Jhunt37

Yesterday my GF was driving my 06 6speed z that has 60k miles and it died on her. My car had been making a chattering noise at around 2500-3500 rpms. It made the noise whether it was in gear or if the clutch was engaged or not.. this noise only started about 5k miles ago and has gotten progressively worst

My mechanic buddy thought the sound was the flywheel.. it does sound like chattering from flywheels ive listened to on youtube however my flywheel is oem.

anyways.. my car wont start. starter tries but its seized. My mechanic friend said he has heard of flywheels binding or holding up the crankshaft.. Anyone heard of this??? or do you think it could be something terrible like a broken timing chain? Any ideas would be much appreciated..

Thanks!

Itzcashew

iTrader: (13)

If its a timing chain it wont turn at all. You said starter tries that means its something else.

Jhunt37

the starter tries to turn a motor that wont turn.. in other words, its not the starter or electrical etc. that is the problem.

CTZ860

iTrader: (2)

So your motor doesn't turn over at all......??

albinobob

iTrader: (1)

If the whole thing is seized I'd drop the tranny and take a look at the clutch/flywheel assembly. I doubt it’s the chain I’ve seen them run with busted tensioners. But if the crank turns you can take off the valve covers and manually turn the crank to see if the valves move.

Jhunt37

No, the engine does not turn at all. Thats promising to hear that you think it could be the flywheel/clutch, albinobob and that the timing chain is as rustic as you say it is.

Have you heard you heard of a flywheel somehow preventing the engine from turning?

Thanks again guys.. I had already two retard towtruck companies show up, full well knowing I HAVE A REALLY LOW CAR and both said they couldn't move it. fml =(

RandyK1

iTrader: (9)

Maybe a stuipd idea but you could have someone push your car then pop the clutch just to move the flywheel, then try starting it again. Maybe its just stuck on a bad spot.

KornerCarver

iTrader: (2)

The obvious question is why have you been driving for 5,000 miles with the engine making a funny noise? It seems like you should have tried to diagnose the problem and had it fixed before it turned into something (potentially) serious.

I just noticed your Z is an '06. Is it possible you have run it out of oil?

Jhunt37

I did have the sound diagnosed.. my mechanic got the car up on the lift and used a stethoscope to find the noise coming from where the Flywheel is. He's a good mechanic so I went with what he said and was just going to drive it till I had to fix it and replace it flywheel/clutch with aftermarket parts.

And yes my car does burn oil but I stay on top of that always. It has plenty of oil in it. hopefully this third towtruck company WILL LISTEN TO ME WHEN I SAY MY CAR IS SUPER LOW!!!! and bring the right equipment to get it on the flat bed >,<

I should know for sure what the problem is later on today.. here's hoping its the flywheel or ..

winchman

The only thing on the flywheel that could keep the engine from turning over when you try to start it is a damaged ring gear, but that wouldn't make any noise at all while the engine is running, and it wouldn't cause the engine to "die".

If the timing chain broke while the engine was running, the engine is probably junk from the pistons hitting the valves. That would definitely keep the engine from turning over when you try to start it. Let's hope that didn't happen.

What kind of noises did the car make when it "died"?

Are you sure the battery is in good shape?

Jhunt37

From what I understand (I wasn't in the car when it died) their was no noises made by the car.. she was making a U turn and just started accelerating.. very low rpm and it died.

Unfortunately my mechanic can not turn the engine.. at all. he said its not even budging a little bit. does not look good. he said he was able to move the alternator to see the flywheel and he said that all looked ok.

I'm pretty certain its not a good situation for that engine. It will most likely have to be replaced? should I put a HR motor in their? any other things I can do while the engine is out of the bay? time to do some research.. shame =/ Any ideas on price?

winchman

"he said he was able to move the alternator to see the flywheel and he said that all looked ok."

Huh?? The flywheel is on the other end of the engine inside the bell housing. You can't see the flywheel at all until you take the starter or transmission off.

Maybe he's talking about the pulley on the front of the crankshaft. There's almost nothing you could tell from looking at it, though.

Regardless, it doesn't sound good.

I'd start by trying to turn the engine with a wrench on the nut that holds the pulley on the front of the crankshaft with the transmission in neutral. You could also take the starter off, and try to turn the flywheel with a pry bar there.

albinobob

iTrader: (1)

***edited***

He's probably talking about the starter.

I was hoping your flywheel came loose and got jammed up. But that seems less likely if it looks lined up.

If you have another mode of transportation you can get an oil sample and send it off to http://www.blackstone-labs.com/ and they can tell you if you spun a bearing or some other catastrophic internal damage for around $25

albinobob

iTrader: (1)

If the engine is toast you should definitely get another rev-up unless you want to buy a new wiring harness and ECU.

Speaking of which did your mechanic check to see if you were throwing any codes?

You can take off the chain tensioner cover and/or the water pump cover on the front of the motor to check the timing chain.

winchman

Alternator...starter... Yeah, that makes sense.

The '07 (HR engine) service manual section says otherwise:

"CAUTION: After removing timing chain (primary), do not turn crankshaft and camshaft separately, or valves will strike the piston heads."

Not sure about the DE rev-up engine, but I'd bet it's the same.

The 2006 has the DE rev-up engine, not the HR.

albinobob

iTrader: (1)

Good call my 04 VQ35DE Service manual says the same. I've been told by a few people that the VQ was a non-interference motor but I guess they were wrong. Makes a bit of since with the timing chain instead of a timing belt. Could be bad news for Jhunt37 though.

Jhunt37

Yea.. My noobness meant the starter, not the alternator. Saturday my mechanic said he was able to get the motor to turn half a revolution (not sure why he was able to this time and not before ???).. which is by his words very good news. Last I heard he was making his way to the Timing Chain to see how that looked. I should know tomorrow. Here's hoping Its nothing catastrophic.

I'll be sure to tell my mechanic not to try to turn the motor if he takes the chain off. Hopefully he hasn't already done that.. Thanks for the help guys. Ill keep you up to date.