AU V8 engine problem

[aufairmontwa]

Went away for the long weekend as had not taken the AU out for a decent drive for a while and noticed a fan belt slipping noise coming from under the bonnet when accelerating a bit harder than normal.

Whilst making this noise the car appeared to surge and lost power. Once at my destination my mate and I lifted the hood and managed to locate the sound which appears to be coming from somewhere in the air intake near the top of the motor. On the trip I was unable to ovetake as when I tried to accelerate this fan slipping noise would immediately return and the car would lose power again. My guess is that something is a miss with regards to an air intake valve or something like that.

I was just wondering if anyone had come accross this before and if there might be a simple fix for it?

Cheers,

Dan.

[speedzter]

Pretty hard to diagnose with your description.
Can you reproduce it when just rev'ing the motor ?
Remove the drive belt and see if the "noise" goes away.
Possibly a bearing gone on one of the pulleys (P.Steer, idler etc)

[T3man]

Sounds like an air leak into your manifold/intake - check the clamps and the plastic/rubber piping esp near the throttle body to make sure nothing is adrift or split. Any air entering upstream from the air flow sensor (therefore unmetered) will cause a lean mixture; hence your surge and then lack of power. It could also be a split air bypass hose (idle control) on your throttle body.

[crakrz]

synchroniser?

[xr8ute]

x2 for air leak

I would be going so far as to remove the intake piping to check for splits/cracks etc...

Also the most likely thing to cause engine damage, so I would be checking this ASAP.

[philstoj]

Definatly the syncroniser, mine had exactly the same symptoms.

[XR8AU2121]

It will be the camshaft synchronizer. To double check just slip the belt off and if the noise is still there and seems to be comming from the front of the engine it will be the synchronizer bearing. The synchroniser sits in the valley at the front of the engine where the distributor would of been in the pre electronic ignition windsor v8's. When it plays up it can cause the engine to miss.
Ford australia want around $800 for one but you can get them from the USA landed in Australia for less than $100. I replaced mine a couple of months ago with an after market one from the US and it works a treat.
The web site is www.rockauto.com
You can get an aftermarket one - Dorman 689-101 for around $43 US or a Motorcraft one for $93 US.
The good exchange rate at the moment helps a lot.

If you search the forum for camshaft synchronizer there is more information.

[xr8ute]

Did you guys with the noisy synchroniser problems get the surging at the same time?

Pretty quick thing to check, so definitely worth doing. Drop the belt, rev the engine a bit and see if the noise is still there.

[philstoj]

With mine, the bloody thing wouldnt squeal when i took the drive belt off and reved it, so at the time i still was uncertain that it was the syncroniser.

The first time i felt it surge, almost felt like it was a very quick power cut, that confirmed to me that it was the syncroniser and after i swapped it for a new one all good!

[4thrlz]

hi all am after some help with the cam syncroniser, I have the dreaded squeak from the cam position sensor. I whored the fourms and removed the sensor and used some lube. I did not have a surgeing or power loss problem. Put everything back together and now have the power loss and rough engine idle like dead points or dud coil underload if it were points of course.
Could it be that i didnt have it at TDC when I put the positioner back on?

PS on the good side the constant squeak is gone

[FTe342]

You should have put the synchroniser back in the same position as when you puilled out (assuming you didn't crank the engine while it was out?)

You can disconnect the lead/plug that goes to the synchroniser once the engine is running and if the problem is not there then you know the synchroniser is the cause. By the time they are making the squealing noise the bush is flogged out and you get the miss even though you can lubricate and shut it up. You need a new top too. Don't just replace the body

[4thrlz]

have brought a new syncroniser,sensor and tool from rockauto in the us as per another thread, the $700 price form ford chinchilla nearly made me choke. hopefully this fixs the problem.
I turned the motor by hand to get TDC once the snesor was off so i think thats were i went wrong, thoguh theres no real timing marks on the pully to go of so only going on chompression stoke and hoping I have number one at rock TDC

[MattSAU2XR8]

Is there any chance I could just pull the sensor out, clean the bearings and repack them? Its hard to tell looking at pictures of these things if they're rebuildable or not... Thanks, Matt

[crakrz]

They are rebuildable, from memeory you need to remove one or two pins and then press the gear off. I bought one from Rockauto but also rebuilt my original and now its ready to go back in next time it starts to squeal.

[Boza]

I just ordered one of theese for my car but what is this alignment tool that it says is required i thought that i could just pull the old one out and put the new one in or should I set the engine to TDC

[crakrz]

It should come with an alignment tool in the box. If it doesn't, that is ok. It can be aligned without it. Let us know when it arrives.

[Boza]

yeah I got the dorman one doesit come with instructions on how to align it or should I post a new topic when it gets here

[Mr Hardware]

should I post a new topic when it gets here

You should always post a new topic, always. Threadmining is bad. On other forums im on, threads that are inactive for over a couple of months cannot be added to. (ie locked)