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'02 Legacy wagon died...wierd symptoms


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Having it die i can trouble shoot. What mystifies me is that it makes a strange noise when cranking now, like it has nothing attached to the crank but the front pulley turns, no clunks from valves hitting...maybe they have all been hit and there is no compression on any cylinder but that seems strange.

 

I would chalk it up to a broken timing belt if it didn't sound so wierd cranking. Going to pull the cover and a plug this a.m. What i am asking is after a 2.5 valve crunch does the engine crank completely differently?

 

Thanks.

 

Ted

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Having it die i can trouble shoot. What mystifies me is that it makes a strange noise when cranking now, like it has nothing attached to the crank but the front pulley turns, no clunks from valves hitting...maybe they have all been hit and there is no compression on any cylinder but that seems strange.

 

I would chalk it up to a broken timing belt if it didn't sound so wierd cranking. Going to pull the cover and a plug this a.m. What i am asking is after a 2.5 valve crunch does the engine crank completely differently?

 

Thanks.

 

Ted

 

 

because it has no (or very low) compression (due to broken, skipped timing belt and.or bent valves), the load on the starter is greatly reduced and it spins faster. Amother quick test that would point to a busted or severely slipped TB; tear off a strip of paper, hold it at the tailpipe while someone cranks the engine several times. If the paper tries to 'suck in' in addition to being blown away, you have valve timing problems.

Edited by 1 Lucky Texan
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It may sound differently when cranking if the timing belt has snapped depending on the position of the cam(s) and whether any valves got bent.

 

The timing belt cover behind the coolant overflow reservoir is easy to remove, just pull out the reservoir (two bolts at the top), then remove 3 bolts on that cover, pop it off, and you can see if the belt is broken.

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How many miles on the car and motor? What kind of shape is the car in?

 

If the car is in decent shape, I would pluck the motor and either fix it or put a different one in. Probably cheaper to just fix the one you have if it has under 200K.

 

I bought a 2000 last year with 215 K on it for $550 and it had a kaput motor. I just bought a different one as the original one was roached and my kid is still driving it.

 

my 2 cents

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