My 86 SE V6 has been landlocked for a good couple months after the pickup coil went bad and I'm too scared to fix it. But I went in the garage for sh*ts and giggles and turned the key to the first click to get the lights working and all I hear is this h u g e crash coming from the engine bay, so I investigate and nothing looks out of the ordinary. I go and crank the car to see if that would help and now the whole dang car shakes when cranking. Nothing *new* is leaking... I'm still dripping coolant here and there but that's not important.
Tl;dr, what could have even caused that noise with the car only getting battery power?!
Let's resolve this 'first click' thing.....that's when the lights go on and the fuel pump runs, but the starter does not engage. If you are cranking the starter and the engine is turning over, it can be out of balance if a chunk of the clutch pad is still attached to the flywheel. Does it shake while the starter is engaged or is the engine running?
[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 02-09-2020).]
Let's resolve this 'first click' thing.....that's when the lights go on and the fuel pump runs, but the starter does not engage. If you are cranking the starter and the engine is turning over, it can be out of balance if a chunk of the clutch pad is still attached to the flywheel. Does it shake while the starter is engaged or is the engine running?
That's just the thing. It was the first click that made the sound.. when I actually went to crank it, only the starter is going and the engine never turns over (presumably because of the pickup coil.) And the whole car shakes like hell
So as the starter is rotating the crankshaft at approx...300 rpm (and not starting).....the car shakes like hell. If this shaking is about 5 shakes per second, that would correspond with the crankshaft speed.
edit: Can you repeat the clunk sound? Any other odd noises? Does the clutch position change anything?
[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 02-09-2020).]
There are a number of electrical components that get power when the key is 'on'...including the ignition coil and the ICM. Maybe one of those has blown up.
[This message has been edited by Gall757 (edited 02-10-2020).]
Light etc on means little. Check battery is charge. Full charge is 12.6-13v, maybe a bit more, after been charging.
Not starting can be iffy ignition or many other things including low battery. Low battery might make Starter to run but battery have nothing left to run the ECM and rest of electrics for engine.
Battery low/dead then recharge might still be bad. If battery will take a charge and reach 12.6+v then try to start one time and check volts again. Battery should be close to same. If drops quickly to ~ 11v or less, battery very likely has bad cell and need a new battery.
If you pulled the dist, likely have bad timing and won't start. Also See my Cave, HE Ignition
------------------ Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should. (Jurassic Park)
Either the clutch busted or a motor mount broke, hose will definitely make an engine shake while cranking. If the clutch came apart you should hear some grindage while cranking. For either of those to happen the instant you turned the key is pretty slim, but weirder stuffs happened to me.
For the pickup coil issue, just get a whole new distributor. Sometimes they are a biotch to change off the old dist
