just gets hot? Any Ideas?

Otherwise there is a scuff mark on the passenger door (looks like a mailbox incident), but I can live with it as barely noticeable as it is.... the 'donor car' is identical to this one so I may try to get the door from the same guy.

http://s436.photobucket.com/albums/qq90/iizbeastie/SVX/

Either way I don't feel like it was a rip off or anything with a selling price of $1900

svxistentialist · #2 09-04-2008, 05:32 PM

Congratulations on your car! They are solid and wonderful cars to drive, provided you attend to them.

Revving up from first to second does indeed sound like a loose brake band. Check up in the How To documents above, or do a search, and a little adjustment now can save you a rebuild.

Regards the rear wheel getting hot, this is not a bearing, this is caused by the caliper sticking on after you release the brakes. When you say you've "taken it apart", the brake drums inside the hub are for the handbrake, and are unlikely to cause the heating you mention.

To fix the rear caliper you need to take it off the wheel [remember to clamp the hose to keep air from entering the system!] take it apart completely and do two jobs. Number one, take out the piston and make sure it is clean of rust and free to move in and out of the socket. Replace the seals if they are damaged. Next you must ensure the slider bars are cleaned, shined up by polishing, greased and re-assembled.

Once you do this properly the wheel will not heat up.

Best of luck.

Joe

iizbeastie · #3 09-04-2008, 05:39 PM

I did have that feeling.... the shoes inside don't even look like they've touched the rotor in some time.... (blasted a couple of cans of brake cleaner on them

).... the piston seemed tighter than other vehicles I've worked on and the outer rim is rusted but it didn't seem to be malfunctioning? I might just decide to be lazy and get a new caliper?!? whatever I do It'll be soon.... it's killing my gas mileage!

Hondasucks · #4 09-04-2008, 11:31 PM

Try cleaning and re-greasing the slides (get a tube of silicone brake caliper grease from an auto parts store), see if that fixes the problem. If that doesn't do it, look into replacing the caliper.

To adjust the parking brake, follow the directions in the attached PDF.

svxistentialist · #5 09-05-2008, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by iizbeastie

I did have that feeling.... the shoes inside don't even look like they've touched the rotor in some time.... (blasted a couple of cans of brake cleaner on them

).... the piston seemed tighter than other vehicles I've worked on and the outer rim is rusted but it didn't seem to be malfunctioning? I might just decide to be lazy and get a new caliper?!? whatever I do It'll be soon.... it's killing my gas mileage!

Make it real soon, because it is actually dangerous.

I'm not trying to scare you or anything, but if it binds enough it is possible and maybe even likely that the brake fluid will boil because of the heat. When this happens it vaporizes any moisture in the brake fluid. [As fluid gets older it absorbs moisture from the air]

The net effect of this process will be your brake pedal will go to the floor because you will be compressing gas, not fluid. No retardation

, you will hit whatever is in front of you unless you can "pump" the brake pedal fast enough.

I'm telling you this because I had the same problem with the left rear, and almost hit the back of a bus. I managed to slow up using the hand brake, but it sounds like you need to adjust that as well.

Just be real careful if you are driving it much before you fix that sticking caliper, ok?

Joe

DarknessofDeath · #6 09-06-2008, 05:16 PM

and your spoiler is not a subaru svx spoiler ~
not that i know of

iizbeastie · #7 09-06-2008, 08:55 PM

I'm noticing that more and more...... I thought maybe but it's pretty obvious now that I've seen so many more of them..... I'm going to take it off and see how badly they ruined the lid when they put it on....

DarknessofDeath · #8 09-07-2008, 07:00 AM

maybe someone here has a stock spoiler for sale. you can get one and put it on ~