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I am looking at this car, and it has an engine rattling sound that I am wondering about fixing. In researching here and with google, it seems to be possible that it is the belt tensioner shock? with a worn out bushing. Is the car still drivable, at least for 20 miles, before getting it home and tackling the problem?
Is there anyone who could give me advice on that or any other areas to look at?
The engine starts and seems to run fine, though I didn't drive it. It makes a rattling loud sound from the front area of the motor. Otherwise, seems very clean for a 93 with 102,000 miles, very nice interior.
It sounded like it was from the front of the motor, and it seemed to rise and fall with throttle speed. At first I thought it was a broken lifter but then thought there would be no way the motor would keep running if something that serious was going on inside.
I bought the car, but I mis-diagnosed the problem. The tensioner shock is fine. But the racket from the front of the motor is maybe more like the water pump grinding/rattling away. But the coolant is not leaking. I drove it home, the engine temp was pegged almost to the top of the gauge.
I am worried I have to replace the water pump. Is there anyone who can comment on this? What is the best way to troubleshoot and confirm? Is there anything else I need to replace while there? Should I just cut my losses and scrap the car? It has 102,000 miles, interior looks great, and seller had replaced entire AC last year.
Last edited by BeachFreak; 05-12-2016 at 05:39 PM.
I checked the codes, but did not clear first. It gave me 4, 5, 7 and 8. I removed the fan shroud, and am trying to get the belt off so I can either turn the pump by hand and see if it makes noise, or start the motor and see if the sound is still coming from somewhere else.
Also found rotted wiring next to/near the oil filter coming out of firewall and going down... most of the wires on the engine appear to have been wrapped with electrical tape at some earlier point in time.
So I got the belt off, started the motor, sounded smooth as silk! Then I went to move the coolant pump by hand to see if it rattled, and it was moving all over the place like the innards were made out of rubber! So it's definitely a bad coolant pump.
I found a writeup on peachy forum on how to replace it, but I can't tell what parts I need to order. Right now I am wondering,
1- Coolant pump. The local O'reilley auto parts shows they carry a Masterpro water pump for $123.99, or an Import Direct water pump for$152.99. Any recommendation?
2-Are there any additional o-rings, etc, I need to buy?
3-Do I need a specific coolant? (I live in Hawaii, no cold temps here!)
4-Do I need a special tool to remove the fan clutch?
5-Do I need a modified allen wrench to get behind the fan when removing?
6-Should I remove the radiator first?
7- Or, can i do this without removing the fan?
Drained the coolant, got the 3 main hoses off, removed the power steering pulley, but after removing what I thought were the two bolts holding the power steering pump on, I can't get it to move.
I realized I had tightened the tensioner to remove the 3 bolts holding the power steering pulley on, so I started loosening the tensioner again. Unfortunately, it seems to just be going farther into the "hole" of the bracket it rests on. If you look at the pics, I think you can see where I removed the 2 bolts, do I need to loosen that bolt right in the middle? What size tool do I need for that?
05-08-2016, 02:46 AM
