VX Commodore Crank no start

[devilly]

okay what i noticed was power steering level is really low.look on the back of it there are marks with lines like this ,
hot high________
hot low__________

cold high_____________
cold low _____________

yours would be under cold low so you would have air in the system,could even have a blocked filter in the filler bottle.

also noticed fuel level low,personal i keep mine around half a tank,so i don't have any pressure problems e.t.c.

areas that popped out at me was power steering pump pulley,tensioner and alternator for the noise.

also noticed that spark plug leads looked like they needed pushing on a bit more.

with engine going you should see the fluid moving around like a clothes dryer.

 

[brendanssound]

yeah i think maybe ill grab a bottle of power steering fluid tomorrow just to top it off.. I haven't had a good look
at the reservoir but i knew it was half way down the bottle. I'll actually check the levels tomorrow and top off
appropriately. Sort of just figured that would still be enough there for me to have power steering at all.

Never knew there even was a filter in the bottle.. Now i do. Thanks!

The fuel level was getting low-ish the day it died on me. In fact i was going to drop into the servo on the way
home that day. Normally i stick a good $70 in it and the car has spent most of its life up and down the M1 (previous
owner was my partners aunt & uncle who lived in sunshine coast and worked in Brisbane). My partner also works
in Brisbane but lives with me in Crestmead.

Bear in mind though there was more fuel in it than there is now.. I lost quite a bit both times i dropped the
tank on my head, changing the pump over etc. Doing all the work on my own is not helping that.

I'm glad you mentioned the spark plugs because the more i ponder on this the more i think about when i did
the spark plug out test.. Did i put the leads back on properly? I just can't remember hearing the 'click' of the boot
but they 'felt' on.

I think ill put that on the list.. maybe pull them all out and give them a good clean while I'm at it.

How strong are the power steering pumps on these cars usually? I know my old EL falcon had issues with the pump
all the time. Leaked at the back of the pump.. Then the rack.. I stripped it down and rebuilt it with new o-rings
etc.. Topped it up, put it back on.. most not have got fluid where it needed fast enough because it immediately
died on me.

Just thinking out loud because i wonder if the noise is power steering pump is already dead.. Bit weird though..
Last time the car was all working i was just cruising home and now the fuel and power steering pump may be
kicked the bucket..

 

[Jxfwsf]

Hard to pinpoint anything with the video, not holding it still long enough while going over the pulleys etc etc and it's kinda wavy in the picture (best description i can think of)

I'd remove the serp belt, start it and let it idle. It'll be fine for 1-2 minutes with a cold/warm engine (30 seconds or less if the engine has been driven and is hot), this will rule out any of the auxiliaries and pulleys.

If it's still making that noise then it could be the harmonic balancer or something internal.

If the noise stops then go over all the rotating points that are disconnected, give them a spin, try and wobble the pulleys etc etc until you find a noisey/lose feeling one.

 

[brendanssound]

Hard to pinpoint anything with the video, not holding it still long enough while going over the pulleys etc etc and it's kinda wavy in the picture (best description i can think of)

I'd remove the serp belt and start it, it'll be fine for 1-2 minutes with a cold engine, this will rule out any of the auxiliaries

If it's still making that noise then it could be the harmonic balancer or something internal.

Yeah i don't typically make videos if that was not obvious enough haha. Not sure what YouTube did.. Video was shakey so it tried to fix it... Made it look like you're
watching from a fish bowl . I wasn't actually showing the pulleys.. i was just trying to get the camera phone in there encase it helped with pin pointing the
noise. Had not dawned on me to show the pulleys.

Excellent idea though about taking the belt off.. Never even thought of that.

 

[devilly]

power steering pump has a 2 nut type looking system on the metal hose at the back of it,

16mm nut for releasing it from the metal pipe and 26mm or 27mm for taking off the piece with o'ring on it.

you loose the fluid from the bottle and pipes,so you will need fluid to replace to the cold min line,jack it up so both wheels off the ground.

first thing is with CAP ON rev unto 2 on tacho and hold for 10secs.refill if needed.

turn car off.... CAP OFF, gently turn it left to right x3 check fluid level after each x1.if it feels hard at any stage then stop what your doing and start it.

with it started x1 slowly turning left to right but don't full lock it.and if it feels good then x2 quickly.

you will know all air is out of it when the fluid spins like a clothes dryer.

kind of sounds like when you put it in full lock and hear that horrible noise.just unsure if im picking up power steering pump, alternator or tensioner.

harmonic balancer rubber looks good and no weird movement that i could see.weird movement was on power steering and tensioner.

