Rac Man Said I Was A Lucky Boy

TigerFish · April 14, 2009

Not had this happen before. Drove home from work last Friday no problem. Had tea, then gave my son and his GF a lift into town. Car started feeling sluggish as I was going round the ring road. As I came off the ring road and round to the railway station, the car could now barely move. Going out the back of the station, the car now ground to a halt and could only just keep running. It conked out, restarted it, it chugged for a few seconds, and then died again. From that point on, it would crank but not fire up. So I called the RAC out, he initially thought a fuel starvation issue, spreayed his can of stuff into the intake and still no joy. Moved onto ignition system, Spark was reaching the distributor. Needed to now check spark was reaching plugs. Undo the top timing cover to remove the top cover to get to No1 spark plug. Cover comes off and we both look at each other and say at exactly the same time "that don't look right". The left hand cam pulley had come undone and moved forward. The cam cover was the only thing that stopped the pulley (and Belt) coming off!!!! it now has a nice groove worn into the inside of it. The reason the car wouldn't fire up is that the distributor is driven off that cam, which was no longer turning as the cam pulley was just spinning on the cam shaft. Turned the crank by hand, tightened the bolt to pull the cam pulley back on and re-engage with the locating key and hey presto, the car fired straight up and off I went.

Of course the RAC guy didn't know it was a non interference engine, so he thought the gods were smiling on me that evening.

aztecbandit1 · April 14, 2009

Thats a bit of an odd one mate and glad it wasnt too serious :D

Parthiban · April 14, 2009

Does sound odd, any idea what caused it or is that something that can just happen?

TigerFish · April 14, 2009

Does sound odd, any idea what caused it or is that something that can just happen?

It was very odd mate. No idea if it is something that can just happen but never heard of it myself, and it was a first for the RAC man. The head gasket was done on the car recently, which is the only thing that has happened on the top end in that specific area.

steve2006 · April 14, 2009

Sounds like the bolt turned down a meeting with the torque wrench

Ian M · April 14, 2009

It does sound like a problem associated with reassemble after the head gasket job. The RAC man was right - you were very fortunate that it was nothing more serious.

sparkystav · April 14, 2009

You lucky boy, glad you got it sorted.

Stav

sparkystav · April 14, 2009

You lucky boy, glad you got it sorted.

Stav

sparkystav · April 14, 2009

You lucky boy, glad you got it sorted.

Stav

sparkystav · April 14, 2009

You lucky boy, glad you got it sorted.

Stav

VVProtocolVV · April 14, 2009

Stav loves clicking.

sparkystav · April 14, 2009

bloody works computer!

Rory · April 14, 2009

lol

Anees · April 14, 2009

bloody works computer!

Yeah yeah............... another one obsessed with his post count.......

@TigerFish - Glad that all ended well. Don't think your headgaskit change will have affected it do you?

DJ Wozza · April 15, 2009

Sounds like the bolt turned down a meeting with the torque wrench

sorry but I couldn't help but laugh at that

I know it could have been an expensive day, so a result in the end mate.

Steviewevie · April 15, 2009

Of course the RAC guy didn't know it was a non interference engine, so he thought the gods were smiling on me that evening.

I may well be wrong, but just as with the 1G-FE, although the 2JZ-GE engine is non-interference, doesn't the addition of VVT-i on the GS300 make it interference ?

dave1 · April 15, 2009

I may well be wrong, but just as with the 1G-FE, although the 2JZ-GE engine is non-interference, doesn't the addition of VVT-i on the GS300 make it interference ?

I don't think the Series 1 had VVT-i. My '96 Sport didn't anyway.

TigerFish · April 15, 2009

@TigerFish - Glad that all ended well. Don't think your headgaskit change will have affected it do you?

No idea really. Not sure if the pulleys (and maybe cams) have to come off for the head to be skimmed.

Sounds like the bolt turned down a meeting with the torque wrench

Quite possibly

I may well be wrong, but just as with the 1G-FE, although the 2JZ-GE engine is non-interference, doesn't the addition of VVT-i on the GS300 make it interference ?

I don't think the Series 1 had VVT-i. My '96 Sport didn't anyway.

That is correct, no VVT-i on the Mk1's

Steviewevie · April 15, 2009

I may well be wrong, but just as with the 1G-FE, although the 2JZ-GE engine is non-interference, doesn't the addition of VVT-i on the GS300 make it interference ?

I don't think the Series 1 had VVT-i. My '96 Sport didn't anyway.

That is correct, no VVT-i on the Mk1's

Cool, thanks :)

ormi · April 15, 2009

yes cams would have been removed

no the pulleys wouldnt have come off you can remove the cam with out removing the pulley but the bolts should have been checked and torqued!

TigerFish · April 15, 2009

yes cams would have been removed
no the pulleys wouldnt have come off you can remove the cam with out removing the pulley but the bolts should have been checked and torqued!

Cheers for the info. Do the pulleys have a habit of undoing themselves?

ormi · April 16, 2009

yes cams would have been removed
no the pulleys wouldnt have come off you can remove the cam with out removing the pulley but the bolts should have been checked and torqued!

Cheers for the info. Do the pulleys have a habit of undoing themselves?

to be honest no.the only thing i have seen come loose is the crank bolt, your lucky the wee locator didnt snap off.

was telling the boss all about it and you should have seen the look of shock on his face.he said he's never seen it as well.

its a strange one matey.

just thought.............

just because they dont need to come off doesnt mean they didnt remove them if they are not familiar with the engine they might have stripped it more than was needed if you know what i mean.