As soon as the clutch is pressed in, the engine stalls.. Ive searched this and it led me to believe the thrust washers are gone. I also noticed the power steering belt has shifted to one side, which would make sense if the crank was shifted over.

The engine was rebuilt with ACL bearings and has been running fine for about 4000miles until now. Also it ran extremely low on oil for awhile due to a surprise leak.

When the car is running, there is very loud clunking noises like the whole thing is about to fall apart.

I took the oil pan off only to find lots of small metal shavings as well as some large flakes, I took the thrust bearings out, they were installed correctly with grooves facing out.. and one appears to be scuffed irregular wear off of all the ends (See Pics) Where the thrust washers are mounted on the crank also appears to be fine, with no gouges or rough surfaces...

Here are the thrust washers:



Here are the metal flakes, there are <U>alot</U> of metal shavings in the oil pan. All seem to be of the same material, and they are magnetic. I cannot seem to find where hell these could be coming from?


The car is also leaking oil and coolant, there is oil all along the crack between the block/head and the timing cover. Coolant looks as if its dripping somewhere near the power steering rack.. or dripping onto the power steering rack.

Could I get by with a new crank and bearings? If you have any input or ideas please help me out.

 

anybody?

 

have you looked at the main and rod bearings yet? What clearances did you run?

also see if the oil pump has any damage done to it.

 

What clutch are you using? Did you try to push or pull on the crank while the thrust washers were still installed? It doesn't seem like there is enough material worn away from the thrust washers to make the crank walk enough to make loud clunking noises, so it seems likely to me that those shavings are the noises are hearing are coming from bearings. Your oil and coolant leaks seem to be most likely due to something else(ie bolt stretch or something of that matter) unless by chance your car has been detonating which might explain the cause for all of those things. Your bearings are most likely toast, you sleeves may be scored, the oil pump may also be damaged, and it would also be wise to check your valvetrain.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 98vtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">have you looked at the main and rod bearings yet? What clearances did you run?

also see if the oil pump has any damage done to it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes I just checked a couple main bearings.. and they have a bunch metal shreds embedded in them. But they didn't look torn up or anything.

With a little further assessment, Id say the bottom end is toast... id don't even wanna attempt fixing this ****.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speedra500 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What clutch are you using? Did you try to push or pull on the crank while the thrust washers were still installed? It doesn't seem like there is enough material worn away from the thrust washers to make the crank walk enough to make loud clunking noises, so it seems likely to me that those shavings are the noises are hearing are coming from bearings. Your oil and coolant leaks seem to be most likely due to something else(ie bolt stretch or something of that matter) unless by chance your car has been detonating which might explain the cause for all of those things. Your bearings are most likely toast, you sleeves may be scored, the oil pump may also be damaged, and it would also be wise to check your valvetrain.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its just a stock clutch, and yea the crank had quite a bit of side to side play I thought.. not sure exactly how much.

This is actually my friends car, he does only use 87octane but the engine does have a knock sensor and it was running somewhat rich so I don't know how likely detonation would have been.

Im thinking that running it with little oil made some things start grinding, there was maybe a litre of oil in there total after draining and removing the pan.

Thanks the input guys, I think Ill be picking up a short block if I can find one.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by stunn’d &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
This is actually my friends car, he does only use 87octane but the engine does have a knock sensor and it was running somewhat rich so I don't know how likely detonation would have been.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
Bingo, knock sensor will not save your engine it can only make adjustments on the low rpm ranges. Your friend needs a lesson on octane ratings.

 

Check the rod bearings and any other metal-to-metal wear items like the cams and rockers and the cam journals.

Check the oil pump too.

If everythig is okay and you intend to rebuild the block then you'll probably have to unplug ALL the oil galleys and the oil cooler and flush out the whole system to remove all that metal flake.

87octane with a knock sensor should not be an issue but your friend is a total dumbass for running it on 20% of the regular amount of oil. I hope you're billing the **** out of him for fixing his ****.

Pirate