So i went to get something to eat, as i was leaving i heard like a rattling noise. next thing i know i cant steer very good and the car stops charging. First thought is one of the belts broke off but as i looked all the belts are on but moving slowly there is a rattling noise and the car is not charging, it steers but it is kind of hard. Im guessing one of the pullys broke? I just dont know which one. But it is dark out maybe i can get a better look in the morning.

I might add that the car does start but it is just running off the battery and the ps and alt belt are two different belts.

 

don't drive it.
I suspect the woodruff key broke, and the crank pulley isn't spinning.
If you drive it, the water pump will NOT be spinning, and you'll overheat your motor.

 

Thank you, so where can i get info on this part? Where it is located, how to change it, what it does, etc? Autozone has them for like $30. the crank pully looks wobbly, is that a symptom this thing broke?

 

Woodruff key is a half-moon shaped piece that's placed on the end of the crankshaft to hold the crank pulley while it's spinning. To change it, just pull the crank pulley and hopefully with a punch and hammer you can take it out.



In your case, it could be that it broke. But now that you mentioned that the crank pulley wobbling, chances are that the crank itself is starting to break, simply put, the engine is pretty much done. So check it and cross your fingers!

 

First thing I thought of was my experience with an old Civic where the cam sprocket busted off. Took a few minutes for it to break off completely and ruin the engine. Don't even start it. Take a look tomorrow, remove timing cover, and inspect. Then go have some Turkey.

 

Don't try to start her...sounds like you'll need some professional help.

 

Ok guys thanks, i am inspecting right now and keeping my fingers crossed. First thing i noticed is i can turn the pully by hand and i can hear a grinding kind of noise coming from the crank pully i believe.

 

Ok so it appears the bolt that holds the crank pulley on came off. It was very loose and i was able to take it out by hand. Was it just the bolt that came off that caused this? The bolt was still on and attached it was just loose. Also i might add i did not drive the car very far at all after this happened, as soon as it happened i pulled in to a gas station, maybe 50 feet at most. I did start it for about a minute just to look under the hood to see where the noise was coming from, after that i pulled it home.

 

On further inspection. Yes the half moon shaped key did appear to break off. When i took the whole pulley off the key was in pieces...So should i just change that key, torque the pulley back on and cross my fingers? I will wait for replies before i go on further.

 

Is the crank snout itself intact and in good shape?

If so, then you should be good to go with a new woodruff key.

IIRC VG's had problems with weak crank snouts, so be sure to inspect it good.

 

yep, i had that problem. one time the crank pulley itself went bad, replaced it and around half a year later it was wobbling again, crank itself was fecked. nothing i could do, so i drove it wobbling like crazy til the engine started knocking

 

Thanks guys i will check it out tomorrow morning more closely.

 

Would anyone happen to know the dimension of the woodruff key? They have a 5pc assortment at autozone.
3/32 X 1/2"
1/8 X 1/2"
5/32 X 5/8"
1/8 X 3/4"
3/16 X 3/4"

 

Doesn't that come as a kit with all 5? I don't believe you can buy them separately. Just use the one that fits

 

Yes it is a set but i wasnt sure if any of them would fit so i was just making sure before i bought it. I believe it is the 5/32 by 5/8 one though.

 

Well none of those fit. The two that are closest to it, one of them is the same width and depth but it is a little to long, and the other is the same length and depth but it is a little to thin. I am going to check a couple other places tomorrow but if anything the guy at the local shop says i can just grind the longer one down and it will work? The had a bunch of them at the local hardware store to but none were the exact size. I wonder if a place like home depot would have some. Im going to go check tomorrow.

Half of the old one was still inside the pulley so the exact measurement is a 3/16 x 5/8 i believe. I found one on the fastenal website and we have one of those stores 15 mins from here so maybe they have some there in store.

 

Just grind the longer one down to fit. Easy peasy

 

Just wanted your guys opinion on this i was told it is the crankshaft and or camshaft seals that are leaking oil. Is this what it looks like to you?





Its been like that for maybe a year now. I took it to a shop that wanted to charge me i think around 300 for parts and labor. I bought the parts i just never wanted to change it buy myself lol so i am thinking of taking it to get done. But it is not that bad. it leaks a few drops over night and it is not at the point where i have to put oil into it. the oil level is always normal up until my next oil change so i never really worried about to much.

 

i wouldnt worry too much about the oil leak, only thing to worry about is oil getting on the timing belt and weakening it but i have never personally seen that happen although someone i work with did. you should replace the seal eventually, but its nothing urgent. mine left quarter sized oil spots too

 

ok thanks. I think i will just wait until it starts warming up again around february to do it.

