[Pussyfoot]

Finaly managed to put the brakes back together on my 99GL (1984) after about 5 months(i know im slow).

Took it for a test drive to find that the gearbox is making a very loud scrubbing/scraping sound when pulling away.
It also makes the same sound when its not moving with the clutch pressed fully in if i put it into first and then push the gear lever slightly further forward.
It does not make the noise in neutral with the clutch up.

Any ideas what i could do to solve this problem?

any help is much appreciated

 

[Tomarse]

Are you sure its the gearbox? gearbox noises generally go away when you press the clutch in (mine do anyhow!).
unless your clutch isnt working properly, and that is causing the noise?

Are you positive it isnt the brakes if you've just had them off and apart.

 

[Pussyfoot]

Not the gearbox

Thanks for your reply
Done some more investigating and it isnt the gearbox at all(im a fool). it seems to be caused by the crankshaft pulley fouling the bulkhead, which only happens when the engine moves, such as when the car is put in gear.
Is there any way to adjust the pulley in towards the engine? as its not inline with the water pump pulley

 

[nutcase]

Hmm, not good! I think the first thing to check is if the pulley bolt is tight. If not, there's your problem! Do you have any oil leaking from that area?

My crank bolt hit the bulkhead, but for a different reason: http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=459017&postcount=108

Bit spooky that your problem came up when it did!

 

[boxman]

(im a fool).

not at all, you found the prob' didnt you ! :lol:

 

[Pussyfoot]

hehe thanks Boxman

I've tried to see whether the bolt was loose, but i cant even see it plus the pulley is about a mm away from the Bulkhead. The pulley doesnt seem to wobble at all but i havent taken the belt off so that might be holding it.

Should i be able to get at the bolt on the end of the pulley?

The other thing im confused about is it doesnt look like the pulley in this picture (sorry for linking to it, but its a perfect shot of the pulley), did the H type engines have a different Pulley?

As for whether oil is leaking, there is plenty of oil on the bottom of the engine, but none seems to be dripping.

I will try and take some photos, although it couldnt be a more awkward position if it tried

Thanks for your help

 

[nutcase]

Here's an H pulley - although your bolt should be closer to the type in the B engine. That bolt type with spacer is what caused my headache!

Another thought, how are your engine mountings? If they're loose/worn, especially the front one, then that could be your problem.

Awkward position? You're not kidding!!!

 

[heavy_t]

I had a very similar problem on my B-engine which turned out to be a broken engine mount. I realised this when I pulled the head towards me (against the slant of the engine) and the noise stopped.

I had spent ages fannying about trying to see if it was the clutch as my noise started 2 days after I had had the clutch done, so the coincedence really hindered my troubleshooting.

 

[Pussyfoot]

Ok i tried to take some pictures, but the flash on my camera refused to flash. So i will drag the car out into the light tommorow and take a couple of pictures.
The pulley looks the same as in the picture you posted nutcase so thats good.

The noise does stop when i pull the head towards the front of the car, which makes me also feel its probably an engine mount, but im not sure how to tell whether they are gone or not, they dont look like they are split at all.
Will it be very obvious if they are worn, or should i just try and replace them?

also Is there a way to replace them without pulling the whole engine out?

 

[heavy_t]

On my car the engine mounting bracket on the side had snapped! This resulted in part of the engine actually resting on the chassis causing the vibration.

Using a trolley jack to support the engine we were able to change the mount in about 45 minutes.

 

[heavy_t]

OK here's the scenario. Clutch was replaced on Monday. have done about 100 miles since. On the way home tonight the car suddenly starts to make a low rumbling noise as I'm driving along.... Could be a wheel bearing I thought, and nursed it home 3 miles.

Having parked it up I turned the engine on and off a few times. When you turn it off there is a loud and low rattling noise as the engine switches off. Same kind of noise when you start the engine.

With the engine idling, the rumbling noise is very faint but is there in the background. If you select a gear (clutch in) and gently push the gear lever forwards or backwards into that gear the rumbling gets louder. If you select gear and gently start to ease up the clutch the rumbling also gets louder.....

This was my problem description from the forums from around the time that this happened to me. I suspected clutch at first but it turned out to be a broken engine mount.