 

[brendanssound]

Oh i probably should have mentioned.. whoops.. I did do the lock to lock bleeding with car jacked up already. Fords are
fairly notorious for power steering issues so I'm well versed by now in them haha.

and yes, i did top it up today and already i can feel the power steering coming good. That was a noob mistake on my part. Definitely
needs another bleed however today i also took out all the spark plugs.. cleaned them up good. Made sure the plugs were on nice and snug.
Took the belt off and started it up.. This is the noise i heard/what i saw..

[video]https://youtu.be/ffpzwgWVsWw[/video] (Sorry about shakiness and don't mind the work men trucks in the background)

I'm now fairly convinced the balancer is just stuffed. As a last ditch effort i pulled out the compressor and got it off and made sure
everything was nice and lined up. Reinstalled and the noise persist.

Best quote so far on a new balancer was $160.. Basically the finance minister has cut my funding for this car now.. and probably
rightfully so when you consider the costs so far: Balancer pulley kit, Crank angle sensor, Fuel pump, new jack (old one shat itself),
and power steering fluid.

As i stated from the beginning.. This car was sticking around only until my fairlane was back in action and the value of a new balancer
exceeds value of parts needed for that to happen. Which is quite sad really.. Was a damn nice car and as a Ford guy that's not easy to say.

Mostly just annoyed i did so much work and did the victory dance when it started.. But all for nothing. And i may have
never needed to do crank angle sensor and mess with the balancer ..But I'm trying not to think about that too much -_-

The other pulley you hear in the first video is probably the aircon idler pulley.. Not the big one the little one near the idler pulley. I
knew that was beginning to hum a little and was intending on replacing it. I don't believe it contributed to my issues though. Even
now it still spins freely.. its more just annoying.

Feel free to pitch any ideas if you guys have any.. I really do appreciate all the help. A few times you've come up with idea's i would
have otherwise missed.. maybe ill get lucky.

 

[Jxfwsf]

If it's just to get it going for a bit longer (and possibly make it quiet to sell later) a good secondhand one seems to be around the $50 range.
There are some new ones on ebay for $120 with free delivery.

How did you remove it to do the crank sensor, using 3 bolts and the correct puller? (hope it wasn't a 3 jaw puller on the outer ring as they will wreck a hb)

 

[devilly]

at least you found the problem easy job to do,i put a socket with long breaker bar under drivers side k-frame then turned on and off quickly with the key, which loosed the bolt at the front of it if your not replacing the front o'ring easy as job to do.

just line up the pin properly when putting on new one don't force it.

and if you have the three jaw pulley all you need to pay out for is the balancer.

worth more when keeping/selling if the motor sounds nice.

 

[brendanssound]

lol Devilly, I take it you skip over my overly detailed posts and missed the parts where i said id taken the balancer off again
today and reinstalled with my compressor and pulley kit. Or the first post where id said i have been doing this a few times for
the past few months as i was convinced that was the issue.

Also.. i have replaced the front main seal already.

Not that i blame you.. I can't ever seem to keep posts short haha.

I saw those second hand ones down at Beenleigh wreckers too.. Might be an option. My concern there is the
rubber might be degraded already from sitting around in a box. Also ill have to make a convincing case of why
we should keep putting money into it.

The pulley i have is the 3 bolt one. This one:

Can't say id recommend it personally.. It had 2/3 bolts of the correct size. Found some lying around instead.
But that's what i was given by my parts guy.

Id love to keep it running.. It's too good to throw away. We're the 2nd owners.. Had seat covers on all its life.
Only done highway Ks, Nice mags, great paint condition, tinted all the way around, i bath all my cars by hand and with care.
Polish too. It's also the only one around here iv seen with a fuel flap still intact.

Engine bay looks crap at the moment because i didn't have my gloves around, and i was convinced id never hear
it start again.

But when i want to sell no one will buy a car with a rattling noise like that. Or at least i wouldn't.

 

[Jxfwsf]

Things to look for with a bad balancer:
Torque fractures/stress marks in the rubber or marks in the back where the counter weight has been hitting the outer ring
Separation of the vulcanised rubber anywhere on the metal, random chunks/splits in the rubber.

Hrm guessing that kit wasn't the cheapest out there, atleast you shouldn't have any problems removing steering wheels or other pulleys on anything else you ever own.