[SALEEN961]

Yes one bad plug wire or spark plug will give you two dead cylinders, and if you pull one wire two cylinders will no longer get spark, the cylinders are grouped together as follows: 3&4, 6&2, 5&1

[xtreme 2]

can't see it being the harmonic balancer if it only affects two cylinders.

Pull the plugs, verify gap and there there is no burn marks on the porcelain...

[rafter40]

just heard back from my mechanic. he had a chance to check it out a little but will do so more thoroughly tomorrow morning.

he seems to think its clutch related..... what do you guys think?
what ways could the clutch have failed to cause this, since it shakes when im not driving?

i have been downshifting a little much lately and my what i believe to be my throwout bearing ussed to squeel sometimes

to be sure he would need to drop the trans. which im extremely hesitant on.

also, i didnt think the harmonic balancer would effect any cylinders.

[rafter40]

Well im back now after finally removing the bell housing and i would like to know what exactly i should look for to diagnose the vibration from inside the bell housing.

i am currently considering simply securing the starter motor and starting my engine and just looking at it. any help would be awsome thanks

[stephen]

First check that the clutch disk and pressure plate are intact.

Also verify that the flywheel is the correct one and all the bolts are tight. I believe the 99 engine is externally balanced while the 2000 is internally balanced. If the wrong flywheel is used it could cause vibration. If it's the original part this would seem unlikely.

[rafter40]

Clutch disk and pressure plate seem in good working order.

only think i noticed was the disk has slightly ( very slightly) deeper grooves on one side vs the other (right to left, not on the separate plates of the disk.

I reinstalled the bell housing so i could start the engine. It still vibrates ( the engine sounds cammed at idle) i think its just tryin to re find idle or confused with out some trans sensors. but the vibration is different and less that it was with the clutch and trans installed.

the fly wheel appears to be spinning very true

[rafter40]

currently stuck tryin=g to remove the pilot bearing. the bearing came out but the outer bearing housing did not

[rafter40]

got the pilot bearing out with the pilot bearing removal tool and slide hammer from autozone.

blind hole puller from autozone did not have enough balls for the job.

just reinstalled clutch and vibration appears to be GONE... i think!!!! (THANK GODDD!!!)

i started the engine with the tranny back on.
the clutch has a clickin noise (related to rpm) when i push the petal all the way down. other wise it seems good. does it just need to break in?

i hope that i didnt mess up with all the throw out bearing. im 99% sure thats whats making the noise and that i installed it correctly.

any ideas with the clutch?

lastly im gonna look it up in my haynes how how much to refill the trans fluid but any tips welcome!

[rafter40]

well just took it for the first drive and its ok. clutch works great. but it disengages with the petal very high. id like to adjust it.

problem is now the motor is not idling well at all. sounds like a bad cam or like its down a couple cylinders.

also the idle doesnt drop quickly while drivin like it should (like a vacume leak)

i had the car jacked up on an incline and there appeared to be alot of white smoke comming out of the tail pipe ( more than normal). could something have leaked into the cylinders?

could any of these be from like reseting the ecu from having the negative terminal off for so long? or some other problem

[rafter40]

Check engine light finally came on.

P0171


P0174

P0720 - speed sensor ( prob messed up a wire or didnt plug the sensor all the way back in ) not really worried about this one rite now unless you guys itll effect how the engine runs


so i did notice my back right 02 sensor had a wire split in half.

i bought new
02 sensor
plugs
wires

gonna install each item separately and see if anything helps

[rafter40]

So got the engine running well again my problem before was the upper to lower intake gasket folded over on its self when i installed it causing all sorts of problems.

I still have the bad vibration in the engine. It feels under powered but i dont think any cylinders are now miss firing as i have a new coil pack, plugs, and wires, and it sounds good.


My timing was reading 21 degrees at idle. Is there anything i can compare this to i dont have any information on the timing or the 3.8 motor?

[rafter40]

well for closure on this topic replacing the harmonic balancer corrected my vibration problem. The weight was not secure but i could not see the with out removing the harmonic balancer.

I would suggest pickin up the puller and installer from autozone if tackeling this project. helped alot. all i had to remove was the fan to access the balancer.