Guest bastaad525 Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Okay I think now the damn car is just trying to mess with my head. But then again... my car has had this strange habit of fixing it's own problems sometimes... even serious problems like a dead cylinder which suddenly and for no apparent reason fixed itself right before I swapped the engine out (actually happened on the way to the shop that was going to do the swap for me). Well... for anyone who missed my other thread, a couple weeks ago I plunked down $800 to replace my clutch and fix several tranny leaks (pricey, yes... tranny had to be taken mostly apart to replace some of the seals) and a leaky rear main seal, only to find out while the tranny was off that my crank had some excess back-and-forth play in it (about 1mm's worth). I had resigned to stop driving the car until I could fix this issue, when my wifes other car, our backup, clunked out and basically put me in a position where I've no choice but to drive the Z. Even before this had all happened, I was also having an issue with the car running too warm, and my brakes had suddenly gone way soft. Problems just kept adding up! Well... now that I've been driving it again... it's doing it again. First was the brakes... I was two days away from replacing the master cylinder, when suddenly they started working fine again, with no hint of the problem at all. Okay....?? Then, yesterday, I decided to temporarily remove the coolant overflow tank I had installed about a month ago (in hopes to help remedy the hot-running problem), as I didn't like the where/way I had it installed, and wanted to find a better place for it. So I just left the hose going down the side of the radiator, dumping to the ground. Well I can't for the life of me figure it out, but now my car is not running warm anymore... it's been staying right in the middle unless I stay on the boost a lot. Before it was getting up as high as 3/4 of the gauge. *shrug* not sure if this has anything to do with it, but a week or two ago I did add some Neo Keep Cool to the coolant (similiar to redline water wetter), though it didn't seem to have any effect at the time... maybe it just takes a while for the stuff to start helping? Just odd that it changed the instant I removed the overflow tank.... And the last one, and this is the one I"m really not putting much stock in... but it surprised me all the same. Tonite I was messing with a few things, and decided to check the crank play, just to see if it was getting rapidly or noticeably worse. Well I levered on it with a crowbar as hard as I could both ways, and it would not budge at all. If find this VERY odd considering it moved with ease with just a short screwdriver for leverage, when the tranny and flywheel had been removed. I could even grab the crank pully by hand and pull it out. So here is my question, and the why for this topic being in misc. tech and not non tech I'm not going to fool myself and say 'hey it fixed the thrust bearing all by itself' but I just wanted to ask: does it make sense that the crank wont 'walk' back and forth with the tranny/clutch/flywheel installed when before it would when those items had been removed? Is there something in the way that the flywheel or clutch are installed that would help to hold the crank in place, not letting it move back and forth like that? I mean I was really levering on it.... it would not budge. Part of me wants to hope, that at the least, this is a good sign that the wear will not get much/any worse during the time that I must drive the car before I can replace the bearings. Only other thing I can say, is the car has really been a joy to drive the last few days that I've had to drive it, though the thought of the crank thrust bearings weighs heavy on my mind and tempers the fun quite a bit... but it's been running so great otherwise, with the brakes back working, coolant not running warm, a nice soft clutch setup to replace the very stiff ACT, and really no sign at all that anything is wrong. Hell, I swear that even the jittery freeway-steering has seemingly fixed itself... these last couple days I've actually been able to cruise 75-80mph with only one hand on the wheel and not freaking out from the car wandering all over the place.... WTF is going on???? *sigh* just hope this isn't another setup... lift me up.... just to bring me crashing down.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Oh and one other bit of good news... very soon I will be able to go back to my promise of relieving the Z from daily driver duties afterall. A very good friend of mine has decided to join the Air Force, and wants to sell me his '03 Nissan Pathfinder... he has about 10,000 miles on it, it's loaded and very clean, and I know he's gentle on the thing. He's been running all synthetics since breakin as well. He somehow stole the truck from the dealer for a measely $11,000 (it was one of those "only one at this price" specials) and wants to sell it to me for like $9-10k. The best part, he'll let me pay it off over 3 years It's not definate yet, but he is already enlisted, just waiting to be shipped out, so I'm figuring I got at least 75% chance. So I'll have a good reliable daily driver and the Z can go into semi-retirment after all... I'll be making $250ish payments interest free (very good because I have baaaaaaad credit) and not having to settle for some $500 crap-mobile. Things finally looking up for me??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wheelman Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Bastaad525, When you were levering on the crank was the tranny in gear? Did you have the E-brake set? If the tranny was in gear and holding the car on a slight incline it might have put enough pressure on the drive-train so that the crank was effectively locked in place. Just a guess. Wheelman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted May 11, 2004 Share Posted May 11, 2004 Nope tranny was not in gear. Mind you, I was trying to move it back and forth (in and out of the engine), not rotate it... just want to be sure I was clear on that. and btw I'm a bonehead, it's not a pathfinder my friend has, it's a frontier. A pathfinder is an SUV !!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Heh 89 views and one reply.... have I worn out everyones patience or what Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-REX Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 bastaad... frontiers are nice trucks! and for the deal you can get you're a lucky man.. so 4wd, 2wd, stick, auto, ext cab...???? worse to worse, it'll make a good tow vehicle! which btw... follow my advice to ON3GO.... get an exorcist. that car's possessed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 heh yeah it is. Well the frontier is pretty much bottom of the barrel model. 