Skylar Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 So last night on my way home from work my stereo cut out, all the lights got dim and it dropped to like 9 volts on the gauge and it started making a noise, instantly turned it off and coasted to nearest street. Pulled over, wires to alternator came out out there connectors, pulled em out re spliced and plugged em, back up to like 12 or so on the gauge all lights everything works Go to start car and my motor is making a crazy noise it sounds like spoons in a blender Turn it off but still goes into gear and will move, barely. I noticed 2 things, first I noticed that my flywheel has grinding marks and some oil on it ? And the little corner section that i use to line up timing marks broke off. Did not fall into the flywheel area, I picked it up and threw it away. 2nd thing I noticed was that my oil cap was missing because one of the pieces that locks it in broke off, I've been waitin for it to fall off lol anyways look around to see if it was stuck in like the timing belts or something cause I have open belts. Not anywhere in sight So now I'm stumped I have no friggin idea what happened. Motor and alternator still turn over, I looked at all the teeth on the flywheel while turning the motor over, not missing any. Here's the "grinding" marks on my flywheel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 I'm starting to lean more towards transmission problems. I just got it towed home through my insurance company, got it off the truck and I drove it 10ft into my garage. When I was driving I could feel the noise/rumble pretty well in the clutch pedal. I know my axles are bad but that's obviously not the problem because it moves ... Bad flywheel ? Could the flywheel have moved because I didn't shut the car off immediately after everything cut out from the alternator ? I don't see how alternator problems could turn into trans problems but what do I know I'm still Learning Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I bet you oil cap got into the hole for your timing marks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 LOL there's no way. It wouldn't even fit in there, and it would've fallen to the ground before making its way back to the flywheel hole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 Just a guess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leniac Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 maybe a small stone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 So I pulled my starter to just check it out and my teeth look like they have been rubbing against the flywheel teeth or something. And there is some shaft play on the starter but not much , can wiggle it around a little. Anyways so what gives ? What could the problem be ? Here's my starter: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Could my starter be bad but still have enough teeth left to push the flywheel and fire up the motor ? Or could my starter not be disengaging so it's constantly hitting the teeth on the flywheel after it starts up ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I would suggest that you put a prying tool into the timing/inspection window and see if you can shift the flywheel fore and aft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I would suggest that you put a prying tool into the timing/inspection window and see if you can shift the flywheel fore and aft. I agree. Its possible your flywheel is loose and is separating from the crank. The teeth on your starter are getting chewed up because its not making good contact with the teeth any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickNakorn Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 While the teeth your starter motor are worn, they are not sufficiently damaged to have caused the grinding on your flywheel and they do not have sufficient 'reach' to have caused the problem. It looks to me as if something more substantial is stuck between the flywheel and the inside of the bell housing; probably a bolt has become loose and fallen from the clutch assembly. Your best bet is to remove the engine and check it out. Many years ago I was driving a Daimler Majestic Major to a friend's wedding and the 'blender full of spoons' noise happened; it turned out to be a bolt fallen from the torque converter assembly. It wasn't my car so I didn't see to the fix but it involved removing the gearbox (engine is very heavy on those old Daimlers). On 'our' Subarus taking the engine out is so easy you might as well do it and check things out - good opportunity for a new clutch too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 That was another one of my thoughts that a bolt from the clutch or flywheel had gotten loose and fallen into the housing. I checked behind the starter and saw 3 bolts still in contact and I crawled underneath and stuck my hand below the flywheel ontop of the x member and felt around. Didn't find anything. Ill go out to the garage in a bit and see if I can move that flywheel around, it's too early still haha I guess it would be a good time to pull the motor, at 236xxx and a cracked head for the past 10k it could use some work only thing wrong with that is I have a small garage and no cherry picker :/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 I stuck the end of my breaker bar in the timing window and set it on the pitch rod and pulled back, flywheel does move back and forth a little but not much. Can't really get anything in there or behind it to see if it'll move more ... I guess the only way to find out is pull the motor, which I don't wanna do but seems to be the only option. Unless someone else has an idea of what it could be .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 24, 2013 Author Share Posted January 24, 2013 Well, if there wasn't something in there, there is now :cool: My dumb*** just dropped my little led flashlight into the hole where the bracket goes for the clutch cable. My cars an 88 gl D/R btw forgot to mention that. Anyways I'm just gonna pull my motor so has anyone ever used one of these ? Reviews seem to be good on them and I know my ea82 does not weigh 880lbs so this one should do fine http://www.harborfreight.com/880-lb-electric-hoist-44006.