Got the belt on, it started smoking..., now i need a tensioner?!? SIGH. Options

[easternpiro1]

whats up guys... having yet another issue with this coupe i have. To my SURPRISE it over heated earlier today on my way to get the oil changed, when i finally realized what was going on i put some water in it and put 4 fresh quarts of oil in it and was on my way. car was fine until tonight here's what happened.

doing about 65 on highway

hear a slight pop or bump sound

car looses mechanical power

car will not start (it spins as if it wants to start but wont run dont hear any clanking noise indicating thrown rod)

checked to see if oil was under the car

I checked to see if the head gasket is blown (oil not milky nor does it have metal flakes in it)

checked the resorvoir for the radiator

i am ABSOLUTLEY CLUELESS as to what happened.

no tools to check if the timing belt broke


Im beginning to question this car, only had it since may and there have been silly things since the day i got it... LITERALLY the day i got it.


what do you guys think may have happened?

This post has been edited by easternpiro1: Oct 3, 2007 - 10:46 PM

[presure2]

my guess is tbelt.
pull the distributor cap, and have someone turn it over, make sure the rotor spins. if it dont, t-belt is broken.

[easternpiro1]

i was also wondering if low oil could cause it to overheat as well...too much friction in chambers?

[Black2na]

sounds like you did some damage. low oil would cause the motor to run hotter but at that point the bearings would have a lot of wear on them if not destroy. i say check if the t-belt broke or slipped teeth like manny said and if that is in order pull the pan and check the bearing and see if there are heavy metal fragments in the bottom. and you wouldn't hear it knock untill the car actully starts. least in my experence.

[easternpiro1]

sounds like you did some damage. low oil would cause the motor to run hotter but at that point the bearings would have a lot of wear on them if not destroy. i say check if the t-belt broke or slipped teeth like manny said and if that is in order pull the pan and check the bearing and see if there are heavy metal fragments in the bottom. and you wouldn't hear it knock untill the car actully starts. least in my experence.

metal fragments? ok. i remember when i blew my original 7a (waay back) i threw a rod and it had metal shavings in the oil. i checked the oil didnt see any metal flakes. does that make much difference?

[Black2na]

well just cause you checked it doesn't mean there arn't shavings in the pan and from the sounds of it you did some damage to them doesn't take much to do so takes mabye 40 mins to remove the pan and its a piece of mind if you find nothing. but like manny said check the T-belt

[easternpiro1]

ok finally got the car towed from off of the highway. tried to start it again. no go. my friend says it spins to fast indicating that there may be no compression. thrown rod you guys think? we didnt have time to take it apart will get on it tomorrow.

the plot thickens...

[TRD_GT]

u could always try and see if you have any oil pressure..if your pressure is low or even gone then the oil pump must be out..if u were running low oil to begin with and ur car conked out..chances are your oil pump was working over time to get what little oil it had in the engine to flow round..and since it was doing that it probably burnt itself out..the car is probably refusing to start because your oil pump and pressure is non-existant..so the cpu doesn't allow the car to start..

but hey..thats my opinion..

[lagos]

how low was the oil? and why didnt you keep it toped off?

kind of sounds like you threw a rod from lack of oil. get some tools and find out for sure.

[alltracman78]

ok finally got the car towed from off of the highway. tried to start it again. no go. my friend says it spins to fast indicating that there may be no compression. thrown rod you guys think? we didnt have time to take it apart will get on it tomorrow.

the plot thickens...

Spins fast = broken timing belt.

If you threw a rod you'd know.

Go check that before you ask any more questions.
Then come back with the result.

[easternpiro1]

how low was the oil? and why didnt you keep it toped off?

kind of sounds like you threw a rod from lack of oil. get some tools and find out for sure.

hey lagos! long time bro!
when i checked at the oil earlier it was half. had to wait till friday to get oil changed. when it overheated it was dry which didnt make sense to me. no oil light. did not realize the oil burned so quick i knew i had a small burn but only when the car sat for a while.

[easternpiro1]

found out that it was the timing belt (thank GOD) the only problem now is getting the pulley (i think the water pump pulley) that sits right above the lower timing belt pulley off... how do you squeeze that S.O.B. off?!? we jacked up the motor still no luck. is there something im missing?

is the pulley 2 piece as in come apart? it looks like it but not sure

anybody know?

[trdss111]

found out that it was the timing belt (thank GOD) the only problem now is getting the pulley (i think the water pump pulley) that sits right above the lower timing belt pulley off... how do you squeeze that S.O.B. off?!? we jacked up the motor still no luck. is there something im missing?

is the pulley 2 piece as in come apart? it looks like it but not sure

anybody know?

timing belt can mean big money.

[jcaron9gt4]

found out that it was the timing belt (thank GOD) the only problem now is getting the pulley (i think the water pump pulley) that sits right above the lower timing belt pulley off... how do you squeeze that S.O.B. off?!? we jacked up the motor still no luck. is there something im missing?

is the pulley 2 piece as in come apart? it looks like it but not sure

anybody know?

timing belt can mean big money.

not if you do it yourself

[easternpiro1]

thats right! jcaron..we are trying to do it ourself but i cant figure out how to get that pulley off! it hits the wheelwell of the car. sure beats 400 bucks!

[presure2]

it helps if you lower that side of the engine abit.
+1 for me! =)

[lagos]

dont you still have your 3s? why dont yo just swap that into your car. it would all be plug and play.

