So while trying to start my car the other day I herd this squeaking noise as the engine turned over. It also seem that whatever was making the noise was slowing the engine from turning over fast enough to start.

Pulled the belts and tried again to make sure it wasn't a belt or sticking airpump.

Still made the noise.

I had a "rotary only" Mechanic look at it and he said it sounds like the front bearing.


My question is can this be replaced with the engine still in the car or must I pull the engine and open it up?

 

Pull the motor, sounds like you could have oil pump issues...or something else

 

I run premix cause its a s4>s5 swap.

 

If it is a bearing, you'll have to pull and open

 

Ok. Thanks.

 

You still need oil pressure from the pump for the bearing..

 

The omp is there but not plugged in. The car has a Haltech sprint re in it.

 

Definitely cease trying to start the car.... spinning a bearing can lunch the entire engine, it's bad news.

 

omp and pre-mix have nothing to do with the stationary gear bearing

 

omp just lubes the housings, you still have an oil pump located under the front cover. Do you have oil pressure wired to the haltech so you can see if thats what caused your bad bearing?

 

Your "Rotary only" mechanic would tell you to take it out because you cant take these engines apart in the car. I got away with taking the front cover off. Thats about it. But then you gotta worry about thrust bearings. thats another story.

You have to take the engine out to crack the engine open. No other way.

Thats if you are sure the engine is bad. you have oil in the car? run it low? You could have spun a bearing. If it makes loud banging sounds then it would be a red flag. If you did spin a bearing you can never use that rotor ever agian. just make a note of that.

 

This thread makes my head hurt.

 

LOL....

To the OP, drop the oil, if it's full of copper shavings you spun a bearing

 

I'm sure in the 5+ months since this thread was active, he's done that.

I'm also sure we'll never know because he's the type of poster to ask for help but never reply and tell us what he found.

 

in that case ill hijack regarding my GSL-SE i just bought....

I was cleaning the front cover to put back on then right about when i was done, I noticed a semi-circular chunk ground out of the inside.... uh oh. following Ted's comments about bearings and the nature of e-shafts to migrate I walked over to the motor. The front counter weight had a nice polished around on the edge, like it had been hitting something... uh oh.

but she still turned by hand nicely and I couldn't get any play by hand. So i used a small prybar between the counterweight and the front iron. And the whole shebang moved about 3/4"... oh uh... scratch that.... ****! at least that explains why the rear main seal was compromised.

So yea. car needs an engine... all because some fuckwad didn't torque the wee bolt holding the oil pickup properly and it basically came loose.

 

Uuhh.. Gravity Fed, Did you have the e-shaft stack assembled and the front bolt torqued down?

w/o the front bolt and stack (bearings, spacer, oil pump sprocket, CAS gear and pulley hub) assembled and the flywheel w/ nut all assembled I believe you'll have considerable end play (shaft movement in and out)... ???

 

this was an engine i pulled from the car with low oil pressure. fully assembled.

 

But you can't take off the front cover and access the counterweight w/o removing the pulley and front bolt... but I guess you can't pry on the counterweight w/o the front bolt installed.

Sorry to hear, good luck!

 

 

Gotcha. Not end play, but rather up & down play. 3/4''... uh oh is right. Good luck.