Hey gang,

Trying to check end play on my 87 with 127K on the clock and I can't get it to move in either direction. I seem to have more splines showing than before. I had a PK clamp on it and had released the tension about 6 months ago. The thin metal plate on the flywheel is cracked. The plate was bowed about 1/2mm and flattened out when I got the rear wheels off the ground to but the splines appear to be the same.

What made me check it was; I was hearing a slight ticking and sometimes when I started it, it sounded like a card in a spoke on a bike. The car drove excellent, as a Matter of fact, I drove it to DC Mar 9-16. Pushed it hard from Nashville to Knoxville and semi hard from Knox to Bristol. Had to slow down it Virginia.

It started making that noise when I returned. Only on startup. I did not see anything in engine bay that was hitting.

I thought the slight ticking was a job for swepco.

Are thes signs of TBF? I honestly don't see any movement when I lever the flex plates in either direction. It's reading 4mm from bell housing to plate.

 

You need to lever the flywheel not the flex plate to measure the end float on the crank.
I emailed you some good tutorials to help out.
Good luck.
Roger

 

Here's a good one from Bill Ball:

https://rennlist.com/forums/928-foru...pictorial.html

Another good one from ??:

http://members.rennlist.com/v1uhoh/cranksha.htm

 

a quick check is to pull the dipstick,
slide in a piece of lamp cord wire into the dipstick hole,
then drip the oil onto a black piece of cardboard,
look at the oil in the sun .
if its got lots of metal your engine is probably done.

NOTE fals reading are possible by using the dipstick as it shaves small pieces of metal when its put into the tube

 

Thanks guys,

I got the tutorials Roger, thanks. I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to tackle it. My son was in a bicycle accident in DC. He will be ok, but cracked ribs and shoulder & he broke his fall with his face. Loss of consciousness but no concussion. Woke up in an ambulance. Keeping him overnight to be sure. I fly out at 6:00 am.

When I return, I'll have plenty of questions.

Ash

 

Good luck to your son... and don't worry about the tfb,
Francesco

 

sorry to hear of your son getting hurt,
I hope he makes a full recovery

 

I'm guessing you have yet to read thru the New visitor...FAQ thread posted at the top of this forum.

There is a whole section in there on TBF diagnostics and prevention.

 

Speedy recovery to your son. I'm guessing the ticking is coming from the cracked flexplate.

 

I hope your son will be okay and I wish him a speedy recovery.

The ticking sound you mentioned on startup may just be lifters that are noisy, unless you can actually pinpoint it coming from the bellhousing area.

With regard to releasing the tension, you had mentioned the PKlamp was installed; was there an actual shift of the collar on the splines once you removed the tension even with the Pklamp on the car?

I don't think your car may be suffering thrust bearing failure, but an endplay check will tell all. I still can't get an accurate check on mine because the damn flywheel doesn't move back when I pry on it with a bar. I hope you have better luck with that one. From what I hear, it should move ever so slightly and you should here a small thud sound indicating the crankshaft has shifted and contacted the front of the thrust bearing.

Some archived threads on here containing TBF cars reported symptoms of low idle, stalling, and severe richness issues which weren't cured with a new MAF or O2 sensor. Draining the oil revealed significant presence of metal like Merlin had mentioned with the dipstick/wire test. If you aren't showing those issues, you may still be good.

 

Thanks for the well wishes guys. I made it to DC & he was released from Hosp last night. Most serious injury is broken ribs. Scarred face will heal. I told him chicks dig scars. Will probably spend the week with him before heading back. No concussions. My theory of him having a hard head have been medically proven.
I wasn't having any of those symptoms & I honestly can't tell if it moves when I lever against it. I'll check the oil & do research while I'm here.