Thrust bearing wear

[Kckazdude]

Fidgeting under the hood yesterday I noticed an odd noise when first putting the car in gear, coming to an idle or just off of idle. Upon inspection I found that I have thrust washer wear allowing the crankshaft to move laterally. The noise comes from the torque convertor bolts. ATM I cant set it out for a rebuild that it needs. For now I am going to slap some thrust bearings and mains into the bottom end this weekend. That should buy me just enough time to get other things together to do a complete rebuild on it. Just wondering if this is a common issue with 7M blocks or did I draw a wild card?

Now would also be good time to throw a t-belt on it since I dont know when it was installed. I just havent found a useable crank pulley to put back on yet. Off to WTB section for me.

 

[IJ.]

Never heard of crank walk with an auto before!
(not saying it can't happen just never heard of it)

Might want to check it hasn't broken the driveplate as that's sort of common.

 

[Kckazdude]

Driveplate? As in flexplate? I hope not.
I know the thrust bearings are worn as I can move the crank in and out with a prybar. Noise coincides with crank coming forward.

 

[IJ.]

Yes flexplate.

Sometimes they crack around the crank flange.

How far does the crank move?
(you need a dial indicator to measure this accurately)

 

[cjsupra90]

(you need a dial indicator to measure this accurately)

Not if it was my old motor, damn crank wound move almost an 1/8" (3mm). LOL, yeah there was some strange ass grinding noise when you stepped on the clutch. Funny thing was that besides when you stepped on the clutch, you would have never known that there was anything wrong

 

[IJ.]

Chris: LMAO yep I guess there are extreme cases but as I said never heard of an Auto doing it before!

 

[cjsupra90]

Make sure that the crank doesn't have any grooving in it. My old motor had good thrust bearings and a nasty groove in the crank. (still cant figure that one out beside the fact that then thrust bearing are coated steel.)

 

[cjsupra90]

Chris: LMAO yep I guess there are extreme cases but as I said never heard of an Auto doing it before!

Yeah, I agree... An Auto doing that is quite strange.

 

[Kckazdude]

I agree that thrust bearings are an odd item to wear out especially on an auto. I dont need a mic to measure the distance it moves. It is very visible. Almost as if the motor never had them installed. Hopefully I can patch at it this weekend and keep it going long enough to get my wifes Camry back together. Once her car is on the road good I can take this one down. For now it is all I have while she has my Celica.

 

[IJ.]

Someone might have installed them backwards (don't laugh I know of a case) and it's trashed the crank

 

[Kckazdude]

^^ Why must you give me nightmares? :aigo:

I have seen horrible things done to motors in my days. You should see what happens to a 22R motor when someone uses 3 tubes of orange silicone on the timing cover/oil pan.

 

[IJ.]

LOL didn't mean to just trying to work the problem

 

[Kckazdude]

Well got engine pulled out today and finally found the source of the noise and motion at crank pulley. It was worse than IJ predicted. First thing I noticed were that the crank has already been turned under to the max and #3, 5, and 6 rod are very worn. Main journals all show signs of water spotting on them but still within spec. Thrust bearings showed minimal wear but not enough to account for the odd noise and motion I witnessed. Finally I pulled the crank pulley off and found the big problem. Woodruff key is almost sheared in half. Woodruff key-way is wallowed out on crank and balancer.

Right now I am wieghing options as to what direction to move. I can get a crank kit for $200. I can also wait it out more and put more money towards a turbo swap and build up. Not really sure what direction I want to move in. Thankfully I have other vehicles to drive but this one was the most fun.

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

wow, good thing you caught it now then later i say! Just get a crank kit for the money, having your car down for months seriously does take its toll on you, mentally speaking... it's doing it to me and i miss driving the car