 

Ok so i got the key today but i am not sure if it is supposed to look like this? To me it seems like the key would just fall out?

 

I bet you could fix it yourself. But if not, 300 seems fair. Do a timing chain, tensioner and then a waterpump rebuild while your at it... new gaskets and rtv while your in there will fix leaks.

 

Well i dunno what happened but it was making a weird noise, not like a clicking, maybe like a thumping i cant really explain it, i tried doing a video but the mic didnt pick it up. But after running a few minutes all of a sudden the ac belt(the biggest belt) started ripping apart so i ran to turn it off so i dunno if i put it to tight or not tight enough.

 

I know I'm new here on this forum. But it sounds like you need to pull the crank pulley back off and inspect the key way groove on the pulley and see if that groove is damaged . If it is. Your going to need to get you another crank pulley .

That groove and key needs be a tight fit. Any slack there will cause a clicking/knocking noise and then key failure and possibly damage crank more.

 

I must have missed the last pic. You need a taller key . If you look at the pics you posted, there is another key right behind the one your working on now and that's the way it should look like when you have your crank pulley installed. The key you have now is too short and the spinning force of the crank is causing the key to jump out the crank groove. You may have to go to Nissan or salvage yard to get correct Key.

And if live around a lot of farm land like I do . You might try going Tractor dealerships that does tractor repairs like Case or John Deer . They should have a larger selection of keys to choose from.

 

Well thats what i thought to because it had all that space but that is the same exact one as the one that was in there before, i mean the same size and all.. I will look at it tomorrow i think maybe my ac compressor might be bad so im going to try and run it without the ac belt on.

 

Well the car runs, it just makes some kind of noise, i dunno if that pulley is no good or like you said i might need a taller key?? Im going to go to the junk yard this week sometime, the only thing is taking the bolt off..

 

Hey guys, i got a video if you can help me out on this sound. I havent driven my car for like 2 weeks because i dunno what this sound is and dont want to chance it breaking down again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKcKo...ature=youtu.be

 

Did you inspect the woodruff key again? Judging by these pictures, it probably fell out and the pulley is spinning.

 

No i have not inspected it again. I really didn't want to have to take that bolt off again but i will do it some time this week. So what can i do about that. Where can i get a taller key that will fit in there perfect? I really havent seen any keys that are taller than that. Most of them are about that height. The thing is to like on the courtesy site it doesn't give you the measurements of their keys so im pretty sure they are the same as this one i have and they charge you like $11 just for shipping those which is wierd..

 

You have a few options and you may have to get creative...
Here's a few ideas:
1 Find a taller key, or make your own
2 Weld that key on there.
3 Make a shim that you can drive between the key and the pulley, once the pulley is on there, so the key cant fall out of the groove.
4 Reduce the size of the groove on the pulley itself.

 

Thanks. I doubt i am going to find a taller key, i had a hard enough time finding that one. So i think #3 or 4 is going to be the best bet here. Just gotta figure out how to do it.

 

Honestly, the key isn't that expensive, considering the peace of mind
http://www.courtesyparts.com/0092651...4-p-42172.html
(won't be much more at a local nissan parts dealer)

 

Well i dont mind paying for it if i know for sure it is going to work. If it had the actual dimensions it would be better. The one i bought off ebay was a 3/16 x 5/8(the exact size as the one that was previously in my car) and it didnt work as you can see in the pics although it wasnt an oem nissan part. I guess it wont hurt to order it though.

 

you can't spend 10-20 bucks on a part that's mission critical on your motor?
really? are the 3rd gens coming down to this? given the part is less than 2 bucks and courtesy just rips you off on shipping...you have other options. maybe even a local nissan dealer can order this part for you and you'll know that the part is the CORRECT part and not one from a farm tractor or something.

 

trust me...the one that a nissan dealer WILL be the correct part. also consider using some blue loctite on the bolt or get a new bolt just in case.

 

Ok i will order it tomorrow. I already put the bolt back on and put loctite on it so i am going to have to take it off again.

 

Well i got the part but im stumped on how i am going to take the crank bolt off again since i dont have a impact wrench. Was thinking of doing this but didnt know if it was reccommended?

 

Scotty's legit. If he says "do this," he's not just smoking dope and making videos.
He's an award winning mechanic/show host.
http://www.scottykilmer.com/

 

Well I have another idea I'm going to try first before I try this.