[easternpiro1]

dont you still have your 3s? why dont yo just swap that into your car. it would all be plug and play.

yeah, i do, but alot of things are messed up and need switching out like axles (passengerside broken) and i need pulleys for the 3s. also had custom a/c lines. will take it back to tweak sometime next year.

also, i have nowhere to do the swap here even if i could

it helps if you lower that side of the engine abit.
+1 for me! =)

you the man manny! but, we tried to lower the motor, how? the way it was sitting it went back to its original position

This post has been edited by easternpiro1: Sep 30, 2007 - 10:16 PM

[Batman722]

take the front and rear mount out and support the engine either from the top or bottom.

[easternpiro1]

take the front and rear mount out and support the engine either from the top or bottom.

ok. will give it a try tomorrow. is there another way?

[lagos]

you have to undo that passengers side motor mount. this way the motor will tilt down enough for you to have access to the belt, and youll be able to get the timing belt cover off. look it up in the bgb's on celicatech. they have a step by step guide.

[easternpiro1]

we took off the passenger side mount. it wouldnt tilt down anymore. but i will check out celicatech thanks! will give an update.

[easternpiro1]

i see why it costs so damn much for timing belt change

This post has been edited by easternpiro1: Sep 30, 2007 - 11:37 PM

[lagos]

http://www.celicatech.com/93rmsour/1993/93...a/em/timin0.pdf

[easternpiro1]

thanks bro, but i have a 7a, i looked to see if anything was similar, but no luck

[easternpiro1]

ok got everything on, my boy put the cover and everything on, I started the car and it sounded rough from the get go, saw a bunch of smoke and found out the belt was rubbing something. my friend says i need a new tensioner now because according to him the belt was still moving to the side... sigh...

any suggestions?

This post has been edited by easternpiro1: Oct 3, 2007 - 10:50 PM

[alltracman78]

Hard to tell from 1000 miles away...

Before you replace the tensioner, make sure nothing is bend or damaged causing it to hit the belt.

What do you mean by "to the side"?

This is why it's good sometimes to pay someone else to do the work if you really don't know what you're doing....

I'm not jumping on you for trying, this is how I got started.
But sometimes [depending on your skill level, ability, tools, and help] it's better to take it somewhere and get the work done.
There's a reason some work is more expensive than others.......

[easternpiro1]

Hard to tell from 1000 miles away...

Before you replace the tensioner, make sure nothing is bend or damaged causing it to hit the belt.

What do you mean by "to the side"?

This is why it's good sometimes to pay someone else to do the work if you really don't know what you're doing....

I'm not jumping on you for trying, this is how I got started.
But sometimes [depending on your skill level, ability, tools, and help] it's better to take it somewhere and get the work done.
There's a reason some work is more expensive than others.......

yeah, we will check that out, but i seriously doubt anything is bent or damaged

according to my friend, when i started it and gave it some gas, he said the belt was slipping to the side as if it were trying to slide off the cam gear.

i was at my friend's house, he has a garage with alot of goodies, he strips cars (eclipses and talons mostly) and sells the parts on ebay, and my friend teaching me is a mechanic at a car dealership, although ive been told he half-asses sometimes...lol

[lagos]

mechanic at a car dealer doesnt mean a whole lot. he might be in charge of oil changes, and thats it. you have to know what your doing in order to change the belt correctly.

[easternpiro1]

good point lagos, but he actually does more. we will find out if it was the tensioner today though...

[alltracman78]

according to my friend, when i started it and gave it some gas, he said the belt was slipping to the side as if it were trying to slide off the cam gear.

i was at my friend's house, he has a garage with alot of goodies, he strips cars (eclipses and talons mostly) and sells the parts on ebay, and my friend teaching me is a mechanic at a car dealership, although ive been told he half-asses sometimes...lol

See, that's the thing.

If it's slipping side to side if there is a problem it's probably not the tensioner causing it, but a pulley that is out of alignment. The more it's out of alignment with the other pulleys, the worse the belt will travels side to side.
Belts will do this to some extent at times anyways. You just don't want too much of it.

A bad tensioner is more likely to cause belt slapping or if it's really bad, to jump teeth.

[easternpiro1]

according to my friend, when i started it and gave it some gas, he said the belt was slipping to the side as if it were trying to slide off the cam gear.

i was at my friend's house, he has a garage with alot of goodies, he strips cars (eclipses and talons mostly) and sells the parts on ebay, and my friend teaching me is a mechanic at a car dealership, although ive been told he half-asses sometimes...lol

See, that's the thing.

If it's slipping side to side if there is a problem it's probably not the tensioner causing it, but a pulley that is out of alignment. The more it's out of alignment with the other pulleys, the worse the belt will travels side to side.
Belts will do this to some extent at times anyways. You just don't want too much of it.

A bad tensioner is more likely to cause belt slapping or if it's really bad, to jump teeth.

Would that have anything to do with the fact that the other belts (alternator, and the other one) were not on when we tested it?

[alltracman78]

No

The accessory belts are totally separate from the timing belt.
The only thing they have in common is the crank itself.
If that is bent, well, you have a large problem.

[easternpiro1]

No

The accessory belts are totally separate from the timing belt.
The only thing they have in common is the crank itself.
If that is bent, well, you have a large problem.

ACK HAAHH! so i see says the blind man! i doubt the crank is bent though... you know what alltrac...YOU ARE THE MAN! dropping some knowledge on the ol' easternpiro i really appreciate this help guys! beers for everybody! as long as theyre corona!