When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
You might take a peak under the one valve cover and check out the 4 valves for #5 cylinder. It may tell which valve is the culprit. Unlikely as it is, you might find a broken valve spring that might be replaceable without pulling the head.
I am slowly building up the desire to see this through. It seems tht I will need some special tools in order to remove the camshafts and keep everything lined up. Does anyone know where I might find these tools? I will post whatever I eventually find when or if I tear this down. Thank you everyone for your help. Without this forum the car would have seen the junkyard long ago.
Hey Lanny,
I have no suggestions for you; just wanted to say that seeing your name and location is very similar to mine, so much that at first glance I thought I was seeing a posting of mine!!
Thank you NBCat! I just ordered the tool set, so I guess I am committed (or maybe I should be) I will check out the data before I start back into the abyss.
I would be wanting to look at the valves and to see if any piston damage.
Looking down the inlets for similar.
No point pulling the head if it can be mended from above and no point pulling the head if its a new engine you want.
For less than $10, you can get an endoscope/borescope off ebay that works with a cell phone. I paid about 10 times that much for a Harbor Freight borescope and the image is larger with much higher resolution on the cell phone, plus, you can enlarge the image and search around as if with a magnifying glass. You might find a spot with carbon disrupted or dent on the piston that'll be a clue. Last summer, I scoped out our nephew's (Wards Automotive CEO) Audi and verified scored/seized cylinders from overheating.
Before I'd deal with that, I'd take a few minutes and pull of the valve cover for a couple of quick checks. You can examine the cam followers and see if all 4 valves on #5 are tight to the cam lobes or is one staying down indicating bent valve, broken spring, loose seat insert.... If the valves appear normal, remove radiator cap, roll the engine to #5 compression stroke with 4 valves closed and blow air down the plug hole and listen for air escaping up intake, out tailpipe, out of the crankcase or bubbling up from the radiator. A little slug of oil might have slightly hydrolocked that cylinder and blown a head gasket. My buddy bought a Land Cruiser that was hydrolocked and bent a rod just a touch, lowering that piston about an 1/8" reducing compression slightly. I bought a great skidsteer loader dirt cheap not long ago that was diagnosed with seized engine- it leaked coolant into the cylinder.
Thank you, I am going to do exactly what you suggest. I too have a borescope, not from HF, but of questionable quality. I tried to use it when I had the intake manifold removed, but I really couldn't see anything helpful. I did find that there was a strange bit of damage to the sparkplug in that cylinder. At the time I dismissed it as not significant , merely one of the electrodes slightly bent. I thought maybe someone had dropped it during installation. But now I think it may have been a sign that I missed early on. I will post anything that I find, and hopefully I won't have to go too deep.
I have been dreading doing this, but it will not fix itself. I have the front of the engine exposed and finally was able to get the large bolt out of the crankshaft pully. Much thanks to a Youtube video by O&Dr Modurol suggesting how to build a tool to lock the pully while extracting the bolt which is tightened to around 260 ft lbs with likely old loc-tite to boot. It took the largest breaker bar I had with a 2 foot cheater bar to break it loose. Boy , was I puckered expecting something to go boom.
Now the problem is how to get the pully itself to come off of the crankshaft. I have some really good pullers, but the weak link are the two 5/16" bolts that threat into the pulley. I am afraid of simply pulling out the threads or breaking the rather small bolts. Doe anyone have any advice on how the get this to release? I have put so much pressure on it that the bolts are starting to deform. I am afraid to apply anymore tension.
You're on the right track. Get a regular puller, thread the bolts into the threaded holes in the pulley, put some force on the bolts torqued down just some. Feel for it. Then get a good hammer, give some light but firm wacks around the exposed circumference of the pulley wheel, WALK AWAY... Come back, another HALF turn or so, a few more wacks/taps around circumference, etc. This is a fierce bit gentle process. Walk away and revisit and repeat the process. It will come free. Muscling it off (it will not come off) will lead to misery and curse words...yard dances and bloody digits, 😂
be careful to keep that hammer true. You don't want to ding the wheel. Flush strikes on the FACE of the wheel only. A good stance and angle, wacks... Good luck. You'll get it.
The one I use looks like this.
Last edited by JayJagJay; Feb 23, 2023 at 05:14 AM.
I agree with Jay that patience is key. The difficulty as I see it is that applying tension on the pulley/damper tends to squeeze the split collar tighter against the crankshaft snout:- the harder you pull, the tighter it gets.
I would do as Jay suggests and fit the puller, tension it up, then leave it for a while. Go back and tap the pulley backwards towards the block. Slowly rinse and repeat.
You need to tap the inner part of the pulley as the outer part is rubber-bonded which will absorb the shock.
A couple of caveats:
Make sure that the puller bolts don't go so deep that they hit the timing cover
Be careful not to mar the crank snout with the puller. Some have suggested putting a coin or two on the end.
Thank you Michailh. I am afraid in my zeal to insure that I had the bolts tight enough I may have already contacted the case. But I will deal with that when I get there. I have a puller almost exactly like the one pictured, maybe even a little more buff. It is the 5/16" bolts that worry me. Today I will try again, maybe put a little heat on the snout (not too much) t try to soften the loc-tite if there is any. I have a hydraulic puller that I might try if I can get it in there. Thanks for the encouragement .
