Oh Crap

Is this internal or external damage? Finally found the bolt i dropped about a month ago too. It was getting ground between the pulley and the tensioner until i managed to pop it loose but was missing until now.

Its been a bullet proof rig untill now. I'm pretty much screwed now, its going to cost a fortune and I will have to hire a ute while it gets fixed.

Any thoughts as to whats going on? I can't get it looked at until monday.

in the middle pic is that a hole in the case ? also in last pic what is the white looking stuff ? the harmonic balancer looks like it could need replacing [ maybe ]

Yep, that's a hole in the case. The white looking stuff on the bash plate in the last pic is just a splash of mud, surrounded by oil with metal chunks and a bolt with half its head ground off.

The harmonic balancer - is that the big pulley in photo? Yeah you can see where it was grinding on that bolt. The ute has been running beautiful and smooth up to this point though.

Funny thing about it is, it happened backing out the driveway just after putting a different ecu in. Literally maiden voyage. Probably coincidence though.

Conked out halfway across the street, wouldn't start. No starter. Put original ecu in, starts rough, revvs its tits off by itself with smoke. Shut it off. Try again,. Not quite as bad this time.

Engine light is on. Manage to get it across the street back in front of my house. Its trying to rev up erratically while doing this.

Following the trail of oil spots they start at the neighbours driveway where it conked out and then revved its guts out.

Its just oil spots though, and smells a bit like diesel? Not sure, but its not overly thin. And its coming from that area where the damage is. Cant see any fuel leaks.

Checking engine oil the level is fine and doesn't smell like diesel.

looks to me that your up for another pulley [ harmonic balancer ] plus a lower timing chain case cover. bloody bolt of all things. you should be able to get this from the wreckers or maybe ebay or gumtree.

i'm guess the loose bolt hit the crank sensor tabs.
the error code should confirm that.
the hole is in the timing case and will vent oil mist. you might be able to bodgy a fix, just seal it up.
should be able to find the crank sensor part off a wreck.

not sure if i would try a bog up this hole in case as inside this cover is the lower timing chain etc plus oil is needed to lubricate the chain / guides etc, any leakage will result in a dry chain [ busted chain coming ]

Ok, cheers, Tweak'es. Phoned a local mechanic earlier to describe what happened, he is telling me need to disassemble front of car and that timing chain alone will cost $1000, and that the 2004 zd30's are the most notorious for throwing timing and oil chains? He literally said it will cost me "thousands and thousands"

Does this sound like bullshit? I would have though you'd hoist the engine out to do this, and a google search on timing chain kits Taiwanese ones are $100 and Japanese ones are $250? There would have to be at least $1000 labour though.
Should alarm bells be ringing? Was going to take it there monday so they can look at it, but maybe take it elsewhere?

I cant afford the time to try and do it my self - up to my armpits with work obligations.

why do you say it needs a new timing chain ?

jonney said:

not sure if i would try a bog up this hole in case as inside this cover is the lower timing chain etc plus oil is needed to lubricate the chain / guides etc, any leakage will result in a dry chain [ busted chain coming ]

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Yeah, im not going to JB weld the hole or anything - going to get a mechanic to fix it properly. Thanks for the insight though - hopefully its nothing more serious than what can be seen externally there with the big hole and the mangled crank sensor.

jonney said:

why do you say it needs a new timing chain ?

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Just because it would be mad not to put a new one in when the cover comes off.

yes your right there by replacing the timing chain plus make sure you also replace the timing chain guides and tensioner , get the full chain kit. you might be able to re use your existing bottom pulley [ h. balancer ] with abit of a clean up where the bolt did the damage. can you get anothe mechanic to give abit of a price, the other guy sounds abit rip.

having the hole there will not do anything to the oiling of the chain. chain is force fed lube and a bit from the oil mist. all the hole will do is add some dirt to the oil and leak oil.
behind that cover is a channel straight from head to sump. any bits fallen in will be in the sump.

i would not bother changing the timing chain, its a hell of a job and generally unneeded. tho while cover is off check the chain tensioner, thats what normally fails and wears the chain.

Thanks guys. Actually just got off the phone from another mechanic and they gave rough guestimate at 3-4 hours labour vs 15 from the first one, forgot to mention timing chain overhaul though. Is the chain really that big a job once the cover is off? I definitely want to replace or weld the cover so it has to come off, but its good to know that the whole engine is not likely rooted, ay.

maybe just get a new tensioner and chain guide fitted and leave the old chain on, this won,t take long to do while the cover is off.

Yeah, i'll run that past them when i get a quote. Wouldn't mind changing out as much stuff as is cost-efficiently possible while the cover is off though. The tough old girl just turned 220, i wouldnt mind getting to half a million. You gotta have goals, lol.

There's probably been a million bolts lost in a million engine bays without a problem, man your unlucky.
The manual shows a signal plate on the back of the crank pulley and that looks like what's damaged in the picks, like tweake said. Probably only need to remove the radiator to get in there, maybe the water pump to change the timing case if it's damaged.

Thanks Rumpig, Tweake' . Hopefully it wont be too bad price and time-wise. I'll get a mechanic to do it. Got my hands full with work ay.

Rabbid-chop said:

Thanks Rumpig, Tweake' . Hopefully it wont be too bad price and time-wise. I'll get a mechanic to do it. Got my hands full with work ay.

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I change mine just some thousands kms ago here is the parts numbers if you need them.
13591VC100 COVER ASSY CHAIN CASE - 0112508504 BOLT COVER 2 UNITS
130702W200 TENSIONER
130282W200 TIMING CHAIN ( I USE AN AFTERMARKET DID JAPAN CHAIN)
130852W200 CHAIN GUIDE TENSION SIDE
130912W200 CHAIN GUIDE SLACK SIDE
Must take off the radiator, hoses etc and it takes about 3 hours labor, Taking the cover out and theres easy to change the timing kit.

If you need more parts numeber I got them all.

now looking at the parts breakdown sheet it looks like your harmonic balancer could be ok as long as that [ signal plate ] is a seperate item that bolts onto the balancer seperatly. have a look.

You may be able to repair the cover with Devcon, it's good shit I've used it on gearboxes and bike crankcases.
http://www.devcon.com/products/products.cfm?familyid=101