not sure if i should even attempt to crank it

[DUI]

92 plymouth laser rsx - 5spd

thank you for viewing my thread , ill try to make sence of this is all

story starts with car running great (oil gauge stopped working consistantly a month prior to this).

im on the freeway cruising 70 mph with cruise control when i start to feel the engines rpms increase and we started slowing down WTF. got off and began to drive it home. from a dead stop i had no problem getting the car into gear and no wierd clutch sounds and the engine revd freely and had no issue starting. but once i would try to accelerate in 1st the clutch felt like it was slipping and the car would accelerate very jerky, sometimes violently catching again. when coasting to a stop OUT OF GEAR and in neuteral i could feel drivetrain drag like a diff was not working? im thinking maybe the rear oil seal went and i have oil on my clutch?

ok so that is the symptom

so i go get a seal and clutch kit so i can take the transaxle out, check my crank thrust and rule that stuff out. while removing the tranny i noticed that my left front cv axle has a carrier bearing in the middle of it that is supposed to be bolt to the block with two bolts??? yea well mine wasnt bolted and it was obvious that it was violently smacking the firewall (maybe not being held into tranny). at this point everything is unbolted and i wanted to check for crank walk and do the clutch job anyway (no oil leak). so at this point i have no idea if i could have just replaced those bolts (backed out?) and fixed the issue but now shit gets worse.

as i am removing the flywheel i needed someone to hold the crank in place to break the bolts loose, and smarty me had my brother (who didnt want to get dirty) just put a wrench on one of the cam gears thinking the timing belt would hold the crank (which it has on hondas). well when really wrenching on it, i felt what seemed like my socket was slipping off the head of bolt, but it wasnt..... the only thing i could think of that would have made that sound and feeling would have been the timing belt jumping a rubber tooth. so insisting i was crazy i tryed it again and same thing. felt like it slipping but was firmly in place. so i stopped and put a big break bar on harmonic balencer bolt and got the bolts off without a hitch.

so i got everything together but still cant find bolts that will fit for that carrier bearing on the block. but now thinking i may have jumped two teeth (i have no idea how many degrees that is and if there is an acceptable slippage?) im affraid to crank it over. i have no air tools i cant bump the starter to get that harmonic balencer off (so i can get the timing cover off) because i could bend valves. im in a pickle and dont know if there is a way to check timing with the bottom timing cover on. thank you for spending the time to read this and i hope someone can help!!!

 

[SrKegler]

Here,s what I would do, just to be on the safe side. Take the timing belt off, then remove the cams. This wil insure none of the valves will hit a piston. You can then use a socket and wedge your breaker bar somewhere on the firewall side. Bump the starter and the bolt will loosen up. I would replace the timing belt since you've already jumped a couple of teeth. Depending on how old the other parts are I would at least change the water pump while you're in there.

 

[OakStreetTuner]

I agree, better to spend the extra time and be sure all is correct, your already half way there. Are the bolts for the cv intermediate shaft broken off in the block?

 

[immortalmcf]

Here,s what I would do, just to be on the safe side. Take the timing belt off, then remove the cams. This wil insure none of the valves will hit a piston. You can then use a socket and wedge your breaker bar somewhere on the firewall side. Bump the starter and the bolt will loosen up. I would replace the timing belt since you've already jumped a couple of teeth. Depending on how old the other parts are I would at least change the water pump while you're in there.

this is what I would do good luck and post results.

 

[DUI]

awesome, i never even thought about that! the cams do still line up together so i think is anything its the crank that slipped. the bolts are not broken off and the threads seem ok to a reasonable depth (can only feel the holes). i supposed they rattled out from driving aggressivly and listening to loud music but how many teeth can the belt skip before interference? maybe i should just start removing the whole head...since this happened i have rotated the engine by hand serveral times with no binds but i was told that even the slitest contact from the pistons and the valves can bend and then maybe stay out of the way? maybe he was crazy...