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Southeast WI 01 GT

SilverBulletWI

SilverBulletWI

New member
Picked up a 2001 GT a few months ago. It has its little body flaws but the black leather interior is pretty flawless. Replaced a blown front drivers side speaker right away and both mufflers. It had a minor engine tick but I put a 1/4 of a can if seafoam in the oil and it went away. I also remounted the rearview mirror and installed a fresh air filter.
Last month I decided to change the oil. After that the problems began! The day after the oil change I took the car for a required emissions test. On the way there I noticed the engine running poorly. My uncle works at the shop where I took it for the emissions test and he said it has a rod knock.
After some mixed reviews of a video on here, I decided to tear the engine down to the lifters to see if any issues existed there. Completed that yesterday (5/23/14). Lifters were slightly worn and sticking. Some tubes in the lifter rods were clogged. New lifters, LIM gasket, modded the LIM to delete the coolant passages to the TB, new UIM gasket, TB gasket, valve cover gaskets, pcv valve, water pump, 180º thermostat, upper and lower radiator hoses and aluminum coolant elbows and flipped the dog bone mounts. Also removed the spark plugs and inspected them.
Got it all back together and to my dismay, no improvement. I'm not totally upset that I put the work into the upper end of the engine. I gave it a shot that it would fix the problem, and if nothing else, I made some good improvements there.
While inspecting the engine after the repairs, I removed the oil cap and did not observe any fresh oil in the valve cover. I also noted that the assembly lube I used on the rockers was still present which I believe it should have been washed away or at least diluted by oil with the amount of time I had the engine running. Open to opinions on that. Clogged oil passage? Bad oil sending unit/oil pump? If the engine isnt getting oil I think it may have spun a bearing that is causing the engine noise/knock.

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Oil residue on top of LIM when I started tear down.


Parts haul...btw, month of may at NAPA, all the stuff you can fit in NAPA's 5gal bucket, you get 20% off...


Modified LIM


Aluminum coolant elbows

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Well, in an effort to find out why the engine doesn't seem to be getting oil flow, I started pulling the oil pan today. Man the motor mount bracket is a pita!

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I have only taken the pan off with the engine out of the car. I bet its tough when its in the car!

good job on the coolant elbows etc. I just got done doing mine this week. I also did the water pump. that was a PITA to.
 
Got the timing chain cover off last night and here is what I found...

Inner lip of oil pump gear housing is all grooved out.


Edge of oil pump gear grooved to match.


New oil pump gear on left, old on right.

Other opinion question I have is, since I have the cover off, should I just go ahead and replace the timing chain set? Engine has 130ish thousand on it.

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Apparently you can't buy a new cover at the parts stores. Dealer wants nearly $400. Found a junkyard that will pull one for me for $40. Should be ready Monday.

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Opinions on the timing chain? Chain and gears? Just the chain? Dampener too? What kind of mileage should I get out of that typically? And if I replace it, any brand anyone recommends? Thanks for any feedback on it!

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that looks like the bearing is still on the crank. like it spun in the rod end. pop the rod off and pull the bearings off so you can see the crank.
 


So I am too anxious and I went and did what you said. Pushed the rod up, pulled the bearing off. 2 pieces, pic below. Bearing is fu@#ed. Crank looks decent, rod end and cap look OK. I'll go back out and try to get a pic of them.




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Here is the pic of the aluminum threads I found in my oil pan last week. Obviously they are pieces of the bearing pictured above.


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you may be able to save it. the crank dont look all that bad. you guys maybe able to polish it back to smooth. then use a over sized bearing and hope it fits right. iirc they sell just slightly over sized, then 10 over, 20 over, 30 over bearings. you'll have to look into the bearings tho.
 


Ok, so yank the engine, pull all bearings and the crank? Polish crank, oversize/find right size bearing and re-assemble? The other rods/caps felt good. It feels like it's only this one that's the issue.

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You'll have to have the motor taken to a machine shop if you want it to last more than 100 miles, if you just clean it up and toss new bearings in it.

Sadly these blocks arent like a old 350 or a ls truck block where you can just take it apart and slap it back together.
 
Thats what I'm trying to figure out. My friend thats been helping me on this project works at a machine shop so trying to figure exactly the best way to fix this thing so it lasts me and I actually get my money's worth out of this car. I only owned it for a month before the engine went down.

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