2WD, 5 spd, 4 cyl engine, shortbed, has a lot of room behind the seats but no rear seats. It does come with AC, a bed liner and cover, and a VERY nice detachable face CD player with rockford fosgate amp and speakers and of all things a damn remote (why anyone would need a remote for a car stereo.....). We checked the bluebook yesterday and the private seller value was well into the $12,000 range. The truck listed for $14k new, but he got it super cheap, like $10k, so I'm hoping I can talk him down maybe to $9k. Gonna give him $1000 down and pay off the rest over 2-3 years. I'd like to say it's definate but there's one small hitch I just found out, for whatever reason the truck is in his mothers name??? It's completely paid off though, they paid for the whole thing up front in cash. Not sure why they'd put it in her name... but he kinda worries that she might not turn it over to him to sell.... time to hire some muscle? For real though cross your fingers for me guys I NEED this deal to go thru. About the Z... does it make any sense that I can't move the crank at all now, where it moved so seemingly easily when the tranny/clutch/flywheel were off? When my camaro's crank started walking (and it was bad, like 1cm back and forth) it was VERY easy to grab the crank pulley and move it in and out by hand. I talked a friend of mine into loaning me his cherry picker and driveway for a day... I'm too lazy to pull the engine I'm just gonna try to replace the bearings with the motor in the car as TechnicalNinja outlined for me... he says he could do it an afternoon and I KNOW I can't have the engine out and back in in that amount of time. So... should have it none next friday. I MAY just replace the center main/thrust bearing and leave the others depending on how the wear surfaces look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gollum Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 Dude, this is all good man, your car is possesed This will help you beat people with 100 more HP on you. Your car is a fighter man. Accually i have no idea on the crank issue... Maybe your motor locked up. Have you started the car latelly I think that pathfinder could tow a single car... Might kill the gas milage, but who cares if your car gets to the track with 0 miles put on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 I really think you should pull the engine. It will be much easier to get the main caps out if you aren't fighting for room to move your arms and struggling to get around the crossmember. If it were a V8 and the mains were just bolted to the bottom of the block I'd probably say do it in the car, but it's not and sometimes getting the caps out is a pain. MARK them so that you don't switch them around from left to right when you bolt them back on. I don't know how hard it is to pull a turbo motor vs a NA, but pulling my NA is really quick. Drain radiator and remove, pull hoses, pull manifolds, remove oil pressure fitting and coolant temp probe, remove alternator wires, remove starter, unbolt trans, yank motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
z-REX Posted May 12, 2004 Share Posted May 12, 2004 bas... don't worry about the truck being in mama's name. it could be he wanted to save on insurance by putting it in the name of a driver with a cleaner record. don't ask me how i know.... oh by the way, did i tell you my mom...----er, my 240's running again??!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted May 13, 2004 Share Posted May 13, 2004 If you thought you needed to replace the MC, then most certainly you still do. Probably had a bit of rust or debris in the MC that, for the moment, is no longer causing problems. Not everyone will agree with me, but I would replace the MC and flush all the brake fluid as a preventative measure. If you have a "dead cylinder" that fixed itself, then that might be the source of your overheating problems. Many people have claimed that improper timing can affect engine temps. Ignition gremlins, or maybe there is enough slop in your engine that cam timing is somehow being affected (which in turn affects the distributor timing)? And I would think (don't know) that having the clutch in place would affect how much slop you see in your crank. Sounds like the continuing joy of an old car to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted May 14, 2004 Share Posted May 14, 2004 it may not be the hardest thing, but pulling the motor is definately VERY time consuming... whether it would end up being easier or not, over just replacing the bearings with the motor in the car, I can't say, but I'll bet money it will take longer, and for me, time is always limited... one of the major reasons I dont do much of the work on the car myself anymore. Maybe it's being overly lazy of me, but I'm most likely going to only replace the center main. Having run synthetic since I got the motor, and seen the condition of the rod bearings when we pulled them out... I have a strong feeling the wear surfaces of the main bearings are fine... the wear surfaces on the rod bearings looked great... they did not need to be replaced really, and the synthetic will probably ensure that the mains will live long, happy lives. I think the thrust bearing wore like it did because I was using that damned ACT clutch... but, if I pull the center main and the main wear surface (that the crank spins on, not the thrust part) is pretty bad then I'll do the rest of them. Either way... it just seems to me that pulling the motor is not a good trade off to make replacing the bearings easier. Maybe I'll find out the hard way when I'm on my back swearing every swear word known to man wouldn't be the first time. I am gonna have help though, and we're gonna be able to get the car HIGH off the ground, gonna lift the front of the car with a tow truck so I'll have plenty of room to move. I may even look at dropping the crossmember if it's in the way... still way less labor I would think, than completely pulling the motor. The haynes manual also specifies some special puller that should be used for pulling the center and rear main caps... gonna see if I can't get ahold of this tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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