Anything sound familiar?

btw it is possible that one of the bolts holding the engine mounting to the block itself could have just sheared off, so you might not necessarily have a snapped mount but a sheared engine mount bolt. Worth checking all the mounting points thoroughly... I don't want to lead you down the garden path on engine mounts as it seems you may already have narrowed it down to the pulley bolt, but it's worth eliminating the possibility

 

[Tomarse]

also Is there a way to replace them without pulling the whole engine out?

I'm not sure about the inlet side mount, but the mount on the exhaust side of the engine should be possible with the engine in, as you can hold the engine and remove those metal struts to get at the rubber mount.

If you firstly put a jack under the engine to support its weight. Then undo the 2 13mm bolts that hold the bottommetal bracket to the engine/gearbox (they also hold the gearbox on!). Then undo the 1 or 2 bolds that hold the other metal bracket to the head.
After you have done this, if you undo the nut on the top of the engine mount, the bracket work should come out (you may have to lift the engine slightly). You may also have to undo the 2 small nuts and bolts (down by the mounting rubber) to seperate the 2 bits of bracket, as the weight of the engine pushes them down into place and they may not come out as one.

hope that helps!

The inlet side one will be harder. This metal mount is bolted straight onto the block with 4 bolts (one of which has an allan head and is usually tight!). Im not sure you can get at these with the engine sitting on the mount..

Front mount, might be possible if you undo everything and then just jack the front of the engine up until its clear - but it sounds like this one is okay!. the front mount on my 900 is collapsed and it only means the gearbox rests on the chassis - not the engine moving back,

As Heavy_T says. Before you do anything it is worth checking all the bolts that fix the brackets in place incase one is loose or missing and that has caused the engine to move.

 

[Pussyfoot]

Well ive got a photo and was hoping people might be able to tell me if this is normal or not. This is a picture of the crankshaft pulley and the arrow points to where its hitting the bulkhead. The concern is the angle the belt is going onto pulley, is this normal?

I've had another look at the engine mounts and they seem ok, no loose bolts or cracked rubber to be seen.

Thanks for everyones replies

*Editted to change the picture URL

 

[Tomarse]

That picture doesnt show up for me, but here it is as a link for anybody else.

Is that belt actually still on the alternator at the top of the engine?. If so then something definately looks wrong!

Is the bottom pulley parallel with the engine, or could the bolt have come out of the end of it, and its fallen out and is just resting against the bulkhead or something?

 

[nutcase]

Well it looks to me like the crank pulley is definitely out of position. Here's the one on Blu'y:

 

[Pussyfoot]

Sorry about the picture, should be sorted now, seems my web host didnt like people linking to pictures on it from other sites.

Ok Tomarse i think you've confirm it, its definatly a problem with the pulley, as the belt is still on the alternater. I didnt think it looked right either but its nice to have it confirmed.

my next question is, any ideas how to fix it?
Is it a matter of pulling the engine out and tightening it up or is there another way?
Would it be incredibly dodgy to dremel a hole in the bulkhead from the inside and tighten it up?
There is actually a mark on the inside showing where the pulley has been rubbing on the bulkhead, so i know exactly where to cut.

 

[Tomarse]

Your belt should sit nice and straight in all of the pulleys, like in nutcase's picture.

It looks like the engine mounts are fine then, and the problem is with the crank pulley itself...

The pulley is held onto the end of the crank shaft by a big nut on the end of it. It is located on the end of the crank by a woodruff key.

Hopefully, the problem is just that your nut has come loose and the pulley has moved off the end of the crankshaft and has been prevented from moving any further by hitting the bulkhead.
This happened on my landrover, except that there is nothing to stop it moving (like a bulkhead!) on that and it moved so far that it chewed the key up and i had to replace that too (to do this you have to pull the whole pulley off - which would take a very big hole on a saab!)


Cutting a hole would probably be a lot easier than taking the engine out (especially if you dont have a hoist!). Assuming that the key is still in the right place and the pulley just needs pushing back on and tightening up.

It is wierd that it should come loose though, since the ones on my saabs have been done up FT (it took my 3 foot powerbar with a 6 foot bit of scaffolding on it, and my dad standing on the engine to remove one of mine!)

 

[nutcase]

If you find you need a crank bolt and or replacement pulley, PM me and I'll give you the email address of someone who has one available (I just swiped the gearbox from his car!).

 

[boxman]

i'm wondering whether the damper has come apart, allowing the belt groove to part from the part bolted to the crank

 

[nutcase]

This is possible, hence the possible need for a pulley - but it's impossible to tell from the photo.