Miata Mailing List: October 1996, Message #0059
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   From: "John C. Day" 

Subject: '90 crankshaft worries (kinda long)

   Date: Tue, 1 Oct 1996 19:28:32 -0500



Bought my '90 about 2.5 years ago with 60K miles.  Knowing (and this is

about all I knew about Miatas) it was the first year Miatas were made,

and not knowing anything about its previous owner/life, I also bought a

3yr/36K extended warranty (so far it's almost paid for itself by paying

for an alternator and rear main seal - add in peace of mind and it was

well worth it).  



My local Toyota dealer (very trustworthy folks) has always done all the

work on all our cars, so I've been taking it to them for oil changes and

maintenance. 



At about 70K miles the service rep asked, knowing I'd bought it used, if

I knew if the timing belt had been changed at 60K miles.  Not knowing if

it had, and figuring it hadn't, I decided to go ahead and have it done. 

I don't know if the front crankshaft seal got replaced then or not,

that's on my "things to check" list.



At 90K it went in for the routine maint.



It now has 92K+ miles on it, and for several thousand miles (since well

before the 90K service) it's been making an intermittant noise like

bearings going out (sounds sorta like BBs rolling around in a soup

can).  When I first took it in to get that checked out, they found a

broken bumper support rod (I hit a deer once, but that's another

story...).  Still made noise, took it back in, they found a cracked heat

shield - had them fix that (sounds a *lot* better, but now I hear the

bearings more :-).  Still made noise, and last Saturday when I took it

in, I singled out the mechanic I trust the most and asked him to look at

it.  After 30 seconds with the hood up, he says "sounds like it's coming

from the timing belt".  I mentioned it being changed at 70K and he said

something to the effect that they'd redo it free if mumble mumble mumble

(my interpretation, but so far these guys have been very fair).  I said

great, I'll bring it back next weekend.



So, any theories about what would make this kind of noise near the

timing belt?  I've never had all this stuff open in front of me, so I'm

not sure of all the pieces surrounding it - are there bearings in there?



Sunday I started reading the archives about the timing belt change

leading to the front seal replacment and the removal of the pulley bolt,

etc.  The close proximity of my bearing noise to the front seal and

notorious pulley bolt, combined with the $2000 replacement cost for a

broken crank shaft definitely have my attention!



The good news is that my entended warranty covers all drivetrain parts. 

So, I'd almost prefer it to be a crankshaft problem and have the

crankshaft blow out now and use the money to buy a 1.8L replacement and

never worry about it again.  But I know how these things work, it will

wait until one mile past the warranty coverage and then blow out!  And

I'm not sure what the California smog check rules are when putting a '94

engine (or even a non-'90 1.6L) in a '90 car - anybody know off the top

of their head?



My current plan is to take Lance Schall's great description of the

problem to these guys, and ask them to do the following: 



If front seal was changed at 70K, or front seal is leaking

  Then remove the bolt and check out the bolt, keyway, etc.

Else try to find the "bearing noise'" problem without messin' with the

bolt.



Other suggestions?  Thanks for reading all this...



-- 



John C. Day, Gilroy, CA, USA

'90 A, Blue, Blue, Blue

Team Gadgets-R-Us, especially those with light bulbs in them.

Team Just-a-little-bit-anxious-this-week-thank-you











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