wobbling crank pulley, broke crank pulley bolt HALP - Honda Prelude Forum

fourthgeneration · 02-11-2006, 06:31 PM

So a few days ago my crank pulley started to wobble like mad. I drove it 15 miles home and stopped driving it since. At higher rpm's the car was running like usual.

I assumed that the crank pulley bolt came loose so I purchased the tool for the crank pulley. It got here yesterday and today I took off the belts and noticed that the pulley would wiggle just by touching it, yet I couldn't break torque on it to save my life. I ended up breaking the bolt leaving half of it in the crank. I could've sworn that that bolt is not reverse threaded, am I right?

Secondly, what the hell should I do now? Why would the pulley wobble while the bolt seemed to have stayed torqued?

Joon525 · 02-11-2006, 07:02 PM

The bolt may have been loosened a bit and then froze.
You are correct, the bolt is not reverse threaded.
You got a big problem on your hands right now. You could try drilling it out which is what I think most places are going to try anyway.

dohcpower v2.0 · 02-11-2006, 07:20 PM

I had this happen on my 4g as well.

I had a shop fix and they just drilled out the broken part of the bolt.

NotoriouSH · 02-11-2006, 08:52 PM

It's going to take a really strong drill to generate enough torque to get that thing loose, those bolts are insanely tight.

TruNinja619 · 02-11-2006, 08:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotoriouSH

It's going to take a really strong drill to generate enough torque to get that thing loose, those bolts are insanely tight.

I agree... 187 ft/lbs is what I believe you're suppose to torque it too.... yet people that install crank pulleys use their impact gun and blast away on it...

same exact thing happend to me as well around November of last year... except the crank pulley bolt was loose as well... took out my power steering belt but.. the alternator belt was hanging around the pulley..

I hope you'll be able to resolve you're crank pulley issue.. and oh yea... don't forget to buy the key for the crank pulley also... you'll most likely need that as well..

fourthgeneration · 02-14-2006, 12:13 AM

update: bought some left handed extractor bits. couldnt do much. got pissed and just drilled straight through the bolt. still cant get much of it out. round 2 tomorrow

Killer_Vtec · 02-14-2006, 12:27 AM

4th gen not to hi-jack your thread, but whats the proper method for removing the crank pulley?

I hate to jump on the breaker bar to break tq the crank pulley

NotoriouSH · 02-14-2006, 08:32 AM

I borrowed a massive impact gun and it zinged the bolt out of there in about 2 seconds. I couldn't get enough leverage on it to break it loose by hand, not without bending all my tools at least.

petern101 · 02-14-2006, 10:25 AM

basically how i broke my crank pulley with hand tools

need a friend maybe

get the car up on jackstands, and basically jam the crank pulley tool on the crank pulley and the ground (kinda like how ppl jam doors with chairs in movies) get some 1/2 or 3/4 inch extentions, and a big breaker bar with cheater bar. now get another jack stand and put it directly under the head of the breaker bar, make sure everything is straight/perpindicular

and just push down, and it broke

aklucsarits · 02-14-2006, 03:24 PM

That happened on my 1st 4th gen - twice - at 50,000mi and then again at 65,000mi. The first time, the pully was wobbly, the pully bolt broke when they tried to remove it. They drilled it out. This was at a Honda dealer.

The second time, 15,000 mi later, the crank pully sheered the bolt in two and the pully flew around the engine bay. Car was going about 40mph at the time. Valves hit pistons. Bad words were said. Engine was replaced.

Andrew

fourthgeneration · 02-17-2006, 10:40 PM

update: I drilled a hole through the broken bolt. and to make a long story short I broke an extractor bolt INSIDE THE BROKEN CRANK SHAFT BOLT WTF.

Boudreau · 02-18-2006, 08:28 AM

pretty close thing just happend to me... altho my problem was the moron that owned the car before me decided he would CROSSTHREAD a different crankshaft bolt in it.. so i had to pull my motor and get the whole crank and mainbearings brand new... its been since september, its its february 18th right now... and i still havent gotten my motor back yet

i know how u feel fourthgeneration it sucks bad man i am sick of my 88civic with no 3rd 4th or 5th gear.. lol hope u get it fixed faster than mine!

TruNinja619 · 02-18-2006, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Killer_Vtec

4th gen not to hi-jack your thread, but whats the proper method for removing the crank pulley?

I hate to jump on the breaker bar to break tq the crank pulley

the proper method is to to get the Honda tool to hold crank pulley bollt and use an impact gun to take out the crank pulley bolt...

my friend was telling me that he was able to use his Snap-On electric impact wrench gun on it.. 1/2" drive.. and took that thing out.. and that kinda gun only puts out 200 ft/lbs max...

he did it on a GSR though.. but I don't think it makes much of a difference.. the bolt is still pretty damn tight..

ludesi904 · 12-24-2010, 11:47 PM

so for fixin this problem are yall just replacin the bolt or the bolt and harmonic balancer? mine went wobbly on me today so i tightened the bolt. but it still has a very slight wobble up and down instead of the bad side to side it had earlier today. i dont want to run into problems. lol

chris89 · 09-09-2011, 01:39 AM

Well the idiot who replaced my hydraulic tensioner, didn't tighten the crank bolt correctly and it loosened and both belts came off while driving and the pulley was very loose. So I removed the bolt since it was loose. There was minor damage done to the pulley and the crank key. So I jamed a screw driving in a hole above the brake caliper and slid it into the holes around the brake disc. This allowed for the bolt to be tightened and not turn the wheels (while in 1st) of course. I didn't have a torque wrench on hand so I tightened as much as I could with a standard crappy ratchet. What would you say a standard ratchet would allow for max lb. ft of torque? Anyway the pulley seems to be holding, however the power steering belt fell off today

. Anyway the a/c belt stayed on and the crank pulley seemed ok. I mean I tightened the belt correctly. Maybe I need to tighten the belt tensioner bolt to the max. Is that correct? I mean I based it on belt tension it self. I twisted the belt 1/2 to confirm the tension of the belt. So I suppose i'll just reinstall the belt and tighten the p/s tension bolt all the way down this time. Then place that screw driver in between the brake caliper and disc to torque the crank pulley bolt to what 186 lb. ft?

Later and thank for this info.... Hopefully you can use my method next time and avoid that special crank holder tool.

gotjnco · 04-12-2012, 06:41 PM

any updates?? im in the same boat... and pissed off

chris89 · 04-12-2012, 10:03 PM

Yeah I rented the tightening tool and some locktite with a new key and pulley and put locktite on the bolt and torqued to 220 ft lbs. Its been almost a year and the car is running great.

gotjnco · 04-13-2012, 10:18 AM

I guess i'll have to do the same... thanks!