notsofine89
Registered User
Not long ago my trust 89 SC started bucking and heaving like crazy.....Then it flat out died and had to be towed. The culprit? A broken bolt that holds the main belt-pulley on the front of the crankshaft. I guess there's some crankshaft senseor in there that goes ape when this happens...
At any rate, car goes into the Ford Dealer....dealer replaces all kids of crap along with broken bolt. Car runs fine for about 350 miles, then dies again in the same fashion...same broken bolt. Dealer calls factory...crankshaft endplay OK. Bolt is torqued to spec. The car goes home again. After another 300 miles or so, guess what happens? You guessed it....car starts bucking....two miles later I'm calling a tow truck. I pop the hood...at the center of the pulley that mounts on the crank, there is a hole where there once was a bolt head...
Ford dealer is perplexed.... My "service advisor" tells me that I may need a new crankshaft....which for all practical purposes means a new engine. This car is old, but has less than 100K on it. I'm by no means an ace mechanic, but I've got a good nose for Bullcrap, and I'm starting to smell some coming from my Ford Dealer.
Anyone run across this? Any advice? I live in San Francisco, where dealing with a car that doesn't run is a major leauge headache. A new motor for this cars spells death....a quick drive out to the valley, where I'll have to sell it to someone who owns a garage, and is a bit better with a wrench.
My feeling...the first time the bolt broke, the car ran without it for awhile. The fit between the pulley and crank degraded. Either the pulley worked a taper on the crank (motor is hosed) or the crank worked a "bell mouthed" condition in the bore of the pulley.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!
At any rate, car goes into the Ford Dealer....dealer replaces all kids of crap along with broken bolt. Car runs fine for about 350 miles, then dies again in the same fashion...same broken bolt. Dealer calls factory...crankshaft endplay OK. Bolt is torqued to spec. The car goes home again. After another 300 miles or so, guess what happens? You guessed it....car starts bucking....two miles later I'm calling a tow truck. I pop the hood...at the center of the pulley that mounts on the crank, there is a hole where there once was a bolt head...
Ford dealer is perplexed.... My "service advisor" tells me that I may need a new crankshaft....which for all practical purposes means a new engine. This car is old, but has less than 100K on it. I'm by no means an ace mechanic, but I've got a good nose for Bullcrap, and I'm starting to smell some coming from my Ford Dealer.
Anyone run across this? Any advice? I live in San Francisco, where dealing with a car that doesn't run is a major leauge headache. A new motor for this cars spells death....a quick drive out to the valley, where I'll have to sell it to someone who owns a garage, and is a bit better with a wrench.
My feeling...the first time the bolt broke, the car ran without it for awhile. The fit between the pulley and crank degraded. Either the pulley worked a taper on the crank (motor is hosed) or the crank worked a "bell mouthed" condition in the bore of the pulley.
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!