Stocker

Off the top of my head 10mm is close to the smallest six-sided thing on the car, except the bolts that hold the alternator together are 8mm Worst case is you buy more tools, which if you'd excuse me for noticing is a still a win. It may be worth your time to stop at a pawn shop and see if you can get a set of decent sockets at a discount vs. cheap Chinese steel.

Pierrel

Okey good, don't plan on taking the alternator apart but if i find myself having to do that ill just get myself a 8mm socket.



Thanks for the tip, ill have a look at whats available in the area and see if i can find something

Im having trouble finding a torque wrench that goes below 10 Ft./lbs, even the very expensive ones doesn't do that. Unless i get a non-click one / a beam type torque wrench. Some bolts require around 5Ft/lbs torque. I could just get a clicking one and learn how much force about half of 10 ft/lbs is and tighten them by feeling.



Thanks guys, hope someone else will eventually benefit from this thread! (Although i hope people won't have these kinds of problems and don't have to go search for the info)



Maybe this is a bit off topic, but could this ticking/bad HLA's or bad oil pump cause low MPG? Im getting around 20-22 mpg with careful driving below 3000 rpm due to the ticking. Ive looked around seeing that many get gas mileage in the high 20s, and with most highway even 30's. As i said, I'm not driving with a heavy foot, and i was hoping for a bit more MPG with getting this car



Is this the place you talked about to put the oil pressure tester?

Stocker

I got 19-20MPG in straight city driving, 34 max on the highway with the automatic transaxle.



Unless someone chimes in and corrects me I'm going to say "yep that's the place"

Pierrel

Okey great, thanks Stocker!



This last tank of fuel we've been driving about 60% highway and 40% cautious city driving . When we drive we try to time so to arrive at the red-light in time for it to switch to green again. Ive also added some Marvel Mystery Oil to the fuel according to the label on the bottle, and thats when we got about 22 mpg's. I just think this is low since our short-lived previous car did about 18mpg being a V8 :S Well o well, when I've done fixing the HLA's ill probably throw some new spark plugs and wires on it and see if that makes a difference I know there are some other threads about this, so i won't discuss it more thoroughly.

Pierrel

Okey I've finally got the job half way through. Ive removed the cams and everything but the HLA's are rock solid. Will try to bleed them a bit just to see what happens.



Do the holes of the HLA's need to face the hole in the head? It doesn't look like it needs to but i wanna ask.

Also, all the cam shaft bearings wasn't properly tightened when i removed them, might this be the cause?



Thanks



Edit: Didn't get to put the car together before the darkness snuck on me... Will get the timing belt on tomorrow and properly tighten the bearing bolts and hope for the best.

The mark i made on the timing belt kinda vanished, and i think the belt slipped one or two steps on the crankshaft gear, am i in trouble? Everything is set to 0, both cams and crankshaft, but does the belt has to be put on in an exact way? Have watched some youtube and had a look at Webtech, but nothing says if it needs to be installed with a certain tooth at a certain place.



Ill continue early tomorrow morning, want a drivable car before thanksgiving dinner

Stocker

Check the DIY forum here for the timing setting DIY I made. With pictures. Very easy, no belt marks involved.



It would astonish me if the HLAs do not rotate in their holes, but I'd probably line up the oiling holes anyway, out of superstition.



It sucks if your cam bearing caps were not tightened all the way. If there was a bolt or ten all the way finger-loose, it may mean the previous owner already walked this road and didn't like the cost associated with a mechanic replacing an oil pump. Good luck, anyway. Did you ever check the oil pressure?

Pierrel

Okey thanks, I've found that one and will have a look at it before i go out tomorrow morning.



The HLA's have some sort of U-shaped seal that i suppose makes the oil travel around it and then enter the tiny hole. I did align them just to be sure...

Maybe thats the case, there has been some bolts/screws missing from the timing belt cover and to some other covers, so someone must have had a look at the engine before me.

No i have't actually, everything pointed to bad HLA*s so i started in that end. If the noise doesn't go away after properly tightening the bolts to required torque, then ill get the oil pressure checked.



Something else came up yesterday, the engine had a really hard time getting up to temperature late at night. It actually decreased from normal to bottom low when i was doing 50 mph a couple of miles. Is this only related to a bad thermostat? I noticed today that the expansion thingy for the coolant was dead empty, but if there were a lack of fluid the engine would run hot :S Never had any issues with over normal temperature, even when its 90 degrees outside.



This car is spooky...

Stocker

As long as you are fooling around in the engine bay the thermostat is easy enough to pull. Toss it in a pot of water to see what happens. If it cooled from normal to cold, that says it's probably getting stuck open. Maybe a chunk of RTV gasket material in there, maybe a broken T-stat. They are cheap, not a huge deal.

Pierrel

Got it all put back together just now, and guess what? It's still knocking

I guess ill have to get the oil pressure looked at after all...

Pierrel

Had the oil pressure checked a couple of days ago. The pressure was good and now I'm running out of things that could cause the ticking. :S

Ive checked the HLA's which was rock hard, oil pressure is okay and there is sufficient oil in the engine.



Any other ideas?