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iTrader: (1)

Hey guys, i suppose i had to get something fixed on the car after 3 years of owning it with no problems...

earlier today my crankshaft pulley fell off. i started the which prompted the most ungodly squeal i have ever heard in my entire life, followed by the steering wheel being impossible to turn and the engine revving up slowly. I popped the hood to find that my serpine belt id off and the pulley is on the ground under the car ( or atleast the metal part that flies off) Ive done plenty of research about the issue and have some people coming to help me take the old one off hopefully tomorrow however that leaves me with having to buy a replacement and i would rather not spend $300 on the pulley, especially since im very much broke atm.

i found a store online called Dependable Autoparts and im wondering if anyone has dealt with them in the past. They sell a brand new pulley for $80 and their ebay account has a 99 percent positive feedback with almost 60k ratings.

please let me know as soon as possible so i can get working on the car. Since i will be waiting for the pulley either way i will also probably be buying the removal tool to take the bolt off. the one question i have however is about the position of the crank. since the pulley fell off i have no idea in what position it was when it flew off. Is there anything i need to do to avoid damaging my engine when putting the pulley back?

Any and all advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

The pulley is actually two parts, the part that fell off doesnt affect the rod, crank, or valve position. It's just a vibration dampener that eventually seperates from the crank pulley itself. Which is what happened for you.
As far as reliability of crank pulley's go, I have no idea, mine got dangerously close to separating when I was visiting my parents so I had to bite the bullet and get it from the lexus dealership for over $400 because I needed it that day.

These videos help a lot as part 2 and part 3 show the removal of the crank pulley

- part 2
- part 3

If you've never taken off the crank pulley it's a PITA and a half. I had a nearly 2 foot breaker bar and could not get it off, what I ended up doing was hooking the breaker bar up to the bolt going through the crank pulley and laying my breaker bar on the garage floor. It's been about 2 years since I did this but I believe if you are in front of your car facing the car the crank pulley rotates clockwise. But I could be wrong so double check that by starting the engine and observing which way it rotates. Anyways, what I did was laid the breaker bar on the ground to the right of the crank pulley while it was connected to the crank bolt. Then I chirped the starter which rotated the crank pulley fast enough to break tension.

Once tension was broken I used the tool that Jeff uses on part 3 of the videos above to pull the crank pulley off. And there's only one way that the crank pulley will go on and off so you don't have to worry about messing with the timing as you simply just slot the new one on and bolt it up the same as the old one was connected. I actually ended up bending the second tool that was in the part 3 video but the guy at Pep Boys I rented it from didn't seem to think it was a big deal but with the bolts bent the tool would never work with another car, so I don't know what he was thinking.

Also once you have the new crank pulley aligned and are tightening the crank pulley bolt you may have an easier time doing it with the car in first gear if it's a stick then you will with it in neutral. If it's an automatic, just ignore this and leave it in park.

Also if you have air-tools or access to air tools you can just remove the radiator and it's supposedly incredibly easy to break traction on the crank pulley bolt, if not you can do the method above or the one jeff shows in part 2 of the above videos. Anyways good luck, it seems daunting but once you break traction on the crank pulley bolt it's a rather simple job.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Buy a good condition used one from a forum member or ebay. No reason to spend $300-400 on a new one. You can buy a whole used GE engine with a crank pulley for the same price lol. I bought one from a member for $75.00 and it worked just fine. Sure, used is used, but really think about how much money this will cost you. Once you buy the used crank pulley, visit any gas station and ask the mechanics if they wouldn't mind doing a side job for $100. More than likely they'll say yes and you can get it done after hours. It should be back on the road in 20 minutes with the right mechanic.

hoosier58

I bought an aftermarket one on eBay for under $100. I ended up having to take it back off, then reinstall it, because my water pump failed right after I put it on (not caused by the pulley, of course). After I completed the job, and drove the car a couple of miles, the outer balancing disc came apart. It MAY have happened because I was too aggressive with the pry bars removing it (maybe I cracked it). Nonetheless, I found a genuine Toyota one at a U-Pull and paid $35 after that.
It isn't a 20 minute job though. There's a lot of disassembly before anyone can get in there with a big impact, or with big breaker bars, to do the job. Shrouds, fan, hoses, fan clutch, at least.

hoosier58

There's a specialty tool, made by Schley, that makes the job much easier, but most mechanics won't own it. They'll use a chain wrench, most likely.

eknine9

iTrader: (8)

He meant a 20 minute job for a mechanic with a lift and air tools. I didn't find there to be too much to dis-assemble on my way to the crank pulley, but then again I don't have a fan shroud or the plastic skid plate on the bottom of the engine so it was just fan, fan clutch, hoses, and serpentine belt then I was there.
It's substantially longer being done in a driveway or garage, as I'm sure you found out. But now that you've done it I'm sure you got a lot faster at removing and re-attaching the crank pulley. And using a pry to remove it can definitely damage the outer disc, this is why it's best to use the pulley remover tool once you've broken sieze on the crank pulley bolt.

I wish I had done my timing belt at the same time when I did mine, that's going to be coming up for me in about 20k miles.

I think Driftmotion or some distributor like that has a solid crank pulley for our cars, if any of ya'll plan on having the car for a long time that might be something to consider, but the crank pulley already lasts 20+ years so maybe it's nothing worth thinking about.

Ramblerman

Got the same problem with my 96 SC400. Caught it before it came clear apart, but outside piece slid in towards engine. 3.8 GM motors do the same thing, but easier to change on the Lexus since the engine sits in the car like a real motor should,not sideways! I can get anew one for 300.00, but will go good used to fit the wallet. Rubber part dies & lets the outside fall off.