Kinda Lucky

[xintersecty]

I parked my car a couple of nights ago and while parking, my battery light came on, the steering got really hard, and there was a bit of banging in the engine compartment. Well Shucks the serpentine belt went. So I had to leave the car sit for a couple of days.

This morning I finally poked at it. I raised up the hood and noticed the belt was intact and in somewhat decent shape (going to replace it anyhow). I jacked the car and took the wheel off. My under-drive pulley came off. So I am very lucky I did not loose that guy on the highway.

Now I will put it back on with a torque wrench and loc-tite.

[sflindall26]

Wow that's crazy, yes you are right, so lucky that didn't come off on the highway. Glad your alright!

[Daox]

Wow, I've never heard of someone's crank pulley coming off. You really got lucky! Is the pulley okay (mostly thinking about the keyway)?

[xintersecty]

Wow, I've never heard of someone's crank pulley coming off. You really got lucky! Is the pulley okay (mostly thinking about the keyway)?

Will know tonight. Going to have a friend do the work as I can't do any of my own work due to a hernia repair.

[xintersecty]

We got into the repair last night. There was one slight issue. The timing belt was starting to wonder off the drive gear at the bottom. The serpentine pulley keeps timing belt aligned on the gear. So had rubbed against the plastic. Putting the pulley pushed the belt back into alignment. My friend put it back on with an impact hammer. Of course he wanted to torque the bolt, so I handed him my torque wrench knowing it will only spin the engine. It was funny watching him spin the engine.

This time I put loctite on the bolt this time.

[outdoorsaddix]

So not my drive pulley, but I have a similar story with my idler pulley. I actually had the bolt snap off on the highway, battery light went on and I thought my belt snapped so I was luckily a few KM from my mechanic so I limped it over there and had a look. I was incredibly lucky, the pulley had landed on the lower control arm and stayed there my some miracle. My mechanic was able to extract the broken bolt and luckily had one on hand that worked to replace it. Luck was with me overall that day.

[xintersecty]

No longer lucky!

Got burned. The pulley came off again. This time the key was damaged. The belt ate right through all the plastic and came off. I did put things together on the highway and it's a no start. I suspect the timing is off (it's not like I carry a cam lock with me). So it's at GF in Atlanta. It will be a couple of weeks before I can get my car. Then I will basically go through everything and fix it properly. I am not sure if the head was damaged or not. I did put all the marks together and check TDC on Cylinder one. I also rotated the engine and it felt good. I rotated the the cam gears and they felt good before I aligned the marks.

[avguy]

Not trying to kick someone when they're down, but this has nothing to do with good or bad luck. It all goes back to your post #5, and that friend of yours had the right idea. When the pully bolt is installed with a torque wrench according to the book torque spec, it doesn't come off. The torque from a gun is just a shot in the dark and asking for trouble, as you unfortunately found out, and I hope it doesn't wind up costing you a big pile of $$.

[xintersecty]

Not trying to kick someone when they're down, but this has nothing to do with good or bad luck. It all goes back to your post #5, and that friend of yours had the right idea. When the pully bolt is installed with a torque wrench according to the book torque spec, it doesn't come off. The torque from a gun is just a shot in the dark and asking for trouble, as you unfortunately found out, and I hope it doesn't wind up costing you a big pile of $$.

And your right. I was researching this topic and I had completely forgot the trick of stepping on brake while in gear when torquing that bolt. We see what happens.

[06T200]

Not to pile on any more insult, but I agree with avguy, use a torque wrench on that bolt - if any bolt. I have only done the autos, but there should be a black cover you can pop off (on the trans that houses the converter/clutch) to use a 7/8" wrench to hold the converter in place while you torque it to spec. Since it is only one bolt holding it on getting it right is very important.