79-2000- constant clicking

[mbouse]

LOL.... i see weird things going on here.... seasoned members chasing all over the place for more and more growing list of issues, some having nothing to do with each other... and most having nothing to do with the original question.

the freaking timing belt is a regular maintenance item. cut the freaking thing off the car, realign the pulleys and start new.

crushed spark plug tips are bogus. T'ain't no plug goin in that head that is so long the piston is crushing it.

stop arguing with the advice given until you learn what the basic engine parts are, and what they do. there are no freaking rods in this engine, the aux shaft is an intergral part of the engine. you never looked for an exhaust leak and are chasing huge lists of folks in wild directions.

i smell a troll.....

[minimike]

I'm pretty sure the bearings are spun at this point. It's the only thing that might explain the crushed spark plugs.

Now I've got my coil pak and dizzy into the donor engine. I need to remove my complete ignition key switch to plug into the donor car.
Any one have the knowledge from doing this previously?

[SLOSpider]

To remove the ignition switch you need to remove the screws that are holding it in place. Insert the key and turn to pull in the lock from the steering. Now on housing facing the radio you will see a small hole that you need to inset a paper clip or a stiff piece of metal to push in the retaining tab to allow you to pull the switch out of the housing.

[minimike]

Thanks SLO.
I'm this much closer to getting a driving spyder now.

[minimike]

Mr. Bouse,
with all due respect, should I just ignore you? I'm a few years older than you and about 25+ years ago I swapped tranny's in my fiat spyder 5 times. They were all used units and the weak synchros made it a common task for me to keep it running. I currently own 17 vehicles. I''m a british car guy and used to import minis from the UK long before BMW came into the production of them. 7 mini coopers, 3 diesel benz's, a lotus, and a 2002 bmw, along with the family requisite minivans, and a few box trucks, etc. I do all my own mechanical work plus welding and painting, except on the modern cars.

The haynes fiat car book I had doesn't cover this newer model, and the new fiat book, Brooklands sucks, so I searched for a message board and came here for real answers.

I've asked reasonable questions, although I did not mention the flattened plug that I put in and the broken bosch platinum plugs when I bought the car. There were other issues like disintegrated insulation on the dizzy sensor which made me think the car was parked due to poor performance. the engine noise that the PO has told me about was thought to be by me, a backfiring situation caused by the dizzy leads shorting out. I didn't make the connection of my flattened plug until a day after it happened as I was still working on getting the alignment of the cam wheels, aux pulley, and crank shaft. SO WHAT!

You may be on this board a long time, but please try not to slam anyone new who comes on the board. I've seen this type of behavior on many other car message boards. It's not constructive.

This situation is definately NOT an exhaust leak. I've heard plenty of exhaust leaks and know what they sound like.
When I order my new timing belt and conferred with Matt at Bayless today, he too thought I must have a spun bearing.

Try to treat everyone as you yourself would like to be treated friend.

And BTW, what connects the pistons to the crank since there are no rods in the engine?

[fiatS2000]

[minimike]

FYI
this link was posted to me on another querry:http://www.youtube.com/user/Internation ... zLLWd0o-JY
Wonderful.

[So Cal Mark]

I didn't see any video on that page.
I've been re-reading the posts on this. Unless you have domed pistons in your 2.0 the pistons can't hit the plugs. When you changed the belt, did you remove spark plugs? If so, could some debris have fallen into the cylinder? Unless you have extended tip spark plugs, they just don't project that far down to contact the piston, even with spun rod bearings

[wachuko]

[BEEK]

CRUSHED SPARKPLUGS = SOMETHING WENT THRU THE MANIFOLD OR THRU A PLUG HOLE, oops caps you have something in the cylinder reaking havock in your engine. you could confirm with a borescope or pulling the head

[minimike]

Now that I've got my coil and dizzy on the donor lump, I'm gonna continue with using my ignition switch to fire up the donor engine. If that's OK, and I"ll do a compression check, and leak down, then I'll go back to the original engine in my 79 which was flattening a plug(s) and clicking. I'll see if I can borrow a borescope. I may try to put a vacuum on top of each plug hole and pull out any crud. As I stated earlier, 2 platinum tip bosch plugs were broken when I got the car. it's possible that something is lodged in a valve and a piston is hitting the stuck open valve, but it still doesn't explain the crush of the electrodes on the plugs.

Obviously, I'd rather find a piece of crap in the cylinder than to have to tear down the lump, or swap it out. Less work is better!
Thanks for all the support folks. We've got rain for the next 3 days, but I'll keep you all posted.
mike

[halg]

Why would anyone who professes to be a mechanic try to start a car that came with crushed spark plugs, and then wonder why he keeps having issues with the engine ?????

[minimike]

I've never had a car that had broken plug electrodes, and have no experience with the platinum tip ceremic electrode plug.

Initially I thought the plugs broke somehow due to a backfiring situation from the magnetic pickup wires that had their insulation burnt/rotted off.

The wires were touching and I also saw oil in the air cleaner and around the carb. . I figured that maybe the car was really backfiring like crazy and somehow the ceramic tip plugs just fractured either from heat, and pressure.

Granted I was hoping for a quick inexpensive fix.

That was where I was starting from. Now I didn't say i was a mechanic. I said I do all my own mechanical work. I restore furniture for a living. But I've rebuilt engines, transmissions, and every component on many brands of cars.

If you want to piss and moan because I said this or that, go ahead. I'm sure your reputation precedes you. Thanks for the input friend.

Now in the hunt for a boroscope.

[So Cal Mark]

usually debris in the cylinder will get stuck into the piston and not keep floating around. With the plugs out and a decent light you should be able to look down the plug hole and see evidence in the top of the piston
I've seen broken plugs from detonation, but not crushed plugs

[minimike]

The bosch plugs were broken. the ngk's were not crushed, wrong word. the gap was closed by "debris?" or a spun bearing? or something. Center electrode is still intact. I had gapped them, so I know the gap was open when installed. Later gap on at least one plug is closed. I was not concentrating on the plugs at that time but trying to set wheels to timing marks. MY gap issue happened before I disassembled the rad/fan hoses etc. I had run the engine with each plug wire off, one at a time, to see if the noise went away. No luck there.
The boroscope is a $400 tool and none of my mechanic buddies have one. I'll go with the light and have a look in the cyl.'s.

BTW, I've reposted the link to the "ignition key removal video". I'm sure there must be more on that site. I've not searched it yet, but it appears to be very good. A real timesaver.