Vacume leak

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james Lyle

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northport , AL
I have a 2001 trac and my check engine light is on. They said it was a vacume leak. Is this a hard problem to fix? And would the leak be causing my truck to idle rough?
 
Question?, is your motor a job one or job two motor? If you're not sure you can tell by the throttle body cover, the two is a smaller cover only covering the TB, one is bigger and covers more of the intake as well. You can also tell by the production date since yours is an '01. If two then the most common problem is the cv elbow located to the left side of the TB. It usually cracks either on the top or bottom side. You can look at the other posts just before yours and it's the same thing. :smile0012::smile0006:
 
thank you. also the bottom pully is shaking. if anyone knows what this bottom pully does and why it might be shaking then that would be very helpful.
 
First, pull the codes and list them here. With them, we will be able to give you MUCH better information.



2nd, the most common vacuum leak for the Job 1 engine is the intake gasket, Job 2 would be the elbow as explained above.



The bottom pulley is bolted to the harmonic balancer. If the pulley itself is bent, simply replace it. The balancer may be failing as well. It is a 2-piece unit. There is basically rubber that may fail and let the balancer not run true.



I would remove the pulley, restart the engine and see if the balancer runs true, if so, then replace the pulley you removed. If not, either the crank is bent or the balancer is bad...
 
Eddie, you could be right, most are not and I assumed ours is like most. That said, we have had more than few fail. Because of that, I assumed they were of a two piece construction. If not, what is failing on them???
 
CJ, What happens is. With age and heat the rubber mounting the ballancer hardens. The ballancer slips on it mounting.

The one on my stang slipped. It was a 2 piece. The way I cuaght it was. I had under drive pulleys it started rubbing the back of water pump pulley. Before that happened I thought my timing had sliped(mechanical distributor).

I started to replace with an aftermarket performance balancer. No rubber mount. Cost prohibited at the time.
 
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No, balancer is rubber mounted to the trac crank pully. I call it one peice. Whole assy is keyed to the crank.



The stang 302 pushrod. The crank pully bolted to the balancer. Balancer on the 302 was keyed to the crank.
 
I assume it is bolted in the traditional sense where there is a large bolt that passes through the balancer and the crank pulley? If that is the case, then in theory it is a one-piece item per-say.



If I am reading you right, the rubber is more or less between the pulley and the balancer. If this is the case, then the bolt is basically sandwiching the rubber and more or less making the two items a one-piece construction. Is the rubber thick enough to give "GIVE" or thin enough that it almost acts as though it is not there when bolted to 100 foot pounds or so?
 
The balancer wheel free floats on rubber. But is stationary on the hub. The one that slides onto the crankshaft. In the case of the 4L sohc. The crank belt pulley is part of this assy. One piece. You cant buy the balance wheel and hub seperate.



My bet is the rubber deteriates the same as when the the balancer wheel and hub were seperate from the belt pulley. As the early fords were. Pulley was seperate.



The bolt is only holding the hub to the crank. Doesnt touch the rubber.



On either type the oem balance wheel is sweated onto the crank hub. With maybe 1/16" rubber between the 2 pieces. When that deteriates the wheel gets loose.



I say this without ever seeing a close up of the 4L assy. Maybe no rubber between the balance wheel and hub...That is my speculation of what must be wrong. Unless it is chewwing up crank keys and the bolt is loose.



Has anyone that replaced one ever said what was loose? Why the replacment was needed? on the trac 4.0L..All I have heard members say it was bad or wobling. Never heard specifics..
 
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Ok, then I will go with my initial thought of, it is in essence a two piece unit, simply bonded as one. Yes, I was refering to the pulley as being removable earlier on, and clearly that is not the case.



In the end, unless he swaps it out, it will be difficult to determine if the balancer/pulley is bent or the crank shaft is bent.



You could do it with a dial micrometer set up, but most done own the magnetic mount and micrometer to do so...
 
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