TL MIG

Pics of the write up dont work. FAIL

JUSTINTHECOASTIE

Only because the site is being worked on duh

keith2.2

Just to keep this all alive - MY00 - TCT started to go at about 108k miles. I took it out, "roughed up" the wormgear with some emery paper, put back in. Presto, it worked.

For about 150 miles. Then the noise was back.

Stupidly, I bought a new unit :slapface:

Again, all was perfect. This time, for about 400 miles. Noise is back. It's perfect when cold, only starts to make the noise when warmed up.

I'm off to the sandblaster today to get the WG done, and possibly the inside of the piston. Also going to look at drilling out the hole this eve.

If this doesn't work, I'll have to take the plunge and replace the whole lot - chain, guides etc. Fingers crossed..!!

SgtB

The emery cloth probably wasn't enough. The blasting turns the entire thing a dull gray. I tried filing and sanding the first time and it hardly dented it. You should have better luck with the blasted piece.

NFRAP2

I replaced the TCT on my 05 today with a Billman modified part. The original TCT was not making much noise yet but I went ahead and replaced it as a preventative maintenance item. It took about 5 minutes and I found no need to remove the air box. If you have a set of 90 degree needle nose pliers they will remove the pin through the maintenance hole without removing the air box. Regarding the "goop" somebody mentioned seeing in the maintenance hole bolt, I believe it is loc-tite to prevent this short shafted bolt from vibrating loose. I put a drop of loc-tite on this bolt before reinstalling for good measure.

xwarx3

Cudos to Billman250 and all other contributors. I got my part from Billman250 today, and will finish installing in the morning...it is a multi-hour thing for me because I am pulling my entire supercharger off to access the maintenance port...not a big deal...wanted to replace a few bearings anyways, but it does make it a basically a full day thing with this particular SC (Vortech).

If anyone has a supercharger and does not want to take it off I think there is a workaround. get a 1/4"ish thick x ~2-3ft long piece of scrap flat bar, then take an old 5/16 allenkey/hex key and cut a 1/4"ish off the end, then weld it onto the flatbar. Voila...you have a tool to remove the port to access the pin.

Billman250

If I knew you were supercharged, I would have configured the TCT so you dont need to use the maint plug

If you are pulling it anyway to do SC work then its all good.

xwarx3

smacks my forehead....
lol...thanks Billman

I am replacing all the guide bearings with higher end ones...didn't really "need" them, but i got them a couple months back already.

One question I saw asked on here that I did not see an answer to was torque when putting the maintenance plug back in...i am assuming that the same 8.7-9 ft lbs / 105 in lbs is sufficient...same location essentially...low pressure.

Gloffer

Page 6-48 of the 2000-2002 Helms Manual specifies the "maintenance bolt" torque as 22 lbf-ft or 3.0 kgf-m. That's more like oil drain bolt torque and quite a bit higher than 8.7 to 9 lbf-ft. The Helms also specifies a new washer, good luck getting that at your local Honda dealer. Maybe I should try. I did try and see if an oil drain bolt washer fit and although it was close, it had just a little too much slop for me. I also noticed that the factory installed washer was a bit crushed and made sure I installed the washer with the flats as it was removed.

I don't think it's loc-tite on the maintenance bolt threads, but thread sealant. So I used just a dab of Permatex thread sealant/adhesive on my re-install. However, I did use some medium loc-tite on the TCT mounting bolts.

Many thanks to the original poster for the great pictures and write up. Also to Billman for the effort to find and fix this problem and for the great transaction almost coast to coast in less than a week. My old TCT will be on the way to the east coast tomorrow.

kukudm

This is such a great info. Thanks for all the inputs.

I'm starting to hear the similar noise on cold starts (can't really hear it on warm starts). It goes louder, then gets soft, loud then soft. Even when it gets loud, it's really not that *loud*, just more easily to hear it. Does this sound like the TCT?

Another question, maybe this one's already covered: If I'm to replace the TCT, do I need to have the engine oil drained out first?

Thanks!