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikaleda Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I've pulled a 2.2 with a 2 ton cable comealong hooked to a stout beam these engines don't weigh all that much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickNakorn Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Skylar, remember you need a good strong beam to mount the hoist. If you're on a tight budget, a small engine crane is much better value because it's more versatile - you can use it anywhere and don't need a beam or a scaffold. You can also wheel the whole thing with the engine attached to a work bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 Also, depending on what you plan to do you don't even need to remove the engine. You can pretty good access to the flywheel/clutch area by just unbolting the engine and shifting it forward. And if you are set on removing the engine, a buddy + 2x4 + chain can lift it out. They really aren't that heavy. My thoughts about the flywheel moving fore/aft was based on your photo: the edge of the opening appears to have been sawed-at (like by a spinning disc) rather than pummeled/cracked/abused by a loose object. So, another thought: Have you checked your crank-pulley bolt to see if it is very loose? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 26, 2013 Author Share Posted January 26, 2013 Crank pulley and bolt are not loose, I was turning the motor over with my socket and breaker bar to see if I had any broken teeth on the flywheel. So that's not the problem. Motors pretty much ready to come out besides 2 bell housing bolts. Pulling it tomorrow with my buddy, probably gonna do the chain and 2x4 deal, seems easy as I've wiggled that motor back into the x member myself when I did my lift . So hopefully I find out the problem tomorrow ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickNakorn Posted January 26, 2013 Share Posted January 26, 2013 My cheap engine crane (bought over 10 years ago) makes the job so easy: I normally work on my own so it's been a really good investment. It's only rated at 500kg but that's more than I'll ever need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Well I got my motor out last night, I did the ol 2x4 trick and it worked, had some troubles cause there was only 2 of us and my cars lifted 6" so yeah it was a little hard to get up an over the top of the car lol But I pulled it out to find this: After I took the clutch off. Looks like a flywheel bolt broke off, and I can literally grab my flywheel and move it back an forth to make it go " clunk clunk clunk " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Well it looks like that bolt that was there got ripped out or it just slowly backed itself out and fell off. The threads are still kind of there but when I went to screw one of the other flywheel bolts into it started getting tight really soon and eating the threads on the bolt So should I just re tap a new thread and put a bolt in there and call it good ? It's the hole in the middle: Rear main could also be replaced lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subruise Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 its a really tight threadpitch in there, not an easy find. we had a problem like this with a car my buddy had this summer, it had two bad holes back there, we got a bolt into one of them, but left the other empty. it worked, but doing it right is most likely a better idea tho. be careful when doing that rear main as well, mine was easy, but people are afraid of them for some reason. Good luck, RV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickNakorn Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Great that you've found what was wrong! If you're going to do a lot more work on the bottom end, it'd be worth having a machine shop re-drill all the holes, tap with more common threads and supply some high-tensile bolts to fit. But if you're not planning to do the 'bottom end' I'd tend to 'loktight' the other bolts and use extra 'loktight' on the bad one. You could drill and re-tap the bad one using a different thread pattern (if you cant find the right tap) and mark it with a punch to make sure you knew which one it was. Leaving a bolt out altogether might be OK but you could have balance and vibration problems. One thing we used to do on race engines was to drill a small hole through each bolt-head and, after torquing down, wire them to each other with lock-wire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skylar Posted January 29, 2013 Author Share Posted January 29, 2013 I don't think I'll be doing any work to the bottom end, I don't really want to tear into this motor I've put so much money into it getting it to run right and replacing parts that if I took it out and rebuilt it now it wouldn't really justify it, might as well ej it ... So I think I might just get another Ea82 and slap it in there. I don't want to leave a bolt out because that's probably what was causing my flywheel to clunk around, but one bolt being gone seems like it should not have that much of an impact on the flywheel and make it move that much ?? I might consider re threading that hole once I find out the pitch and get another flywheel bolt. And hopefully that'll work, this motor still ran good and had life left in it. My plan was to literally run it until I couldn't no more. Being its my first Suby lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthWet Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 If the crank is moving axially by any significant amount (>0.0118 inch), than I would imagine the thrust bearing on the crank is shot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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