Honda Crankshaft pulley falls off

I just replaced the crabkshaft pulley on my 1999 Accord for the SECOND time
after it fell off while driving the car. The first time it fell off at 65K
miles. I bought the car new, did all the required maintenance myself, and
had NEVER touched that assembly. I had to replace the pulley and the key
as it destroyed both. Lucky for me the crank appeard to be in OK shape.

I torqued the *@%$ out of it with a 1100 ft/lb 3/4" pnematic impact wrench
and thought I was "done".

I thought I was done with it, but, 20 months later (yesterday), it
happended again. This time I used super high stength locktite and
replaced the bolt as well. However, I am nervous something else is wrong
and that this will keep happening. I had some questions I was hoping
someone could help me with:

* Has anybody ever heard of this problem?

* Does anyone know how far the snout of the crankshaft is supposed to be
recessed relative to the solder on the crankshaft pulley that the bolt
sits on (when fully seated)? I have an 1/8 gap there when the pulley is
fully seated and am wondering if this is the problem.

* Is the crankshaft supposed to be splined? There are splines in the
pulley and I am wondering if there are supposed to be mating splines in
the crankshaft that were stripped off by the loose pulley.

Any advice is appreciated.

-Jeff

 

That should have read "shoulder on the crankshaft pulley", not solder!

 

It's a honda. There's your problem.

Quality Last, Profits first -- shitty civics switched to cheap front
struts from double wishbone. Huge downgrade...

 

i've seen it, but only when there's been a maintenance problem. fwiw,
it's extroardinarily improbable that the pulley & the key can be damaged
without damaging the crank - the key has to be caught between two parts
to damage it, & one of those parts is the crank. usually, crank steel
is softer than key steel.

you mean the crank appears to be "too short" or it's "too long"? if
it's too short, that's normal. if it's too long, the toothed belt cog
has been put on the wrong way round. hard to do because it's keyed, but
possible.

the crank's splined for the toothed belt cog & keyed for the pulley
wheel. if you don't put in the key, the pulley wheel should spin free.

if the pulley holds after your loctite application, you're set until the
belt's due for replacement. after that, you'll [not] have fun getting
it off again. don't even bother trying to do anything until you've had
the heat torch on there to soften that stuff up. loctite should not be
used in this situation. if the bolt's not holding, it's because there's
a fault which needs to be remedied. heating will cook the oil seal,
probably the end bearing & ruin any temper in the crank. it'll
definitely ruin any temper in the bolt & pulley wheel.

too late now, and i'm all for maintaining my own cars, but in this
situation, for a car i'd bought new & still under warranty when it
happened the first time, if the pulley bolt had come off, i'd return
that car to honda - it's their screw up. ultimately, if this stuff is
messed up, it means a new crank, & they're /expensive/. better the
manufacturer pay, not you.

 

Hi Jeff,

Only some small suggestions from my end. If you've never used loctite
on your bolt so far, I'd try progressing to the tougher stuff, starting
at a light loctite and progressing to the strong stuff just to avoid
unnecesary bullshit when removing the bolt for t-bolt changes.

I can imagine the difficulty with a strong loctite when you're trying
to
get the pulley bolt off. Then again, if you have access to an 1100lb
impact, who cares?

Might you try marking the pulley and bolt with a dark sharpie marker
to mark their alignment, this way you can see if the slip is gradual?
This
might not tell you a whole lot, basically whether or not the loctite is
sticking or not. If not, you could try tightenting it every time it
slips and see if it eventually ever holds.

I have a factory manual for a 2004 civic and it shows "splines" in the
pulley but no corresponding splines in the crank. Not sure how that
holds up the the Accord or actuality in the Civic (since I've never
removed the pulley on the Civic, can't specualte whether this is true
or not).

Anyway, it sounds like quite a pickle. Good luck!

- Justin

 

If so, why you wasting your time here? You some kind of dip?

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Its possible you didnt get the right torque even though you used an
impact. Yes, the crank should be below the face of the pulley when
installed.

If the pulley or crank have been damaged from wobbling around before it
fell off the other times, you may not get the pully to stay on. Without
the bolt it hould still fit snug and not wobble on the end of the crank
at all.

-Pete