So my crank pulley failed last week. I replaced the pulley with a Dorman replacement and fresh Gates belts from NAPA. I ran into a couple of problems.

1) How do I torque the crank pulley on an auto tranny? I found the access panel under the signal plate but I don't see the ring gear. I do see one of the holes on the flex plate but wasn't able to lock it in place.

2) I went ahead and started it up after a I got the crank bolt as tight as I could and it seems like the pulley still wobbles.

3) The power steering belt tensioner is rubbing on the belt. While I was down there, the tensioner was in the way when I was trying to put the belt on. I tried adjusting it in and out but the tensioner doesn't seem to move away from the power steering pulley.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

anyone?

 

Hey, how much was the cost of parts? I just ran into the same issue, my pulley and the hub actually seperated! Causing the belt to shred.

Also, how would you rate the difficulty of this job?

 

This is the exact one I purchased http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ef=oss_product it was just at $100 shipped.

As far as difficulty.....it sucks monkey ***** if you have an auto tranny. I had to put a breaker bar on the bolt and bump the starter about 3 times to break the bolt loose. Still trying to figure out how to tighten it. There's a access cover where the engine meets the transmission that shows the flex plate, but the opening is really small and I haven't figured out what to stick in there to hold the crank still to torque the crank pulley bolt.

Another thing was the power steering tensioner. Had no idea you had loosen a third bolt behind the darn thing until I dragged my laptop out to the garage.

Anyways, good luck with the job. I'm still waiting for my questions to be answered.

edit: just read you sig...you have a 5-spd. Just have someone put the car in gear and hold the brakes to loosen and torque the crank bolt.

 

Hey, thanks for the response! I'll go the route you mentioned. The only other ways I could find was with an impact wrench or by turning the starter over once with a breaker bar from the pulley down to the ground-this seems to risk breaking a tooth on the flywheel though.

Sounds like you got a great deal! I found one locally for 115 new at a junkyard so I'll check that route.

Good luck!

 

I haven't done this on a max yet but on other cars I usually stick a square shafted screwdriver or pry bar in the opening for the starter and jam up the flexplate.

Another old-school trick is to remove the spark plug on no. 1 cylinder and just before TDC put some rope down through the plug hole to jam the piston against the head.

 

I haven't peeked in through the access cover myself but holding the starter ring gear is supposed to be the method to hold the crank (with a warning not to contact the signal plate). Can't you get a good sized flat screw driver or flat pry bar in there? Pull the starter if you have to. You absolutely should torque (it's high) the pulley bolt to spec. before running this engine anymore. Make sure that the pulley alignment key is located properly in the groove in the crankshaft (don't drop it in the timing chain case). It might be prudent to replace the oil seal as well. The torque spec. for the pulley bolt (oil threads and contact surface) is to torque it to 29-36 ft/lbs and rotate a further 60-66 degs (the distance between two bolt head hex points). The bolt torque is really important. I kinda think it's a two man job.

 

^Excellent suggestions. You can also jam a small chisel in the flex plate and against the transmission housing under the car (behind plastic cover). I've also put long bolts into the threaded holes used for the puller to jam a prybar while torqueing the crank pulley bolt. The crank shaft is keyed and centrifugal force of the spining crank shaft tends to tighten the bolt. Get the bolt tight with one of these methods and you should be good.

BTW you can use the starter to loosen the bolt but not tighten it.

 

That's how I did it on my 02 altima. After I took off that little access panel on the transmission I had a friend insert a hardened punch into one of the holes and hold the punch against the trans housing so the flexplate wouldn't turn while I was tightening the crank bolt. We did it all with hand tools because I don't have compressed air at my house. The old 24" breaker bar worked wonders.