that was a close one

[turnofftheradio]

On my way home from work Fri, i noticed a slight tick from my engine. As I just rebuilt it, and had the head redone you can imagine my dissapointment. At a light 15 miles later, the tick was very noticeable. This was a dilemma, as my route to work is not somewhere to stop. I figured it was better to risk the engine rather than myself and drove home.

I listend closely to the valvetrain, but it sounded fine, the noise was coming from the timing cover. I pulled the cover to find my intermediate shaft pulley totally loose, cocked and almost drilled through the cover, 10 min. more it would have exploded through the cover stopped the oil pump and cause the destruction of many nice new valves. The only explanation is that I must have missed torquing that pully bolt, my own fault, which pissed me off further. I replaced the belt, cleaned and tightened everything, and is fine. I got lucky. I've put 4k on since the rebuild.

moral: triple check everything when it goes together.

[Tangent]

Wow, good thing you caught that. Things like that could almost make it worthwhile to safety-wire all nuts and bolts. Forget the valves, that could have caused the destruction of many nice functional rod and main bearings along with plenty else...

[AdironRider]

Todays your lucky day bud.

[turnofftheradio]

for real, It just kills me that it was my mistake. lucky is an understatement. the belt should have self destructed in 4k just from a wobbly pulley, let alone one mashing into the cover... yikes!

[rs4pro3]

The pulley bolt dosn't hold the shaft in place, there is a flat metal plate that bolts to the block with 2 flat head screws.

[turnofftheradio]

The pulley bolt dosn't hold the shaft in place, there is a flat metal plate that bolts to the block with 2 flat head screws.

yeah, that was all solid still, just the pulley itself came loose. I had replaced the seals behind that plate, which was really a pita, why flat head screws? they were really stuck in there, had to use in impact driver. it would have been really terrible if the plate came loose.

[nando]

The pulley bolt dosn't hold the shaft in place, there is a flat metal plate that bolts to the block with 2 flat head screws.

no it doesn't, but it is the only thing driving the oil pump..

I didn't have any trouble with the screws, I believe they are put in with locktite.