[Shotimes] Crank Cancer Check.....was: SHO Idle Clicking

[George Fourchy]

On Mon, 19 Apr 2004 21:57:44 -0700, Frank & Susan Malinowski wrote:

>I have some clicking at idle when warm intermitently.  
>No problems at speed or any other time.  If it is
>wearing in the timing gear what parts do I start looking for?

Usually the sound starts as a very distant middle frequency thudding, not a valve
tap or click.  As the play worsens, the sprocket starts banging against the key,
which makes the crank ring like a bell....it doesn't sound exactly like any other
noise the engine can make.  A bad rod bearing is a sharp banging sound, same
frequency (lowish) but sharper.  This is a thudding sound....more muffled at the
beginning....sort of like using a hard rubberr hammer on the crank, rather than a
ball-peen.

Take the top third of the plastic timing belt cover off.  You'll want to remove the
battery so you can get a better shot at it.  You MIGHT need to remove the front
accessory belt.  You'll be able to see the two cam sprockets easily, with the belt
going down into the rest of the cover off each sprocket.  Put a breaker bar (not a
ratchet) and a 19 mm socket on the crank damber bolt.  Rock it back and forth
slowly...a small arc is fine, while you are looking at the cam sprockets.  Check for
any hesitation in change of direction as you rock the crank back and forth.  You
don't need to move the crank very much, just enough to make sure the cam sprockets
start moving.  If they move at EXACTLY the same time as you move the damper, you're
OK.  It might be easier to see small amounts of slack if you put the engine at #1
TDC, with the 2 marks on the cam sprockets under the marks on the metal backing
plate for the belt cover, and the mark on the damper at the 0 degree mark on the
lower timing cover.  If there is the slightest hesitation before they start to move
when you rock it back and forth, you have play in the crank sprocket and woodruff
key.  It's time to pull it apart and get a new key and sprocket, if you can find
one.  If you wait until it starts dropping back in valve timing, the sliding cam
sprocket will wear the crank to the point where you have to patch it.  I had to do
that.  Most others have just replaced the gear and key.

Now....someone tell me what to fix when I have a hard CE light and no fuel pump, but
the IRCM is OK.  Maybe there is a short to ground near the fuel pump, where the
splice between the old and new bodies is.  That's a place to start looking, anyway. 
It has to have something to do with what this car just went through......

What would a short in that primary fuel pump circuit do to the rest of the
electronics?  It acts like it is blown up....no codes attainable.

George