Rebuilding a Honda Pilot engine "Top to Bottom"
"Disassembly"
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The first and most important thing you need to do before starting on a project of this scope is to read the manual thoroughly, and understand EXACTLY what you are getting into. The pilot motor rebuild requires special tools, and patience in order to do the job right! |
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Here are some pictures and descriptions of the disassembly of a pilot engine. Not every step is covered, but here are some that may help you get the engine apart for the next step. |
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Before you start any disassembly get as much dirt and grime off of your pilot as possible. Remove the seat and really wash everything down good. |
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Everything is faily clean. Time to drain the fluids. There are 2 coolant drains. One just to the left of the exhaust pipe, and the other at the bottom near the balancer fill hole. They are 10mm brass bolts with copper washers on them Don't worry you will get new washers when you order the gasket kit (You already have all the parts you need for the rebuild right!). You will also need to drain the balancer oil, but you can do this later. If you want to do it now, the balancer drain bolt is on the bottom of the engine towards the front, and is 17mm. It is accessed through a slot in the skid plate if you havent already removed it. |
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A leakdown check is in order before you even start to take the motor apart. If you are only doing a top-end, this step will save you a lot of time and headaches with jetting or even piston failures if there is an airleak somewhere. If you do have a leak at this stage of the game now is the time to find it. A bottle of windex or other soapy solution will help find the leak. I use a small air tank (you can use a bicycle pump) to pressurize the engine to 10 PSI. If the pressure drops, spray the likely areas for a leak. An engine is most likely to leak around the clutch side crank seal, but can also leak at the intake manifold/reed cage joints, exhaust flange, spark plug, cylinder base gasket, or anywhere elsde there is a gasket or seal present. |
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Even after the motor had been removed, you can still see a lot of dirt on it. Take your time and get as much of this stuff off now. It will make life much easier working with clean parts than dirty ones. |
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This picture shows the cylinder and head already removed from the bottom of the engine. When I remove the head and cylinder from the engine I only loosen each nut about 1/4 turn until all the nuts are no longer torqued. This helps keep stresses that can cause warpage to a minimum. The cylinder can be a real bear to get off the crank case, but NEVER pry on the gasket mating surface with a screwdriver, or pry bar. You WILL damage them if you do! If the cylinder is "stuck" to the crank case, use a dead blow hammer to loosen the cylinder by hitting it with an upward stroke (not side to side). Be patient, you may have to repeatedly hit it pretty hard to get it to pop loose. |
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More to come later!
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The rebuild is broken into 4 sections. Refer to each section as needed for details on that part of the procedure |
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Opinions expressed within are those of the author or the quoted source. The author is not a professional machinist, mechanic, or engineer; no information provided herein represents professional advice or best practices. All information is provided to help hobbyists and other non-professionals gain a better understanding of the procedures, tools and techniques described. Considerable care has been exercised to provide accurate and timely information. However the author cannot be responsible for information which is incorrect or out of date. All practices, procedures, modifications and product recommendations described herein are to be used at the discretion and risk of the reader.
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