Loose crank pulley

[mforos]

Hi there,

I was hoping for someone to point me in the right direction. The crank pulley (with aircon) on my 3.2 Carrera is starting to loosen up!!!

After some research, conflicting information on the net and confusion on my behalf, is it possible to tighten the crank pulley without taking out the engine?

If the car:

is on jack stands (rear)
engine (crankcase) supported on a jack
remove the muffler and heating pipe
remove all rear supporting bolts from the engine cradle

can I lower the engine by a few inches to access the pulley?

Is there any other way to tighten the pulley?

Thanks for your help!!

mforos (newbie to Pelican and loving it!!)

[tom1394racing]

With the cradle and mount removed, you can access the pulley bolt.

You can use an impact wrench to snug it up. Be sure to use loctite on the threads.

If you don't have an impact wrench, you'll need to lock the engine to prevent it from turning. You can do this by putting the car in gear and setting the emergency brake.

[mforos]

Thanks for your help Tom, it'smuch appreciated.

I guess I need to ensure the engine is properly supported when I remove the cradle and mounts. Hopefully there is no damage to the pulley dowl pin or more importantly my crankshaft.

[AlfonsoR]

I wonder how your pulley loosened up?

If access is not too bad, you may want to remove it and inspect both the dowel and the hole in the crank just to document the condition of the parts. If you have minimal wear and slop, then you don't worry about it, but if there is significant wear, then you maybe you can plan to do the repair sometime in the future. And in that case, you can maybe install a pulley with a fresh dowel right now to prolong the life of the hole in the crank.

Just a thought.

[mforos]

Thanks for the tip, I will definately inspect the crankshaft for any damage and ensure the dowel is in good condition.

I'm pretty sure that it won't damaged however, as its only a slight wobble and does not free spin on the crank.

I have heard that they can come loose as a result of an over rev, however I'm not sure how true that is.

[lindy 911]

The dowel pin is only there to locate the pulley relative to the cranks position. Once the bolt is torqued to spec the pin becomes useless. It is not a stressed component of the pulley / crank connection. I would use a torque wrench and make sure it gets tightened to the proper spec. Over tightening with an impact could cause more problems. You can get to it easily by dropping the muffler and rear cradle.

Lindy

[AlfonsoR]

That's a good point that the pin, it is not stressed, but it does locate where TDC is for each cylinder. I like to be as accurate as possible in that regard.