You were right, CV axle was installed without a snap ring, and eventually pulled away from diff. My diff was toast as it ran dry of oil. So it now has one from a salvage yard and 2 new CV axles that ARE snapped in. This truck sucks. Just got that taken care of and a set of tires and wheels put on. Was out running errands today feeing good about finally driving the thing and theeennn...rough idle and check engine light. Multiple misfire on even bank of cylinders. Previous owner just bad timing belt done 500 miles ago. Might be related to something faulty there. Ugghhh, maybe I just need a new Civic. Thanks for listening.
CV:
I always like going with new OEM front Drive Shafts (AKA CVs) matched with new OEM hub flanges and cone washers. A must is servicing wheel bearing, setting proper breakaway preload and setting in a new hub flange snap ring to proper gap of < 0.20mm. I've yet to have one 100 series in my shop that didn't need wheel bearings service done properly. Toyota recommends this be done ever 30K miles. Along with lubing axle bearing and bushing.
Bring a new rig up to par:
I deal so very often in correcting what other shop have repaired. This is in 100 or 200 series others have asked me to fix or PM or ones I've purchased. Many shops just don't use the FSM, use inferior parts or assembling not using best practice, often taking short cuts. Or some well intention PO DIY job, without FSM or the skills just messes up.
This is where inspection comes in handy, looking for clues. I've become very good at finding stuff during PPI, but also find more once I've got a new rig home and do my 40 hour cleaning inspection. Then as I work on the rig, I can count on finding more than I've already found that needs some TLC.
I spend 400 to 800 hours on each of my 100 series restoring to showroom ready. But even then some stuff may come up latter that I missed or didn't show itself. I'll clock as many miles, in different condition so I can to work-out the bugs. But once restored they just need normal PM, are very reliable, safe to drive and will last as long as one is willing to maintain.
RH (even bank) miss fire:
With timing belt break, cam or crank sensor issues (loose or cut wire) we'll generally see both banks miss fire. But regardless I'd start by looking at wire mainly on LH (DS) in front of timing belt cover (cam sensor) and down the side snaked in AC compressor bracket (Crank sensor). Often sensor wires aren't secured properly and pulleys or belt rub cuts into them. Sometime the sensor are not secured properly, but they aren't generally removed. Also rodents love nesting and chewing on wires in our engine bays, so inspecting is key. We've even seen rodents get in timing belt area through a missing little piece of plastic not replaced during a T-belt job.
The timing belt tensioner is on the RH side and as such we see belt jump cam more often on that side than on LH cam. A weak tensioner or one not in torqued in properly or pin not pulled can result in belt jumping a tooth or two.
Make sure you've
No coolant loss. If coolant was low or you're losing some find out from where. Biggest concern is head gasket. Inspect head gaskets 360 degrees for coolant's pinkish (assuming Toyota red coolant in system) crusty. Removing engine cover and undercarriage shielding and inspect with flash light and mirror. You'll want to see all of head gasket even under intake. A $40 drain snake camera is handy here as well.
Also I'd check that each spark plug is torqued in, coil torqued down and coil wire harness seated and all vacuum lines in good condition.
Here's one thing to consider, It's the over all condition. If this rig was from MN (rust belt) it may be a rust bucket. You'll need to really consider how much time and $$ you'll willing to poor into a rust bucket. They have limited resale and are much more work and $$ to restore. I've one now I'm working on that has more rust than I'd normally like to see, which works me harder than a rust free rig. It's a 00LX with 560K km on the clock, that spent some time in CN and possible a little in Boston at the university. It's not really bad rust and price was right so I've some room to put in $$. I'm nearing $4k just in parts now. $3-4K in parts is not unusual for me on a HM rig. But this one will always have limited value due to rust, body and paint. Most every body panel has scratches, nicks, dings or dents. It's the only Cruiser I've had, I'll park in front row of shopping center, as I'll never notice the extra dings.
But as a rule I do not buy rust!
