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from what my buddy told me if you take out the starter and turn the flywheel with a prybar you should be able to see the cracks. you could try turning the engine backwards with a prybar at the flywheel and have a friend holding the balancer at the front and see if get any movement. hope it's not a flywheel not a fun job.

 

sorry to sound redundant tntech guess we posted at the same time. have you seen this problem lots at the dealership? i seen this lots on the 2.2 and 2.5 engines

 

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I spent an hour yesterday trying to pull the starter per fargo39's post. Not enough room down there to pull it out without pulling the engine mount. Then I saw TNtech's post about the inspection plate. Just pulled that off. When I warm up a bit (50 degrees and rainy out there right now) I'll try wiggling the flex plate, crank the engine, try wiggling it some more, etc. and look for cracks. You're right about it not looking like a fun job. I read that section in the manual last night. Why didn't this happen in the summer when I've got all my vacation time and don't have to worry about driving to school? Murphy and his stupid law, I guess. I really appreciate your support, guys!

 

Ok, Gurus, here's the latest. I don't see any cracks in the flex plate. I finally got mad and disconnected every [bad word] sensor on the car except for the crank position sensor. The car started! Didn't run very well, mind you, but it ran! I shut it off, reconnected a sensor, and started it again. Shut it off, reconnected another sensor and tried again. I kept going until the last sensor that was still disconnected was the cam position sensor. It didn't start. Now, I just bought that sensor, so I'm reasonably sure that it's ok. My question to you is this: could this be an indication that there is a sync problem between the cam and crank? Could this be because of a cracked flex plate that I'm not able to see through the inspection hole? Or could this be due to a jumped timing chain? Remember that I've got 150 psi in each cylinder. Thanks again for all your help!

 

Ok, here's an update: I got mad and disconnected every sensor. Then I plugged in the crankshaft position sensor alone and the car ran in limp mode. I shut it off and plugged in another sensor and started it again. I kept doing this until the car wouldn't start with the camshaft position sensor connected. I had just replaced it, so I was pretty sure that wasn't the problem. It was indeed a timing issue. After talking to the dealership and an independent mechanic, I found out that yes, either the front of the engine or the back of the engine is the culprit. They both said that the only way to tell is to tear into the front end of the engine and look at the timing chain. Well, that's what I did. Catastrophic failure of the water pump. Fortunately, when it went, it threw off the timing such that the car wouldn't run, thereby sparing the engine. As I took off the cam covers, the oil was milky. I'm pretty sure I caught it in time. After I change the chain, sprockets, and water pump, and put it all back together, I'll change the oil, run it until it's hot, then change it again. I had planned on doing this job last summer, but I ran out of time and figured I'd do it next summer. Nope! Thank you all for your assistance!
-Steven