This evening, driving at 60ish mph, I lose power in the accelerator. Car slowly and steadily decelerates until it dies altogether. No hiccups, no sputter, just dead. Engine turns over, but won't start at all. Nothing. Tow it home.

New battery, new spark plug wires, new fuel pump, new fuel filter, new fuel pump relay, new fuel pump fuses, newish mass airflow sensor.

Only other problem I've had recently is I have to pump the gas when I start the car in order to keep it from immediately dying.

Thoughts?

 

Good spark from ignition coil wire.

 

well, on a no start, the first thing to do is determine if its spark or fuel. crank it a few times, then pull a sparkplug or two. if the plug(s) are wet, you aren't getting spark. if they are dry, you aren't getting fuel (and the spark is unknown, there's stuff that does both).

If you have a timing light, clip it on a spark plug lead, and crank it over and see if the light flashes, if it does, you probably have spark.

if no spark AND no fuel, start looking at things common to both, like the hall sensor in the distributor and its wiring.

 

Turned out to be broken timing belt. Opening it up tomorrow for repairs.

 

aahhhhh, that will stop ya in the tracks, too! oops. at least these are non-interference engines, except the B234F DOHC/16V version.

 

I disemboweled the 240, replaced the timing belt, got it all running.

My only concern is the crankshaft pulley bolt. I've tightened it as much as I can with sharp jerks of the breaker bar, trying to put as much brief, concentrated pressure on it as possible. Did about 8 or so complete turns of the pulley in this way, so it's on there pretty good.

But I understand that a loose crankshaft bolt can screw things up pretty bad, so my question is:

How much tighter does the bolt need to be and is there a way for me to do it without an impact wrench or jamming stuff into the flywheel? Or, God forbid, is it ok as is?

 

my bentley book says 44 ft-lbs plus an additional 1/6th turn.

what you did sounds excessive, like in the 100 ft-lb+ range... but I guess that depends on the length of your breaker bar. I would have used a torque wrench.

 

The breaker bar was about 18 inches, and I hadn't found a way to lock the pulley down, so it was still turning with the bar...that said, you really think I managed to put that much torque on the bolt?

 

well, torque is pounds times feet. so how much force do you think you put on that 18" lever? multiply by ~ 1.5 to get ft-lbs.

 

Tough to say. A moderate amount of force, but I don't have any point of reference for how much that would be. Plus the pulley is absorbing some of it into its turn.

 

I looked, but sadly, the bentley book I have doesn't seem to give any clues on how you're supposed to immobilize the pulley or crank.

 

So, yeah, more than enough to turn the crankshaft, at any rate.

 

Oops, cross posted.

Thanks for checking. Appreciate that.

 

I doubt that you have the bolt torqued down properly if you weren't able to immobilize the crankshaft. IPD sells a tool for immoblizing the crankshaft for torquing the crank pulley bolt but I have never used it. Search the forum here for the "rope trick". I haven't used this method either but it basically involves snaking rope into one of the cylinders. This keeps the piston from reaching TDC and immobilizes the crank. Just make sure that the cylinder is in the firing position (both valves closed).

Good luck.

 

Chain wrench braced against water pump, torque wrench with a cheater bar. Voila.

 

Tool is main option , remove front belt cover. Easiest job.
Tighten to finger tight plus quarter turn ONLY. No heavier turning.
Make certain the harmonic balancer is properly flat against the engine.