jonathan909

Well, I don't think I'll be bothering with that step. I sat down the other day to install the timing kit, and immediately discovered what broke that chain - a seized intake cam. So in all likelyhood I'll just be pulling the motor and figuring it out from there.

100%. It's really interesting to me that the toothed idler fails at such a higher rate than the smooth ones. The one spontaneous timing failure of an EJ25 I've experienced in about a dozen years of driving these things was that idler seizing, and the result wasn't pretty.

No argument here, just asking the question. And important to note that this is the 3 litre H6, not just another 2.5 . If you haven't driven one, then you're going to have to trust me that regardless of whether it's interference or not, this motor kicks the 2.5's @$$ in a way I didn't expect (and we've owned more than half a dozen EJ25s (AT and MT, all NA of course, no turbos) in addition to a couple of EJ22s). When it's all loaded up, towing a boat, and climbing a hill, it has the juice where the 2.5 struggled.

This is the one - worked a treat, fit perfectly, without having to unnecessarily dismantle stuff that's just fine where it is. I found it locally at Canadian Tire as OEM Tools 77515. It's also on amazon.com as 37308 and 26553, and god only knows where else by what other number(s). OEM Tools doesn't appear to be a "real company" - that is, they just link to their amazon store. So without an actual catalog or data sheets where I might confirm dimensions, I can only say that I think that these are all the same tool rather than, say, different versions (e.g. sizes) of the same style of tool. What-ever, it works and I like it. And I see that amazon.ca has a $45 five-piece kit in a case that includes this puller. I paid almost that at CT for this one, so it is left as an exercise to the reader what my plan is now.

That may be the style I need to find.

Forgive any errors here, because I'm working from memory. So I'm now unbolting the caliper in order to take the rotor off in order to get at those dust shield screws. And I think that there's an opening in the shield that will then allow me to slide it off (and not unstake the hub nut and pull the hub) - but that's the part I can't remember for sure. Regardless, that's a lot of stuff that's working just fine and doesn't need to be disturbed in the interest of simply getting a puller around that tie rod end. Not a lot of work by any means, but completely unnecessary. I just got the two pullers that Princess has, and neither fits.

This is the smaller one, with jaw gap 1.125". That appears to correspond to the size of the tie rod end. They have a larger one with a 1.625" gap. But I'm really uncertain about that leg fitting between the knuckle and the brake shield. I just bought an old Bridgeport J-head I can use to cut it down to fit if necessary, but I'd also be concerned about making it too thin and fragile. Also, the mill is going to need work, starting with figuring out how to spin a 600V 3-phase motor when all we have on-site is 220 single-phase. (Note: I know what all the options are, so no suggestions needed, thanks.) Point is I need to get this car back on the road long before I expect the mill to be up and running.

I've tried a lot of 'em, but none don't suck. Pickle forks (whether bang-with-a-hammer or air hammer) never quite fit and always tear up the ball joint boot. I've got a hydraulic spreader, but there are rarely parallel surfaces across from each other to use it in. I'm always happy to go with brute force and ignorance (i.e. just beat on it), but that's not good either. Does someone have the right answer? Is there a screw-type puller that fits in there and just works perfectly? [edit] I'm looking at this one, but just don't know whether the arms are too thick to fit between the knuckle and the brake dust shield. https://www.princessauto.com/en/tie-rod-end-pitman-arm-puller/product/PA0009065079 Could just go get one to try, of course, but that's an hour or two wasted if it doesn't fit.

Yeah, that's a lot of crap (including the engine) to move - when I get to that point. At the moment I'm just pissed at the bait+switch that DHL is pulling on me - again - over my shipment from Rock. UPS said it'll be here next Tuesday for a reasonable price. DHL said that for five bucks more they'd have it here tomorrow (Thursday). Tracking now says next Tuesday, and I strongly doubt they won't screw that up, because we're rural and just past the edge of their delivery area (by, like, a mile) so I have no idea how or where (let alone when) I'll get it. I'm an idiot, because I knew better. I'm Charlie Brown running to kick the ball - again.

(A few months later, 'cause I had to clean out enough of the garage to get the car in over the pit and buy a Warn Pullzall (110VAC comealong - got a smokin' deal on it) to pull it in, then wait for a break in the weather, since the garage is unheated...) But now the cover's off and I've confirmed that the driver's side chain broke. Since the driver's side chain drives the passenger side chain, what sounded to me like just the crank and no cams cranking was in fact just the crank and no cams cranking. It's not clear whether the chain broke on its own, or whether it was caused by a guide fragmenting, and there are some loose plastic bits in there. Doesn't matter much, timing kit is en route from Rock. As for whether anything got hit, jury's still out. It's so damn tight along the sides of the engine that I'm not sure I can get a compression gauge in there. But I'm also replacing the steering rack while it's over the pit, so I'll be dropping the exhaust and can take a peek up at the valves. Otherwise, I'll just see how things behave once the new kit is installed. I do have an untested junkyard motor on the shelf (bought as a spare a couple of years ago), so I can draw upon that if necessary. But I'll see how it goes over the next few days.

No, this is a real-world problem. Car died very suddenly on the highway (en route home from the glass shop with a brand-new windshield after a windstorm+tree took it out. Such is my life these days.) and the symptoms are: Cranks, but sounds different, like less stuff than normal is turning; cam position sensor error. That it's turning at all seems like somewhat good news, as that suggests I don't have a piston wedged against a valve, though it doesn't mean there wasn't a hit. Hence the question. So my first guess is a thrown chain (the EZ30 has two). But since then (last week), winter has set in here for real - it's subzero, we're under a foot of snow, and the car is not (yet) in my (unheated) garage, where I'll have to pull the 64-bolt timing cover in order to confirm my suspicion. And first I've gotta bolt a winch onto the far garage wall so I can pull it in...

Hoping for a known fact rather than a bet.

Interference or non?

By "earthed solenoid" I assume you mean "grounded the coil of the fuel pump relay". So far, so good. From where you are, I wouldn't jump directly to "bad ECU". Let's go back to first principles, and stop me if I get anything wrong. The initial failure symptom was no fuel, but you know the relay and pump are good, so you changed the ECU, but that didn't solve the problem. You're reading that as "two bad ECUs", where I read it as "ECU not the problem, because you just swapped in a known-good (according to the supplier) one". The whole point of the ECU is that it listens to a whole bunch of inputs and drives a whole bunch of outputs. So I'd be looking at all of the inputs to see which ones need to be satisfied in order for the ECU to want to pump fuel.

Yup, right up until you go to change a ball joint, and the bottom of the steering knuckle swings out a bit, and instead of the rollers in the inner CV hitting that internal stop, the boot pulls off and the rollers fall on the floor.