My 318....Is no more..... :(

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mopardude318

mopardude318

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Well....Today, AFTER I FINALLY got all the suspension work done, and new disc brakes installed, torsion bars, sway bar, tie rod ends, expensive QA1 shocks, and everything else that was NEW and my car being down since October, and also the $90 alignment that I JUST got today...I go for a test drive...Runs great, handles terrific, goes down the road smoothly, no problems what so ever, gets sideways way too easy, the new 3:55 sure grip works amazingly, everything was perfect.....Until I pull into the driveway, and notice a "noise"....It was a "screeching" noise...So I thought it was the belt at first, nope...not the belt...Then I thought it was the alternator bearing and water pump bearing, so I unhook the belt and start the engine...The "screeching" noise was still present, and got worse when I slightly revved it up...

I guess the engine has spun a mother f@#$%&g bearing...I just don't know what to think. There is no way I can possibly afford even a slight engine rebuild...I just dropped over 3 grand on all the suspension over the past 6 months...I don't know what to do...All is lost, and now I'm totally stuck. Maybe I should cut my losses and just sell the whole car for $2500...Who the hell knows...I don't know....This just plain out sucks, and is very depressing..I have the worst luck ever. Not cool man....not cool... :( :( :(
 
just got to hang in there man!! im sure somebody has a stock small block they can throw ur way!
 
BUMMER DUDE.

The upside is......318's are easy and cheap to come by and i am sure a fabo member local to you may have one and offer to even give it to you.

you may be able to get out of it all with just some labor involved and just the cost of some gaskets and fluids.

Why not dunk your 408 in there for now?
 
DusterDude72 said:
BUMMER DUDE.

The upside is......318's are easy and cheap to come by and i am sure a fabo member local to you may have one and offer to even give it to you.

you may be able to get out of it all with just some labor involved and just the cost of some gaskets and fluids.

Why not dunk your 408 in there for now?
Click to expand...

I guess I could find one to just throw in there...

There is no way I could ever put that 408 of mine in this car. It would rip this car into a pretzel and blow that little baby 904 to pieces...I don't even have sub frame connectors...lol...I think it would cost me more to do that haha...

That 408 is for a purpose built car, my Dart...
 
My brother spun a bearing in his 360 after blowing a shift. A bearing does not screach. It is a knocking sound deep in the block. So there is chance that it is something else. Check your wheel bearings. They tend to screach when going bad.

Also check your oil pressure. A spun bearing and it should be pretty weak. Like 5 - 10 max.

HTH,
Dan...
 
Remow2112 said:
My brother spun a bearing in his 360 after blowing a shift. A bearing does not screach. It is a knocking sound deep in the block. So there is chance that it is something else. Check your wheel bearings. They tend to screach when going bad.

Also check your oil pressure. A spun bearing and it should be pretty weak. Like 5 - 10 max.

HTH,
Dan...
Click to expand...

The wheel bearings are all brand new, everything from the suspension down is all new...I was in the driveway, in park, and can hear this screeching noise...
 
Remow2112 said:
My brother spun a bearing in his 360 after blowing a shift. A bearing does not screach. It is a knocking sound deep in the block. So there is chance that it is something else. Check your wheel bearings. They tend to screach when going bad.

Also check your oil pressure. A spun bearing and it should be pretty weak. Like 5 - 10 max.

HTH,
Dan...
Click to expand...

No offense but that is not always the case with a spun bearing.

A worn out bearing will give you a knock (when to much material has been removed from the surface of the bearing it is no longer within tolerance and gives slack between the crank and the bearing which in turn will give oyu a knocking noise)....BUT when you have spun a bearing is when the bearing itself has either welded itself the the journal of the crank and is spinning inside the main ....making the squeling onise) OR (when the bearing has spun it position and caught a bur or something and is just eating a goudge into the crank...either way it is no good and has likely done crank damage,bearing damage,and send metal fibers throughout the engine.

Not trying to put your answer down or anything but a knocking is not the only symptom associated with bearing failure.

Mopardude,you are probably right with your assumption but I suppose it would not hurt to check your dipstick and see if there is any metallic in it or possibly drain your oil and have a look.

it COULD be something else and be alot simpler of a problem..."COULD"......MAYBE your rubber on your timing cover seal is dry and rubbing on your harmonic balancer? or rear main seal? its a long shot but I guess it wouldnt hurt to look into.

look into all the little "stupid" stuff you would least expect before you say 100% that it is a bearing failure problem....even though odds are that you were right on fro mthe get go....but I wish ya luck and hope that is not the case!
 
