patkennedy78

Axel eh'? I guess I didn't even think about that. I always thought axels made a constant clicking sound in a turn? I checked the boots when I did the ball joint and they weren't cracked, but I'll double check and see.

Hey all, I'm having a problem with the front end on my 92 Loyale Sedan that I'm hoping to get some help with. It's a clunking / binding noise at very low speeds, 10mph and under. The noise sounds like it's coming from my passenger side suspension. The noise only happens only when turning, and has become more frequent in the last week or two. The noise usually happens when I am going to park someplace, or leaving a parking spot. If I back straight up or pull straight out of a spot everything is fine until I start to turn, then the noise happens. It kind of sounds like a heavy metal vibrating clunk. It happens going forward and going in reverse. It dosen't do it constantly when I'm turning( like if I drove in circles it wouldn't go clunk clunk clunk, just one clunk when I first started to turn) and goes away again when the wheel is straightend out. I've bounced the shock when parked and get no noises. I can turn the wheel from side to side when parked without the engine running and get no noise either. I replaced a ball joint on the passeger side a couple weeks back(the noise was happening before that) and gave it a good visual inspection and couldn't find anything. I'd appreciate any help you could give.

OK, so I finally got around to finishing this up today. I got new belts on, but the same idler pully. I got my new radiator drain plug in, and topped off with coolant. I did a quick compression test and got 130's all around. So outside the coolant in the cylindars everything went fairly well. I do have a CEL on though, I guess I have to have something to do next weekend . But she's driving like a champ again.

Hmm, interesting solutions. Not exactly the route I was thinking, but thank you none the less. Would this be something a bearing shop would have in stock? And let me ask this, If I spin the bearing in my hand, should it make a slight "Whirring" noise? There is no side to side movement if I push on the pully, everthing seems stable. What would tell me if this is a bad bearing?

I'm changing the v-belts on my 92 loyale and wanted to replace the idler pully as well. I brought the one I took off the car to the Napa warehouse, and it didn't match what they had listed. The one they had looked like it was for the timing belts. Napa ended up telling me to check at the dealer because the didn't carry it. I checked Advaced and Autozone online with no luck. I did some searching here and it doesn't seem like an unusual thing to replace. Here is a pic just to make sure. So is this a dealer only item?

So at this point what can I do to avoid bent rods and / or more hydrolic lock? (I assume that's the name for coolant / water in your cylinders preventing the engine from turning over) I'm going to turn it over a few more times with the fuel pump and spark disabled to try and make sure everything is out of the cylinders and dry. Then I'll be putting the new belts on and plugs back in.

Nope, I sure didn't. But I will now. I found half the drain plug broken off while I was under the car. I'm not sure when or how that happened, but there's enough lodged in there to hold. I guess I'll just drill the lil' bugger out, good thing it's plastic.

It never actually turned over until I took the plugs out today. I have a compression tester, after I get the belts back on and things squared away I'll hook it up and post the numbers.

I think this is exactly what happened here. I went back out today and pulled both v-belts off. All the pullys are spinning fine, but I couldn't move the crank pully by hand. So I tried to start it and got the same result as before. I pulled all the plugs, and tired to start it again. It turned over and quite a bit of something (not sure if it was oil, coolant, gas, or all 3) shot out of the plug holes. So that made me feel better that it turned over. I pulled the fuel pump fuse, and grounded out the coil, and turned it over a couple more times to get things to dry out. So now it sits! It's in the carport with the plugs out, and hood partially down, so things should evaporate and dry out. I'm going to grab a new set of belts and idler pully here in the next day or two. Is there anything else I can do to clear out whatever else that may have gotten into the cylindars? Btw, thanks for the great suggestions this far!

Intake Manifold WASHERS??? Sh*t, I didn't see any washers doing this job. When I pry'ed the gaskets out, they came out in one piece, and I didn't see anything else sandwitched in there. Would there have been 6 washers, 3 on each side, like the bolts? Cuz I didn't see a one of them. If so, they didn't make it down the plug holes, cuz the plugs were in when the manifold was off. So I guess they all could have fallen in the intake. I was not in gear when I tried to start it, I had all my tools when I finished, and no spare parts. I'm going to pull the plugs and take off both belts and see what I see. Any other suggestions or advice?

92 Loyal Sedan, 5spd, pushbutton 4wd.

I'm not sure about a full 360. After I try to start it and it won't go any further, it turns a decent amount backwards. Should I be able to go farther than 360 back? And is there another way to turn the engine by hand other than with the alternator?

Hey everybody, it's been a while since I last posted, but I lurk around here every so often. Well, I got around to doing some repairs to my Soob today, and ran into some troubles. I put in some new intake manifold gaskets (loosing / burning coolant with new hoses and decent compression test numbers) plugs & wires (it was time), and a new alternator (had the flickering 'bat' and 'CEL'). Everything went really well. But during the repairs I heard one of those little metal 'tings' or 'pings' like a small clip or spring shooting off of something. I thought I saw something go in the direction of the pullys / belts, but couldn't find anything when I looked around. So I get her all back together and am excited to start it up. I put the key in, and try to turn it over and it just kind of gets stuck. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the engine starts to turn over, then stops. It's like if you'd put a stick in the spokes of a bicycle before you started to pedal, you'd kind of get started, then just stop. I can move the alternator pully and watch everything turn back wards for a bit, but when I turn it forwards it comes to a point where nothing will move any longer. I'm thinking the noise I heard was something getting lodged in the belts / pullys. I highly doubt something fell down the plug holes, but I guess anythings possible. I'm really not to sure where to begin on this one, so I could sure use some help. Thanks

Well, I'm sure glad I grabbed the extra knuckle! I pulled my whole front passenger side apart. Disconnected the Ball joint, tierod end, axel, and removed the caliper and hub. I took out the strut / knuckle combo. I beat it some more, tried twisting, and some more Deep Creap, and only got it to move about 1/4 inch. Man that thing is frozen in there! I don't know wtf is holding it in??? So I put in the strut and knuckle I got from PnS. But along the way I found that I will soon need a new tierod end. But being my daily driver I needed it back together, so the tierod will be another day. I got lots of pics and am going to write a little "Front End work for Noobs" article for the USRM.

I meant to post this a few days ago, but since the topic of PnS came up, I'll throw it in this thread. The last two times I went there I took a clipboard and paper and did my own little inventory of subes. I wrote down years / makes and what not so I could get the 'best' parts. When I went to the counter to pay they saw the clipboard and asked about it. So we talked a while and they guy told me about their 'system' of moving out the old and bringing in the new. So here's the method behind thier madness: They always have a short row of cars. The cars to the east of the short row are next to the crusher, the cars to the west of the short row are the freshest. But I didn't get how often they rotate: So if you see a car to the east of the short row, you can ask them to move it back to the west side. That way it will be safe for a while and you can go back and get more parts. Easy Enough!