Re: broken berlina

[Simon Favre <favres@engmail.ulinear.com>]

David Bingham wrote:

>My Berlina broke in a bad way.  It accidentally was over revved , way
>way way beyond redline .  The fuel pump belt snapped (it was only 6
>months old) and the starter ring gear is loose .  I haven't pulled the
>engine out yet so I don't know why its loose , but I can reach in the
>starter hole and turn it with one finger and it has play back and forth.

I know you don't want to hear this, but it sounds to me like a snapped
crankshaft.  There's no reason for the ring gear to come loose from the
flywheel on an over-rev.  It might have just sheared off the flywheel
mounting bolts, if you're lucky.  More than likely, something else
broke, like a connecting rod, and that got in the way of the crank which
proceeded to snap.  I snapped a crank in a race motor once.  The results
were not pretty.

It is best to pull the engine and tranny as a unit.  Rent or borrow a
portable hoist on wheels.  It also helps to tip the BACK of the car way
up in the air and remove the center tie rod by just unscrewing it.

On reviving a motor that's been sitting, the first step I always take is
to shoot a bunch of WD-40 down the spark plug holes and try to rotate
the motor without using the starter.  If the motor is still in a car,
put it in 4th and rock the car forwards and backwards to see if the
motor rotates easily with the plugs out.

Good luck.