i was driving home earlyer and i heard a noise i hoped i'd never hear from the engine i just put in a few weeks ago. it sounds like a very loud clunking and clanking sound from somewhere around my clutch. anyway i was looking under the hood more to try to figure out what the hell this noise is and i look over at the timing belt and it rubbed through the cover and damn near came off. the first thing i thought was that it skipped a tooth and bent the valves and thats what the noise i heard was. i imeadiatly checked the timing and luckly it was still in time. ive tried to straighten the belt out on the cam gears but it keeps wanting to come off towards the valve cover side. i havent started to engine yet ive been turning it with a ratchet. whenever i turn the engine or jerk the ratchet quick a clunking sound comes from around the clutch area its a brand new clutch and throw out bearing. im not sure what to do right now if anyone knows what either of my problems are please let me know.. thanks

Hmmmm...

As for the belt moving over, maybe you put your crank gear on too far towards the oil pump and that is why it keeps moving over. I did this on my old motor, nothing going to happen really with it like that unless I noticed that you said it rubbed through your cover. Did you reuse the half moon shaped piece that goes into the crankshaft groove? Make sure that didnt come loose or something and the crank gear is moving.

For the noise, interesting. I would suggest to check your bolts that bolt the flywheel to the clutch, maybe one came loose or something.

well i never took the crank gear off the engine, i got the enging out of an 01 neon that was wrecked with only 30,000 miles. i stripped it down to the shortblock, rebuilt the eclipse head and it all bolted right together. not realy sure y the belt moved over tho ive been driving around about for over a week with no problems but then i got on it a little in 3rd gear, not trying to beat it yet just get a feeling of about how much power it had, i took it up to almost 6,000 rpms and let off. ive been babying it around everywhere until it breaks in good. i drove it home with no problems intil i pushed in the clutch to turn into my street and the clutch pedal pulsated and then this bad clunking noise began. so far i unbolted the starter to look in at the clutch i kept turning the engine over with a ratchet to see if one of the clutch bolts didnt come out but they were all in tight. i use to have an 82 camaro that somehow the flywheel jumped a lil and grabbed ahold of the dust cover and made a noise similar to the noise that is coming from the eclipse. tommorrow im goin to take off the bottom dust cover and see what i can see inside the tranny

Check your tensioner and idler pulley for the belt wandering. 2 days ago I noticed my belt was cutting into the plastic on the VC side too. I checked, the bracket the tensioner pulley bolts on to cracked and allowed it to turn just enough to throw the belt off alignment.

The clutch def. sounds like loose driveplate to flywheel bolts, but I dont know what it would be if theyre tight.

ok i got the lower dust cover off of the tranny and the driveplate bolts did come loose. im working on getting them tightened now. I havent figured out about the timing belt yet. maybe the tensioner came loose a little too and thats y its not staying centered. from now on im goin to tighten everything a little bit more than wut the torque specs say

my timing belt started wandering and rubbing the cover, didn't think a whole lot of it (chaulked it up to aftermarket cam gear milling). Then it started making this high-pitched squeal, which i found a small ball bearing lodged behind the cam gear and the cover/head. Lookin deeper it was from the idler bearing, which was still attached but barely, and making the belt wander.

ok i got the clunking fixed from the loose bolts. the timing belt however still wants to offtrack towards the valvecover. i cut the top half of the timing cover off and i reached in and tried to move the tensioner pulley and it will move about and 1/8 inch each way so either the bearings are goin out or the bolts are coming out or something. i'll look into it more tommorrow

you've got play in a bearing, just replace everything. Belt, tensioner, idler...

don't halfass this

Originally posted by RoninEclipse2G
you've got play in a bearing, just replace everything. Belt, tensioner, idler... don't halfass this

+1

agreed, that's why they have them as a whole service kit. Do it all while you're in there, and your water pump as well if it's got some high miles - though with 30k you should be fine there.

ok i finaly found out why the tensioner pulley had play in it. i started to tighten the bolt up the hold it in place and it and it suddenly snapped off. i wasnt even using much pressure at all. now i have a bolt broke off in the side of the block.. not good... i will get back with u guys on how i figure this disaster out. thanks for all the help tho guys

don't halfass this

x3, believe me i had a similar problem that i ignored, and it ended up costing me a timing belt, water pump, oil pump, tensioner, cam sensor, and a few other things i cant remmeber cause it's been so long.

ok i got the timing belt all figured out and put back together. the bolt that broke off didnt go into the block just into that one bracket which i had an extra one from the other engine. anyway now that that is taken care of i started the car up and there is still a clunking sound from around the clutch. i tightend up the bolts and put threadlocker on them so i know there tight. i have no idea whats causing this noise. i dont want to drive the car if its makeing that noise. if anyone has an idea let me know, thanks

Could it be that dust shield came loose? It'd be more of a rattle I'd think, but otherwise double-check all the flywheel bolts. Didn't you say that the sound stopped once before? Maybe you've got a stripped hole or something.

well the sound stopped when i was turning the engine over with a ratchet. i thought it was fixed but it wasnt. i think when the bolts came loose it seriously messed something up in the clutch. i was driveing it around today and it sounded terrible. then i downshifted and i heard and felt a pop in the clutch. the whole engine and transmission were shaking realy bad. i shut the car off and coasted it into a parking lot. im towing it to my dads today and just takeing out the trans and putting yet another whole new clutch and this time im putting in a new driveplate. i havent taken a trans out of an eclipse yet idk if it would be easyer to just take that out or the whole engine.

naw, they're not that bad. Just pully the lower engine brace, the rear and driver's motor mount, axles, then drop it out. Not haveing a spline shaft to line up makes our manual's a snap. Sounds like you may have broken a spring, have some parts floating around.

i had the same problem with my belt, it would not stay center. i put the cams gears on backwords.