Hey all. Ive got a 2000 LS sedan with a 4-speed auto. About two months ago I was replacing the belt tensioner which I found to be a complete pain in the ass mainly because the bolt holding the pully in was too long and was hitting the inside fender well before I could get it completely out of the pulley. Therefore I placed a car jack under the block, then unbolted the bottom motor mount (passenger side), then had my roomate slowly unbolt the top motor mount (passenger side). When the last bolt for the top mount finally came out, the engine did drop suddenly about an inch mainly because the piece of wood I had sandwiched between the car jack and the block kinda gave a little, but nonetheless, it wasn't too bad. Anyways, at that point, I replace the tensioner, remounted the engine, double checked all the mounts too make sure they were tight (used a 2 foot breaker bar with a 2 foot wrench on the end of that to get some serious leverage), and all was good. Unfortunately ever since then, I now have a grinding sound on that side of the car. Too me it sounds like either the transmission or the CV Axle. Now the CV axle is new (3 months old) so I honestly dont think thats the problem. Basically, when I am at a dead stop and I give it a good amount of gas (roughly half throttle or more) I get a grinding noise from the passenger front side, which lasts a couple of seconds (depends on how much throttle I give it). If i just drive it normal its fine, if Im going anything more than 20 and floor it its fine, going around corners its fine. The only thing is noticeable other than the loud grinding from a stand still is when I am pulling into my driveway (always a left hand turn) I am going slow enough to feel a very slight grind coming from that side through the steering wheel. Now when I dropped the motor to replace the tensioner, I didnt think to take the wheel off and remove the axle nut holding the axle to the wheel bearing which would have allowed the axle to come out if there wasnt enough slack when I dropped the engine. I am wondering if this mistake might have damaged the transmission? When I took it to the shop, I notice the axle was sticking very slightly out of the transmission casing, but im not sure if it was more than normal or not.... Either way, the guy pulled the axle out, regreased it and set it back in and it still makes the noise. Also if your at a dead stop and hold the brakes so the car doesnt go anywhere and give it gas, itll just keep grinding... That being said, the car is fine just driving it around, but I like to keep her in as good of shape as possible so knowing that somethings wrong drives me nuts. If anyone has ideas about this I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Just a guess timing chain issue? or CV joint problem.
