Seized Bearing

[Precedence]

Seized Bearing - Culprit now inside!

I was driving home today along, got a small stutter from the engine and the steering seemed to feel heavier.

Now I know the power steering/Air con idler pulley bearing is on the way out and have just been waiting for the part to come in to ralliart NZ (and is now at my local post office).

So further down the same road, start to climb a hill in 5th at 70 2-3 really bad stutters now.

Pull off into a side st, neutral... rev engine, no stutter. Pull off again, try and replicate conditions on another road and have not had any sign for the next 10ish k's home.

What i am wondering is, Could a bearing seizing and then unseizing have an effect on the engine?

 

[sn00ze]

Things like this are hard to say without being there to go through hands on diagnosis but to me sounds like an ignition problem under load. Ie in neutral the load on the ignition system while free revving is not high enough to produce the fault. However under load driving or up a hill etc you're getting an ignition system component failing. Wouldn't know for sure but if the pulley was seizing I'd that enough to slow the belt or put s considerable load on the motor? Normally when something seizes it doesn't un seize, especially so quickly like you've described

 

[Precedence]

i know since i got my gearbox replaced the engine hasn't been running super smooth, not like it was before but i figured the timing might be slightly off and i was just going to get that checked at the next service.

so over spending money on this car now!

 

[sn00ze]

Haha yeh mate I've had mine just over 12 weeks and it's cost me a touch over 5 grand in repairs after what I paid for the actual car! And im a mechanic so I pay no labour . I know people get sick of r33s and supras and wrxs etc but they're easier to source parts for and cheaper to modify bang for buck and just more knowledge on them in general. ie our cars don't even have coil on plug ignition from factory. Sr20, rb25, 2jz they all do. Just things like that. But it's good to have something a bit diff and learn along the way, it hurts the wallet sometimes though. With the engine not running smooth after the gearbox there's a few things to check. The battery would have been disconnected and mitsi's r notorious for having to relearn idle, couple that with a nice dirty throttle body and it won't idle very happy, also could be something as simple as a slightly loose hose clamp loosing boost or vacuum leak, could be spark plug tube seals leaking oil and front coilpacks shorting out etc. The list goes on . Goodluck with your search though.

 

[mchieff]

Automatics eh?
They belong behind the engine in girls cars - serves you right for not being patient and waiting/finding a manual haha
Seriously though, could be your intake pipe, the 100 degree bend pops off and does what you describe.
Check that as it happened to me (you can provoke it by boosting hard/loading the engine up to make it pop off worse).
You'll need a clamp and a screwdriver.

 

[Precedence]

Automatics eh?
They belong behind the engine in girls cars - serves you right for not being patient and waiting/finding a manual haha
Seriously though, could be your intake pipe, the 100 degree bend pops off and does what you describe.
Check that as it happened to me (you can provoke it by boosting hard/loading the engine up to make it pop off worse).
You'll need a clamp and a screwdriver.

i dont' think it would be that as the car drove home just fine afterwards even when i tried to put it in the same conditions driving up a hill at 70.

that's why i was wondering if the bearing were to seize (especially because it's hot here and i had the aircon on today which i havn't since it's had this issue), would this cause extra preasure on the engine cause it to stutter.

 

[mchieff]

Well the intake pipe fits your description as thats exactly what happened to me, under load pops and farts, (steering went heavy as power is lost) pull over, revs cleanly, take off slowly and drive normal all good. This must have cracked a seal or something cause later that day is when i blew it off completely. The 100degree intake pipe is weirdly connected to the manifold and my rubber thingy was backwards (internal ribbing goes ont he pipe not the manifold).
If you were to seize a bearing, i think thats it, its seized. There'd be a crapload of noise and i don't think it would unseize by having no load applied. Also an idler seizing would probably have little effect as the belt just slips over the top so whether it spins or not shouldn't matter too much

 

[snickells]

A seized bearing will grind like all shit and you'll know about it. It wont be on and off and on and off and on etc etc.

