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I realize this is an old thread but did you get the picture you needed? i just pulled my apv motor off and mine, like yours had oil saturated on the white gear and all inside the motor, i'm guessing the seal into the LIM is bad and needs to be replaced since most of the apv motor pics i see are dry.
I can't find any info on here that says if oil on that gear and inside the motor housing is bad. I fear I'm going to have to yank the LIM out and replace the rubber bushing that connects the apv motor gear to the internal gears that spin the valves.
I was actually looking for what was behind the gear. But mine if I remember correctly had a little oil on it too. You can also test the APV via like 12 volt i think, there is a thread. I think if I remember correctly you can replace the screw on the gear and it "could" come with a seal from Mazda in a kit for like $30. It has been so long. My gear could barely move.
Had an extra intake manifold laying around so I dissected it lol This pic is of what is behind that white gear attached to the LIM after you remove the AVI motor. To get that rubber seal out you have to push the center shaft through the LIM but only after you remove the screw and retaining plate that is located on the inside of the LIM. Which requires removing the entire LIM from the block.
Figure I'd post it if any one else was wondering. Still not sure if oil in that electric motor is a good thing...mine had a lot inside, so much it was leaking into the terminals for the wiring harness.
Had an extra intake manifold laying around so I dissected it lol This pic is of what is behind that white gear attached to the LIM after you remove the AVI motor. To get that rubber seal out you have to push the center shaft through the LIM but only after you remove the screw and retaining plate that is located on the inside of the LIM. Which requires removing the entire LIM from the block.
Figure I'd post it if any one else was wondering. Still not sure if oil in that electric motor is a good thing...mine had a lot inside, so much it was leaking into the terminals for the wiring harness.
Does anyone know where to find a replacement rubber seal ? I was to take mine out so I can grit blast the manifold but I don't want to remove the seal without having another on hand to replace it. I can't find the thing ANYWHERE
but is that the gasket for the APV Actuator or the seal that sits behind the gear inside the intake manifold ? Front side LIM Back side LIM APV Actuator gear <-- (N3H6-13-B75) seal. Close - up Any Idea ?
Just tape up both sides of the seal and it will be fine... unless you are going to powder coat it... then you will have to press it out so it doesn't melt
sorry, I failed to recognize that you were wanting that actuator shaft seal. It actually pops out easily, just be careful not to cut or damage the inner sealing surfaces. I was wondering about that one myself. Currently have an S2 LIM fully disassembled. Let me look around some, but am sure Mazda doesn’t provide it. Understand it’s just a light dust seal. It doesn’t experience engine vacuum. It just keeps stuff from migrating into the APV mechanical rack area that is otherwise sealed off with the bolt-on gasket plate assembly.
I tried to tape it off to clean the manifold in order to paint it, but the cleaner got right underneath the tape and so I removed it so it didn't get saturated with de-greaser and other cleaners. It really does just pop out very easily. I still haven't found a replacement so I just re-installed the old seal and I think it should be fine... well, I hope it will be fine, since I've already went ahead and put the motor back together I'm going to get it back in the car in a few days when I have some extra hours. I'd be curious though to see if I could at least find one even still. unfortunately I never took any measurements of it.
Actually it probably does see engine vacuum and I didn’t fully think that through; because there’s no way to seal off the APV actuator arm fully. However, I believe the actual seal is the APV motor assembly. A bunch of oil in there is likely back pulsing from an engine with failing rotor seals and heavy blow-by gasses and oil getting past them.
can the lower intake w/ APV sleeves be removed with engine in the car
i swear ive done it once years ago....service manual says engine has to be pulled to remove
i want to clean the APV sleeves and bores
There is no part 1030. That’s a reference parts diagram number indicating what the LIM is attached to and where to go find those parts.
There are two long guide studs sticking out from the engine that help to align and install the LIM. Because if you’re not careful it’s easy to snap off the APV actuator attachment arms if they get too much force applied to them, like letting the weight of the UIM manifold leverage against them when partially installed. The APV barrels are not sold separate from the manifold, so if you break them you’ll have to buy another LIM.
Which those two studs are part of the hindrance of pulling the LIM with the engine installed. Some mechanic on youtube posted a vid where he claimed he was able to pull the LIM by removing the studs. I’m still not seeing it coming out without suspending the engine, removing the motor mounts and brackets, and then pushing the engine as far to the other side as possible. Because the APVs are about 4 or 5 inches long and you need at least that much clearance from the RH chassis then to be able and pull it that far out. It’s not really a good idea imo.
ssv and vdi carbon up pretty good and need periodic cleaning - true
what is the typical carbon build on the APV sleeves ?, is it worth going after them ?
this is my 3rd RX8...just purchased it with 90k miles....giving the thing a thorough once over
it depends on engine condition; crudding up generally infers the apex, side, & cut-off seals are going out (the crud is mostly a result of combustion gas reversion into the intake system from rotor seal leakage) and compression is dropping from optimum (below 120+ psig warm)
the easy way to check is to remove the APV motor and turn the actuator gear by hand. If it moves easy then I’d skip it. Just make sure you put the gear back where it started. Turned one way is full open, the other full closed, starts from the full closed position. Ghere’s some pictures on here showing what the full closed position looks like with the drive motor pulled in case you get confused and aren’t sure.
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I dealt with this recently during my rebuild. I decided to clean the LIM ~125k miles. The gear the apv motor drives has a magnetic pickup that should align with the pickup on the gear coming out of the LIM. Should be turned all the way clockwise to align the pickups. Although I believe this really doesn't matter since cycling the motor on and off will cycle the apv and it should align itself
If you go to rebuild/clean the LIM innards it only goes together one way, there should be no guess work. Which is what I did when I decided to fully clean mine out. The inner gear that is on the same shaft as the outer apv gear has an arrow that should point towards the larger gear. The larger gear has two arrows, one pointing at the inner apv gear and then another arrow that points towards the black rack. The black rack also has an arrow on it, which is very hard to see when there is carbon/oil/sludge buildup all over it. Do this wrong and you have to basically pull the engine again to take the LIM off and realign the gears.
Mine was off by 1 gear on the rack and the apv motor could tell something was wrong. From what I remember the when the apv couldn't find its position it actually fully opened the apv. This really messed with me when I had a low compression rebuild that wouldn't like to idle.
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EDIT: Also don't use vaseline or any thick lubricant on the intake sleeve/barrels I found it made it much harder to turn the apv gear. I ended up cleaning out the sleeve/barrels when i fixed the rack issue
My LIM is apart so I took a picture of the APV gears. You can see the dots lining up between the two gears and the top dot on the larger gear is between the two lines on the rack.
When the gears are aligned this way the outside gear is at the 1:00 position that the APV motor is supposed to be installed at I believe.
On a related note, does anyone know if the inner APV gears should be lubricated before the LIM gasket is installed? When I took it apart it almost looked like there was gear oil on them but there was oil/buildup all over the inside of the LIM so it's hard to tell if what I saw there was intentional or not.
Many thanks for your post... I made the mistake of removing the gear to clean it without checking the alignment.
I never would have figured this out without your picture.
but is that the gasket for the apv actuator or the seal that sits behind the gear inside the intake manifold ? front side lim back side lim apv actuator gear <-- (n3h6-13-b75) seal. close - up any idea ?
in the picture of the front side lim there is a rod that goes in there and connects the apvs with a little bolt for each. Does anyone know the part number for that rod/shaft i broke a bolt off in it and need to replace it.
02-23-2014, 04:34 PM
I'm going to get it back in the car in a few days when I have some extra hours. I'd be curious though to see if I could at least find one even still. unfortunately I never took any measurements of it.