Well thanks DusterDude, I'll look into it more deeply tomorrow...I am exhausted of it all, and it's late, and I'm just sick to my stomach because of this...
 
I hear ya buddy.

same thing with my duster build.....seems like AFTER I went through all my money I had set aside for thecduster project....THEN all the curve balls started coming in and parts were not matching up and parts I bought were junk and I forgot to get a certain part and blahblahblah.

I am sure you will get it figured out and if worse comes to worse I am sure some of our members will try to help you out in one way or another.

Just hang in there and dont let it beat you up....and as much as it may P*$$ you off....don't sell it because you will regret it down the road.

I am sure you could pick up a running 318 off of craigslist for $200.00 just to atleast get it back on the road.

hang in there buddy
 
MoparDude just take a deep breath and step back. I hope that it is something simple. Hell I've had the engine out of my dart 3 times this year. :-D
 
:| wow,that sucks man.like DusterDude said,check everywhere ,maybe look under the car carefully while its running or something and pinpoint where the noise is ,and what it is and look for the small stuff before ruling a bad bearing.I know the feeling of frustration when **** like that happens ,but walk away from the car and relax and dont do anything you might regret later like sell the car.And they are right,318s are easy to come by and im sure someone will give you a good deal on one if it is indeed a bearing .hang in there,brother8)
 
Sorry to hear, but dont give up, I just read thru your suspension rebuild thread and you have way too much talent to let this stop ya!! Like lots have said Im sure a local fabo member has a 318 they wouldnt mind parting with on the cheap!! In and out in an afternoon!
 
constantly engaged starter will scream too. Good luck
 
Good luck with the diagnosis dude. When I got my 273 running temporarily in my Swinger I was so stoked. It had been sitting for awhile while I worked on the 340 which trashed it's cam. I went for a small drive, came home and parked in the driveway. While getting a bucket and some soap to give it e bath I come back to find rusty brown water streaming from under the car. Crap! It had blown the freeze plugs on the back of the block. I washed the car, got a good night sleep and tackled it the next day. I know freeze plugs aren't as bad as a spun bearing but I still had to pull the engine and all the stuff connected to make that happen.
Point is don't let it get the best of you. If you are mechanical which i'm sure you are, you can fix it.

Look at it with a fresh set of eyes and a clear head in the morning.
 
inkjunkie said:
Figured it out yet?
Click to expand...

Well, today I hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge from the back of the block and started it up. At first the noise wasn't present, but after it warms up, it starts to make the screeching noise. Here's a pic of the oil pressure reading a steady 70 psi at idle.

o9e1jd.jpg


I think it possibly could be the cam bearings, not the main bearings because wouldn't the oil pressure be low and fluctuate? It also isn't the flex plate or flex plate bolts.. I checked those...
 
so did u try removing all the belts?

is it loader if you put yer ear to the oil fill hole on the valve cover?

have you climbed under the car at the trans/motor junc and listened with a stethiscope?
 
1wild&crazyguy said:
so did u try removing all the belts?

is it loader if you put yer ear to the oil fill hole on the valve cover?

have you climbed under the car at the trans/motor junc and listened with a stethiscope?
Click to expand...

well, I didn't listen through the oil fill hole, I did climb under the car and you can hear it pretty good. I managed to get a video for you guys. The quality is much better on my camera than it is on youtube...You can hear the screeching noise pretty good in the beginning of the video...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPHs_-uh4bA"]YouTube- MVI_1278.AVI[/ame]
 
And yes, I removed the belt, I only have one...It still makes the noise with the belt removed...
 
you can hear it, it sounds like a bearing or constant scraping.

you say it gets louder under the car by the trans or up front by the pulleys?

up front, maybe the cam thrust plate is going?

listen with a hose, 1 end to your ear and the other end in the valve cover
 
Well, I started it up again to listen with a hose like you mentioned...It has to warm up to make that noise, this time it's not as loud, but still evident, and I couldn't really hear it with the hose in the valve cover. It seems to be coming from deep inside, and I could hear it from under the car in the front, not by the tranny...
 
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