Broken starter bolt

High pitch noise could come from the distributor shaft bushings

lack of oil getting to the upper bushing

has been sitting a while

take a look under the cap and wiggle the shaft

no wiggle is a good thing

Capt Fiero wrote: Well pick up a slave and toss that in 1st thing...

Dave, the problem as I remember it (keep in mind this was five years ago!) was that stepping on the clutch pedal didn't move the lever which moves the clutch fork. It didn't appear to be a hydraulic issue, as I unfortunately was only too familiar with those type of issues with my first Fiero.

Now I will state right now that the clutch pedal is bent (it sits below the brake pedal), and this MIGHT be the reason the clutch isn't disengaging (which would be great if this is all that the problem is), but it might also be a chicken and egg scenario. The clutch pedal may have gotten bent because the previous owner was trying to force the clutch pedal to the floor when something was actually stuck internally with the clutch/pressure plate/throwout bearing, etc.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can try and move that lever (without using the hydraulic system) to see if something in the internal clutch assembly is stuck or not? (The previous owner had put the clutch in and figured he had screwed up with the throwout bearing or the pressure plate or whatever. But he didn't know for sure.)

And how far should the top of the lever (where the rod from the slave normally sits) be able to move (without going too far)? About an inch?

Capt Fiero wrote: Pat you awake?  Its just 5am...

No Dave, I wasn't awake at 5am. Thanks for not calling!

If you're around now, I'd certainly appreciate hearing what you have in mind. I'll be going outside to wrestle tigers (work on the Fiero) in about a half hour though.

Okay, I made progress, but...

It wasn't a vacuum leak. It wasn't the distributor bushings (but I'm still glad I took it off and checked it out as there wasn't any thermal compound between the ignition module and the distributor base).

Out of desperation I unwrapped my new mechanic's stethoscope and put it to use. I found the problem, sort of. The noise is coming from something rubbing the inside of the timing cover right at the particular location that the white arrow is pointing to.

So what am I up against here? I don't recall any noise of this sort when I heard the engine running five years ago. Is there something that could've happened while it's been sitting for five years that would result in this "rubbing".

Other than this gol' darn problem, the engine starts right up and runs fine.

I had another look today, and again used my mechanic's stethoscope. I pinpointed exactly where the rubbing sound was coming from (right at the top of the timing cover) and noticed there was a buildup of silicone there, probably extra that had sort of oozed over from where the gasket is. I peeled it away with my finger. Low and behold, what did I find!

Yep, a dent right at the top center of the timing cover!

Look's like I've got to drop the cradle anyway to fix the clutch issue. So now I can fix this at the same time, as well as replace the water pump I notice is dripping out of the weep hole.

I love these cars.

ARTIC-1 wrote: Did you get your broken bolt on the starter out yet?

Interesting that you should ask at this time because I got the broken starter bolt out today!

As reported Here, I've been slaving away the last few days on this Fiero. This is what I was looking at yesterday.

You'll notice to the left of the flywheel the starter peeking out. Once the flywheel was off, the top of the broken inner starter bolt was exposed and I was able to use vice-grips to rotate it so that it went down. When the broken end of the bolt eventually poked out the bottom of the engine block, I was then able to use the vice-grips on that end and continue to rotate the broken bolt until it dropped completely out.

I was lucky, no drilling required. However, I was only able to do it this way because I've got half the car torn apart!

I should've taken a picture of what I was doing today, but I was too filthy to handle the camera.