many problems

[Only4U]

a friend of mine (xyarayax) has a 98 bird with many problems:

firstly, the crank shaft pulley looks warped and oil is leaking from underneath it. the oil leak has gotten a lot worse lately. the pulley seems to be howling like a SC is on his car--does not look good.

secondly, i smell burnt antifreeze all over his engine--can't tell what's wrong or where it's coming from. i didn't see any leaks at all when i inspected it, but i poured nearly half a gallon of water into his radiator before he drove home--he said for a while it has smelled like that.

his car won't start on it's own. there is just a series of clicks over and over again when he tries to start it. his battery is fine but for some reason when we hook up jumper cables to his car and mine, it starts right up. the clicking sounds like the starter--yet i don't understand why it starts when it's parasitic off of my car's power.

also, his electronics are completely effed up. his airbag light blinks consistently, his abs inop too; his speedo is always jumping from 0-90 mph, even at idle. his inside lights are always dimmer than they should be, and his tachometer never says what it should--always jumping as well.

i have no idea what's wrong with his car. it seems that EVERYTHING has gone wrong with it. i assume maybe a bad alternator and starter and that's why a. the car won't start on it's own and b. the electronics are screwing up. but it seems to serious a problem for the alternator to be the source. any ideas guys? thx.

[stagen]

When it finally starts what does it idle like or does it stay ideling.

Sounds like a cracked block to me or spun bearing although I don't think you'd get much of a crank on teh spun bearing.

[christopher]

well there is one part that i can advise you to buy to fix all that...... A NEW CAR :D , thats alot to go wrong with it, i hope this isnt a daily driver cause if so theres a lot of work to be done, about the starter thats all it is because my truck did the same thing, it will soon get to a point where jumping it wont do a damn thing, if there is a whinning noise when u turn the key this also means the starter is bad, about the air bag light come on evan were masters at that **** we learned all there is to know about it last summer [img]graemlins/rofl.gif[/img] , about the speedo and such seems like the whole cluster guage is loose or just flat out broke, my gas tank needle does that now, every once in a while it will go to the normal place it should but most of the time its like a crack addict cant stay still and twithching, thats about all i can help ya with if anything, starters are not hard to do you should be able to do it given some time and the right tools :D

[Only4U]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>When it finally starts what does it idle like or does it stay ideling. <hr></blockquote>

the car idles fine.

[xjarayax]

[img]graemlins/thumbsdown.gif[/img]

this sucks.

oh and the power steering is out as well-

and it's not the fluid.

the car only has sixty ****ing two thousand miles on it!! :

[stagen]

What were you doing before this started happening? I don't nmean talking ont he phone tec.. In the car, were you running it hard?

[Only4U]

i don't think he was running it harder than anyone else does. he said for a while the oil had some small leakage but just recently got worse. and the antifreeze just recently started smelling; and the electric stuff started screwing up today, as well as the no-starting and the no power steering.

[viper98885]

How did you go about testing the battery and starter? If you are going by the green dot on the battery, don't. I have seen those idicators be wrong MANY times. You need to take the starter and battery to Autozone and have them test both. On the starter, check to see how many amps the starter is drawing and make sure that it is in range of what is specified for that starter (it will be listed on AZ's computer).

As far as the oil leak, have your friend hold a ruler with the butt end against the timing cover (front of engine) and rotate the engine by hand using the center bolt for the crank pulley. As you rotate it, have your friend watch how the pulley lines up against the tick marks on the ruler. If it fluctuates, it's obviously warped. If not, you may just have a leaky seal.

I don't think that the antifreeze problem is related. Check for leaky hoses or piping.

Once the battery is disconnected and reconnected in the time that it takes you to have it tested at Autozone, you computer will reset. See if reconnecting the computer at that point doesn't fix some of your electrical problems.

Lemme know how it all works out. Good luck!

[xjarayax]

Battery was checked- ran at a constant 12volts at Autozone, np.

Doesn't explain all the electrical problems, ect.

I will try to the ruler routine..

Sigh, thanks- keep suggestions coming if you have them.

[99Camaro99]

for the oil problem and anti-freeze no idea

but for the electrical/starter problem I would try replacing your alternator