flywheel bearings

[.Holdon.]

just had my car serviced and there are a couple of things i am unsure of. one thing the guy said was something about my flywheel bearings - is there a sign/noise etc that would tell me if something was wrong? because when i accelerate hard there is a clicking/rubbing sound coming from the front of the car. only when i accelerate though, not when its revving in park or neutral.

also what are linkpins? on the service report the guy wrote linkpin gushes/bushes - bad handwriting. any idea what this would mean?

last thing there is a distributer o ring leak - where is the o ring? and is it hard to replace? trying to get as much DIY in as i can; its good fun. also there is a ticking sound coming from the dizzy - could it be related?

cheers guys

[VrWagz1]

Flywheel is a solid metal disc attached to the crank....Bearings WTF. Sway bay link pin bushes are a peice of cake. But i cant imagine they would need doing on a vt yet, are they clunking? If not dont worry bout them. BTW they are the rod that goes from the sway bay to the wheel arm on each side of the car. Cost $55 for my VR, that was new pins nuts and bushes and an hours work.
The dizzy o ring, well i dont know about the vt engine bay but VN-S they are tucked behind the inlet manifold at the start of the trans tunnel, and its a major job to just get to it. Unless its leaking really bad and ruining your driveway i wouldnt worry about that either, your engine dosnt need to be 100% oil leak free 100% of the time otherwise you would be under the car every arvo fixing them up

[azzfox]

Flywheel is a solid metal disc attached to the crank....Bearings WTF.

He must mean the spigot bearing. Later cars used a needle roller bearing instead of the traditional bush.

Im assuming its manual, or your mechanics a twat. If there is a noise it could be either the spigot or throwout bearing.

[vtmanualv6]

i was also thinking spiggot bearing, but his car is auto as i read reving in park or neutral, not to sure how the auto system works only know manual the input shaft of the gearbox sits in this bush (spiggot) which sits in the flywheel. Im pretty sure you would know if this is gone or not as it will make a terrible loud noise.

[.Holdon.]

so do the linkpin thingo's have much to to with the steering colomn or wheel allignment? last time i got a wheel allignment was only 6000k's after the last one. but the 6000k's was a road trip and most of the k's were going in a straight line. and the guys at bob jane said my allignment was about by a fair bit which was a surprise because i'd been driving on the highway most of the time. a mate just drove my car today and said i might need a wheel allignment because the car was pulling to the left (where the noise is coming from) and its only been 2000k's since the last wheel allignment. i haven't noticed because i drive the car ever couple of days or so.

power steering pump is starting to get a little noisy aswell.

any ideas?

[Calaber]

i was also thinking spiggot bearing, but his car is auto as i read reving in park or neutral, not to sure how the auto system works only know manual the input shaft of the gearbox sits in this bush (spiggot) which sits in the flywheel. Im pretty sure you would know if this is gone or not as it will make a terrible loud noise.

Unless they have changed the engine designs for some unknown reason, there is no spigot bush for the autos. The front of the torque converter has a large protruding hub that sits into the recess in the crankshaft normally occupied by the bush in a manual and the torque converter is bolted to the drive plate, not a flywheel. In other words, there is absolutely no "flywheel bearing" of any sort. This is either a misinterpretation of what the mechanic has said by yourself, or the mechanic is a nit-wit (or taking you for one!)

Linkpins have already been covered. The connect the front sway bar to the suspension strut. In a straight line, they would have no effect on handling - that would be related to the car's sheel alignment, but when the suspension is being forced up and down, the linkpins are transmitting that movement to the sway bar, so they are under tremendous load. There are insualting rubbers and washers on the upper connnection where the linkpin bolts to the strut. The washers are very thin and they wear out pretty easily, and the rubber bushes get worn as well. They are cheap and easy to repair yourself.

O-ring in the dizzy? I can't recall the 5 litre dizzy having an O-ring but if it did, it would be about half way up the distributor drive shaft inside the housing. I doubt that it would be causing any problems, as the distributor is dead vertical and it's hard to imagine how engine oil would work it's way up into the guts of the dizzy and cause probs. I'd be suspicious of that diagnosis, too.

It's hard to diagnose the clicking sound as you accelerate - it could be any number of things.

Get a wheel alignment at the earliest opportunity.

Check your power steering oil level. If it's down at all, top it up and have a look for oil leaks - they are a pretty common problem with Commodores. Check the pump, the hoses and the steering rack. You are bound to see oil somewhere. Do you have any pools of red oil appearing on the ground under the car after it has benn parked overnight?

[DannyboyDS]

id go to another mechanic, and get a second opinion by someone who can physically see the car.

[red truck]

VT factory link pins and bushes are garbage. I got a set of after market from Pedders, they have a kit to replace the lot, much more solid design.
I once had a VN 5L with manual box, had problems with box. Turned out the engine had come out of an auto trans car (previous owner). They had left the auto spigot bush (yes they do have a bush) which is much bigger internal I.D. This caused the input shaft to flog around, and a terrible vibration because the clutch plate was off centre.