Explorer cranks but wont turn drive belts.

[Jarid152]

I have a 95 exploder and i got in it yesterday after i started it and i put it in reverse. it moved about 2 feet and then i heard a horrible grinding noise so i shut it off. i tried to start it back up and it seems to me that all you could hear was the starter. So i replaced it. while i was under it i turned the motor over by the alternator nut to make sure the flywheel had not snapped the bolts off of the end of the crankshaft and to check the teeth. everything was fine. considering the fact i replaced the flexplate or flywheel 5 months ago. i put the new starter in and the same thing. it will not turn the drive belt or even start. im really not sure what is going on here. My only thought could be the keyway on the harmonic balancer sheared off and its not turning the pully for the cps to read or to spin the belt. Any help?

 

[Rick]

Sounds like you need to have someone crank the engine while you're looking to see exactly what's spinning and what's not.

 

[Jarid152]

yeah. im going to have to do that tommorow. It's the only logical thing that i can think of. unless the starter i just bought is bad too. what are the odds.

 

[jremington59]

Sounds like you need to have someone crank the engine while you're looking to see exactly what's spinning and what's not.

I agree. Have you manually rotated the crank?

 

[Jarid152]

yes. and i just went out to see if when i cranked it over the bolt in the harmonic balancer would spin and it didnt. so now i am really confused. i dont understand how i can turn the engine over by the alternator nut and watch the flywheel spin when i had the starter out. but when i put the brand new starter in and crank it. it sounds like it is engaging into the flywheel and turning it. where do i go from here? my next guess is im going to pull the starter back out and bench test it. if all goes good there looks like the transmission is coming out again. Am i the only person experiencing this problem?

 

[Rick]

The starter is different between the manual trans and auto trans models. Maybe you have the wrong starter?

 

[kustomiser]

the crankshaft did not brake did it. i seen it on a v8 chevy once. the back of the crank broke off where the flex plate mounts

 

[Fastest Caskets]

Gotta be mega rough to snap a crank shaft, not syaing it's impossible though.
Maybe just a messed up wire on the starter solenoid making it just spin and not engage?
you could always remove the starter and turn the flywheel with a bar or something and have someone see if the crank pulley turns... I'd like to think theres an inspection plate or hole somewhere to view the flywheel, but I cant think of one right now for your trans.
Could look in the oil fill on the valve cover and look for the rockers moving too

 

[Jarid152]

well i took the starter back out. and the flywheel i can move with my two fingers. i dont know if anybody is aware but these engines are known for snapping the flywheel bolts in the back of the crank and thats what happend to it. now i had put permanent lock tight on the bolts when i put them in for the flywheel. looks like im going to get a junkyard motor if i cant get them out because the engine has 220k miles on it and its not worth my time to rebuild. i mean dont get me wrong. this is a good engine it still pulls 22 in hg of vaccum. this motors strong and probably could have gone another 150k.

 

[windsors03cobra]

The engines are not know for snapping flex plate bolts.
The only way I can see your 160hp engine breaking those bolts is if they were not tight.

 

[Jarid152]

i've seen alot of people complaining about the problem. i know a couple people its happend to. the bolts were torqued to 120 ft lbs and had permanent lock tight on them. so they didn't come loose. but once i get this thing all the rest of the way apart ill post some pictures so you guys can see. and also another problem i ran into with this when i put the transmission in. i went to advance and bought a torque converter that was a reman. and i put it in. come to find out about 2 months later the truck was making a terrible noise. so i figured out it was the torque convertor bolts that go threw the flywheel banging back and forth inside of the holes. the reason for this is when the reman company replaced the studs on the T.C. the unthreaded portion of the stud was too long and it came threw the flywheel. so i put lock washers on it and it was fine. its just one thing after another.

 

[windsors03cobra]

Yea I hear you on the headaches I just went thru a double motor swap on a POS F150.

So the TC studs were not threaded all the way down and the when tight to the stud the TC was still loose in the flexplate ? ¡Ay, ay, ay!

I work on alot of automobiles and have encountered cracked and broken flexplates but never crank bolts. Most crank bolts are usually very heavy duty and plenty of em.

Good luck.

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

....... but these engines are known for snapping the flywheel bolts in the back of the crank and thats what happend to it. now i had put permanent lock tight on the bolts when i put them in for the flywheel. looks like im going to get a junkyard motor if i cant get them out .......

Jarid, you can heat the bolts with a propane torch for
about 30 seconds, and then try to turn them out. The
heat will liquify the (red?) thread locker and release
the bolts. (The red liquifies at about 300 degrees F.)

Do you mean the bolt heads separated from the bolts
themselves? If so, then I'd reduce the torque with the
thread locker, maybe to 100 ft lbs? A lubricant will
reduce the torque needed by about 10%, and thread
locker acts as a lubricant when applied to bolts...

I'm interested in seeing your pics of this.

 

[pitbulldell]

type flexplate in the search and read through them,helped me to find the problem with my flexplate that kept cracking. This thread is where I was told of the Sonnax spacer that I replaced and no more problems.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=218041

 

[Fastest Caskets]

Yea I hear you on the headaches I just went thru a double motor swap on a POS F150.

So the TC studs were not threaded all the way down and the when tight to the stud the TC was still loose in the flexplate ? ¡Ay, ay, ay!

I work on alot of automobiles and have encountered cracked and broken flexplates but never crank bolts. Most crank bolts are usually very heavy duty and plenty of em.

Good luck.

Well that answers that... I had a used trans from a 94 ish f-150 diesel, with a fresh reman trans but all the converter studs were sheared off, couldn't figure it unless whoever installed it did a poor job tightening the converter nuts. I never figured it could be a remanufacturers defect untill now.

 

[Jarid152]

yeah i still gotta pull the trans all the way out. ive been messing around with my 92 f150 all weekend just havent even gotton a chance. i mean im really interested also to see these bolts. i mean i cant get too good of a look in there at the position its in but thats what its looking like. and thanks for the advice on that thread locker. for some reason when i read that it came back into my memory like oh yeah thats right. but if i get in there and i need to replace the flex plate again its not like autozone even sells it so ill have to order it online.