Timing belt help

by **Scott** » January 27th, 2007, 5:42 pm

I have a question about the short nose crank. I have a '90 so I know my car has it, but I just had the dealer replace my timing belt, water pump, etc...... I went to the Mazda dealer to have this done because of the short nose issue. Ever since then when I start off on a hill I have some belt squealing. I popped the hood to take a look, and now my pulley at the crank has a lot of wobble in it. Before the car went in it had no wobble. I am very familier with my car (i track it, and do all the maintance myself, but wanted the dealer to do the TB because of the short crank). Did the dealer install it wrong? Is the crank now damaged? What would be the best way to approach this?

Thanks!

by **thebeerbaron** » January 27th, 2007, 6:25 pm

take it back to the dealer. i can't say for sure since I've never seen it, but from the description it sounds like your dealer's timing belt change induced the dreaded short nose failure...

by **Scott** » January 27th, 2007, 7:01 pm

fyi, the car has been been tracked or autocrossed since this happened

by **thebeerbaron** » January 28th, 2007, 12:55 am

warning, drunk post.

my car has been autocrossed relentlessly since i bought it and strangely enough that has not suddenly caused the crank pulley to wobble. i've never seen engine use suddenly cause crank pulley wobble, the culprit in this case is a specific event.

talk to your dealer now, before the engine dies. do not tell them about the track days or the autocrosses. you and i know they had nothing to do with the failure, and your dealer does too, but they will use any knowledge of that to weasel out of their failure to perform the service according to the REVISED mazda procedures.

a crank pulley should never wobble. take it back and don't accept their repair until they've replaced the engine or the crankshaft. if not, there are a few spec racers here who will probably be interested in your miata shell.

sorry to be the bringer of bad news and i certainly hope i am wrong. all i can tell you is the dealer screwed the pooch, go talk to them now and don't take any of their BS brush-offs.

good luck

by **ChristianL** » January 28th, 2007, 4:40 pm

I'll second what Peter said. Don't even pop the hood until it's back at the dealer. If they screwed up, they should fix it.

How long ago was the work done? If it wasn't too long ago, I'd fight this for all it's worth. Any dealer worth their salt will take it back to make sure it's been done right.

by **Scott** » January 28th, 2007, 7:40 pm

it was done in October, but I've only put 1700 miles on the car since that time. The dealer is said that they had a 12 month/ 12000 mile guarentee on their work

by **thebeerbaron** » January 28th, 2007, 8:47 pm

that's good news, especially if you have that warranty in writing...

don't take any of their BS and keep us informed about how they deal with it.

as Christian says, keep the hood closed and drive it right to them. don't take "no" for an answer.

by **REDFUN** » January 29th, 2007, 6:30 am

Oh yes take it back. If I were you the first thing I would do is get the repair manual out of the library. Then show them the step about removing the pully and replacing the key. There may even be a warning in the repair book. This show them that you know they had to remove and replace the pully as part of the job. Tell them the car was fine when you came in. Tell them you brought the car in for service in 'Good Faith'. Then point out you think what they did caused your problem. Don't forget to stay cool and don't lose your temper. I can tell you for sure they will say no way they caused this. Good luck.

Bob

by **IH82BL8** » January 29th, 2007, 7:29 am

They wouldn't have had to remove the main bolt unless they replaced the from main seal, too.

by **IH82BL8** » January 29th, 2007, 7:29 am

Crap. FRONT main seal.

by **Miatamadman** » January 29th, 2007, 9:29 am

I am sorry to here of this.

by **Scott** » January 30th, 2007, 7:05 pm

the car was dropped off at the dealer tonight, who of course said that it couldn't be their fault. They are going to take the car apart tomorrow and I told them I want to see it when it is in pieces

by **kentman** » January 30th, 2007, 9:00 pm

Did they have any suggestions as to how it got into that condition? It was obviously perfectly fine when they tore it down. I would hammer on them and write a letter to the owner and the BBB. I would also write a letter to Mazda informing them of the shady dealings of their own stealership.

This type of story is what keeps me doing all of my own work in house. I do not trust the grease monkeys in the shop.

Kent

by **mj71** » January 31st, 2007, 7:27 am

Scott wrote:They are going to take the car apart tomorrow and I told them I want to see it when it is in pieces

This may be too little too late, but be careful how much you let them do without knowing 100% that you won't be charged for the labor to do the diagnosis. If things go badly you may be out for all the crap they did "diagnosing."

by **Scott** » February 5th, 2007, 7:46 pm

Ok, i got the car back from Mazda, who would not touch it, they said basically that since the car has 123k on it, so it could not be their fault that it has some wear. Today I have taken it apart to check it out myself, and it is showing some wear, but it's not too bad. I am going to put it back together using all the recommendations from miata.net and see where I am at, and see how long it will hold together. Now I need to start thinking about if I want to put a 1.6, upgrade to a 1.8, or go for the big swap and put in a V8 (monster miata)

by **Miatamadman** » February 6th, 2007, 9:35 am

Ok this is kind of weird to say but... If it turns out you want to stay with a 1.6L, I have a motor. We could pull the one out of the auto... its in good shape, just hasnt been run much since I bought it... due to some various Dave (me) issues. It is a long crank with the lower compression, prolly ideal for a NA turbo, although the real FI technical people will chime in I hope

by **SilverTanLS** » April 10th, 2007, 12:49 am

This is fairly old, but I have a crank...

When I took my 323 to a shop, I pounded into their heads...83.5 lb/ft on a torque wrench...no impact guns!

by **dawheeler** » April 10th, 2007, 12:06 pm

There are many short-nosed cranks out there running just fine.
The primary reason for failures is improper re-assembly (which is easy to do if you are not very careful).

We're all told that if you have work done by a dealer (or any shop, for that matter), then any liability would be theirs. Problem with this statement is that it is your obligation to prove it.

Dealers are not immune to ignorance and oversight. They just didn't know. They should have, but they didn't. This is not the first time this has happened, for sure.

Sorry to hear it, but from the sounds of it, you should be able to recover.

by **Miatamadman** » April 12th, 2007, 9:19 pm

Scott

What ever came from this issue? Did the car end up dead, or did the dealer fix it or did you fix it?

Timing belt help

Timing belt help

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