Crankshaft Pulley help

I need serious help! I am by far any type of mechanic, but for a chick I have done pretty good taking care of my 02 Mazda Protege lx 2.0L. I have ran into 2 issues actually. The main concern here is my crankshaft pulley. It has a slight wobble! No biggie right, well now it has a noise with it. My alternator going bad brought the wobble to my attention. Then after getting stuck in the mud (accidentally) idiot rednecks cant drive their big ole pick ups without making a mess! My tranny making a noise scared me (mud in flywheel)! I know my car, every shake, shimmy, sound, and vibration. This was a new sound and a slightly different thrum I would say. I've slowly been rebuilding my 02, it had 70k on it when I bought it replaced timing belt 2019. Alternator last week. Have a new starter for it, and ac compressor, cause my clutch plate on mine broke, water pump seems fine no overheating issues, bearings in wheels are all going bad, those next! Door lock actuators etc. I love my car! So I'm concerned about this wobble and thrumming sound. As well as the vaccum leak it has to have because I have literally replaced every sensor this car has, as well as coil paks 3times, and spark plugs every other oil change. Air filter etc...cant find the leak, but when I had my dash apart (changing hvac speed control knob & radio) When I drove It was like I could hear the vaccum leak...that was my next question. So mainly do I need to worry about my crank, and does anyone have a clue as to where that stubborn vacuum leak is?
 
Ok, I have the most recent codes, and a couple things I learned this week. 1) I had no idea mud would cake up inside the rim like that, it made my car drive horribly! 2) PCB you were right about the 100miles thing. It smoothed out alot the next day, thanks again! 3) so my mysterious vacuum leak, well when I was hosing all the mud out of my rims, spraying towards the driver seat and driver tire, from passenger front and directly in front of car, I havent a clue what I got wet but the green goblin didn't like it, she dropped rpms and raised em back about 3 times I thought she was gonna shut off. After that I leaned in the window killed the ignition. As car shut off I could hear the suction like sound coming from driver side, it was kinda loud! 4) about to replace bearrings and hubs, would it be wise to go ahead and replace cv joints as well? Not 100% (cause my 15yr old was yacking my ear off) I think I heard it do that card in a spoke kinda sound...like small pops quick and back to back.
Oh yeah codes
P0301- cylinder 1 misfire...yeah yeah I know!
P0421 - warm up catalyst efficiency below threshold bank 1
P0325 - Knock sensor 1 circuit bank 1 or single sensor
 
Upvote 0
301 code usually fixed with plugs, coils, and wires.
421 code usually points to a bad catalytic converter. If you dont have emissions testing you can use a nonfouler to space the 2nd 02 sensor out and that should stop that code.
325 the knock sensor is just above the oil filter and if you see a blackngooey mess oozing out of it - probably means it needs replacing.
I second the carb cleaner method around all vacuum lines and even intake and throttle body mounting points as those gaskets can leak too.
If funds permit it would be easy to change the axles when you do bearings as everything will be removed and you wont have to do it twice.
I hope this helps
 
Upvote 0

301 code usually fixed with plugs, coils, and wires.
421 code usually points to a bad catalytic converter. If you dont have emissions testing you can use a nonfouler to space the 2nd 02 sensor out and that should stop that code.
325 the knock sensor is just above the oil filter and if you see a blackngooey mess oozing out of it - probably means it needs replacing.
I second the carb cleaner method around all vacuum lines and even intake and throttle body mounting points as those gaskets can leak too.
If funds permit it would be easy to change the axles when you do bearings as everything will be removed and you wont have to do it twice.
I hope this helps
So, I had to google the nonfouler, I figured it's what it sounded like, but both my 02 sensors are before my cat where would I put it? Some of the skipping and the misfire code was a faulty wire.

Sleep, so the misfire code was due to a faulty plug wire. I got the carb cleaner today gonna take another shot at trying to find the leak tomorrow. I've already ordered my replacement intake accordion thing, MAF, nonfouler, axles, and etc.
 
Upvote 0
Hopefully this helps with the p421
How does it run now that the misfire is fixed? Any smoother?
 
Upvote 0
Hopefully this helps with the p421
How does it run now that the misfire is fixed? Any smoother?
Yes alot smoother, this weekend is gonna be the test of all tests, gonna be finding my vacuum leak,changing all 4 hubs and bearings, doing the nonfouler trick, and an attempt at just cleaning my caliper that's sticking. Thank you for the info. Needed that. My first vehicle was an 88 mazda 626 stick, then 01 explorer, 85 chevy box (I helped rebuild)05 Pontiac (learned about coil paks and 02 sensors)then I finally found my green mazda I've always wanted. Learning everything I can.
 
Upvote 0
The rear hubs are pretty easy to swap. The front bearings kinda suck but redoing them and axles should give you piece of mind for many years. I find sil-glide from napa works great on the brake slider pins for very long time and prevents the siezing issue. If its the piston sticking in caliper probably easier to replace the caliper than rebuild it. Is your accordian tube cracked and/or split? That will make a sound similar to vacuum leak and cause poor performance. Maybe changing that will fix the sound you hear and you wont need to search for a leak.
 
Upvote 0
You'll probably need a sledgehammer.
Those front axles can be unbelievably seized into the knuckles.
Grease the splines of the new axle when you install it.

You may need to take your knuckles to a machine shop to have the old bearings pressed out of the knuckles and have the new ones pressed in.
 
Upvote 0
The rear hubs are pretty easy to swap. The front bearings kinda suck but redoing them and axles should give you piece of mind for many years. I find sil-glide from napa works great on the brake slider pins for very long time and prevents the siezing issue. If its the piston sticking in caliper probably easier to replace the caliper than rebuild it. Is your accordian tube cracked and/or split? That will make a sound similar to vacuum leak and cause poor performance. Maybe changing that will fix the sound you hear and you wont need to search for a leak.
I'm gonna replace the intake tube, housing cause mine broke, and hopefully that's all the leak issue is.
 
Upvote 0
Back