I'd be thinking ignition too, but it's all so up in the air when your talking this sorta stuff over the net. You really need to drive and play with the car to get a real idea of what it could be.

 

[drez]

Ben, do you have that issue only when the aircon is ON ?
Because Im just about to search on how to adjust and increase the engine idle by 200-300rpm for our car.
My engine will shutter and die sometimes when i brake, where the steering become heavy too
I found out; it got something to do with the A/C compressor, the compressor must take more load from the engine.
I am thinking to adjust the idle a bit higher first, if its failed then Im going to replace the A/C compressor.

 

[Precedence]

well i don't really know tbh.

yesterday was the first time i have had the air con on this year.

it didn't happens whilst idleing, but when i was in 5th going along the freeway. That's when i felt the first shudder and thinking it was the bearing i switched it of straight away.

it wasn't for another 2-3 k's down the road when i was going up a hill in 5th @ 70kph is when it happened again & that's when i pulled over into a side street and stopped/rev'd the engine.

I tried to replicate the conditions on another road in 5th going up a hill but it didn't do the same the whole rest of the way home.

I do know since the the auto gearbox was replaced that it has been idleing slightly rough, not "omg what the hell is going on", just not super smooth like it use too.

I have the car going into a workshop down here today though, getting the power steering/air con idler pulley replaced and get them to generally do a major service and check all the likely causes people have suggested above.

 

[mchieff]

Get them to clean your MAF sensor too

 

[fieldy107]

Get them to clean your MAF sensor too

+1
our MAF sensors have been known to die a slow death. At first you will get the occasional engine stuttering, after a year or 2 it will happen more frequently.

 

[snickells]

Auto ECU relearning how you drive?

 

[Precedence]

i didn't think the PFL had the learning ECU.

 

[Precedence]

Just spoke to the workshop, turns out they beleive it's a fuel issue. Either a blockage or a fuel cut

 

[pu-11-me]

Just spoke to the workshop, turns out they beleive it's a fuel issue. Either a blockage or a fuel cut

Hmmmmmmmm. I would be more confident of that being the case if I had seen it on my 3 odd years on this site but I haven't haha

Do you have a transmission cooler? If not, overheating could cause that issue. It happens right before the gearbox throws itself into limp mode.

The TPS (Also associated to the auto trans in a roundabout way) can cause this fault as well.

And, as silly as it might seem, is your battery fully charged? Low RPM + high load + flat battery = sad ignition....

Apart from that, what the other guys mentioned could be it also.

Actually

I just realised i'm not much help and will exit this thread now lol

 

[sn00ze]

yeh i was thinking fuel before but i thought it was more likely to be ignition. snickells yep autoecu relearning, but not how you drive, ba falcon auto ecu's learn how you drive but i dont think pfl ecu's do. but ecu's learn things like long term fuel trim over a certain period of time, they also develop a desired idle, if you think about it the ecu must compensate for the inlet system from the manufacturer

 

[sn00ze]

yeh i was thinking fuel before but i thought it was more likely to be ignition. snickells yep autoecu relearning, but not how you drive, ba falcon auto ecu's learn how you drive but i dont think pfl ecu's do. im talking about a learnt idle/idle speed.ecu's learn things like long term fuel trim over a certain period of time, they also develop a desired idle, if you think about it the ecu must compensate for the inlet system from the manufacturer to allow cranckcase gases back through the inlet which in turn builds up around the throttle body, as this gets worse it will eventually create a shit idle thats why we clean them, but before you get to that point the ecu must make some sort of adjustment to still allow the desired amount of air past the slightly open but now partially blocked by pcv build up throttle butterfly, hence it eventually learns an idle. everything on cars is designed to either brake eventually or compensate for wear in the system as much as possible

 

[Precedence]

Well,

I have got my car back today & this is what they found wrapped around my fuel pump... It had effectively choked the poor pump to death.

 

[fieldy107]

wtf is that and how did it get wrapped around your fuel pump