Faulty wiring harness / Multiple sensor fail codes / NO START

Well, I started taking stuff out and got the engine mount off, and was surprised at how easy it actually was. You guys have helped a ton, (and I do see now where the crank timing mark is on the housing).
However, I hit ANOTHER snag, as I can't seem to get the engine positioned well enough to pull the support out of the side of the engine. I took the dogbone bracket off, but still it doesn't seem to want to give me space. The AC lines are in my way, and I can't rotate it enough to get it free. Took about 2 hours yesterday just trying to work on that.
Any suggestions? I'm skimming the forums right now for that, but figured I'd post an update first.

Okay everybody, I got the mount out. Had to have a friend push the engine back more while I tugged on the mount. Was quite a chore.

So this is what my timing was at:


This is the result I had – I believe the belt is stretched out, and since I can't get the pulley off myself I can't replace the belt just yet. No matter what I tried, I can't get the mark to align better with the crank at all, it looks to me that it's half a tooth off.



I may have found somebody to help me drill the bolts out, (and I knew earlier I'd still have to do this), but I just wanted to make sure the engine wasn't dead before I put more work/money into fixing it so that's why I just tried to adjust the timing first.

Here's the concern, however. There's a rattling noise now coming from the bottom of the engine the idle is pretty rough. Not uneven, just rough. Not sure if it's the half a tooth of timing fail, that injector that got dropped, or something more sinister.
I did change the oil out, and it appears that there isn't metal or foreign objects in it, so that makes me feel a tiny bit better.
Another odd note: the sound gets worse as the car warms up, and if I even gently graze the throttle, it stops as well and the idle becomes buttery goodness. 1k RPMs is where it feels flawless again.

I'll edit and post a video of me starting it, so you can hear the sounds.

Wow it was really off :/ not sure about a noise at the bottom of the engine though

I spoke with another friend who works with my mom's bus company, and he suggested that I can just take the pulley and crank out at once using the center bolt as long as I mark it. It never occurred to me that I could do that, so after my week long vacation, I'll be doing that and changing my belt out. Hopefully that fixes the angry idle issue.
Can anybody tell me what the noise sounds like, in this video (I'm about to post)? It really sounds like crankshaft play to me, but baffles me because it goes away as I gas it a tiny bit.

Here's the video I promised - forgot about it in the midst of a week-long vacation on the other side of the US. You can hear the regular fuel injector ticking, and the car warming up and idling high, but you can also hear the metallic rattling as well, towards the end of me holding it under the car, before I stand up.
Video/audio clip.

vwengineer said:

Wow it was really off :/ not sure about a noise at the bottom of the engine though

Click to expand...

Not exactly sure the cause, but it doesn't rattle when in gear. Warm or cold, it rattles a bit from bottom of the engine/trans. Maybe it introduced play when I jacked the side of the engine up dramatically?
I drove it around today, and even with it half a tooth off from belt stretch, it runs SUPER well. I'll be driving it to a shop when I get the money, to have them drilled out those bolts so I can get at the belt to replace it.

So continuing the issue, I may have to diagnose a possible head gasket leak. I suspected it before, but had a sensor leaking that I only just fixed, and I'm still noticing a slight drop in coolant level sitting overnight, and it does sputter for a second upon starting up. Need to figure out decent options here, and see if you guys suspect the same issue I do.
I'll make a new post for that, since it's a one-off kind of deal, unlike this whole post here.