fixed rattling pulley, timing gear

simon84 · Post by **simon84** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:02 am

It took me a while but I thought I'd post pics of a repair I did a few months ago. There was a rattle on the front end of the engine so I tightened the bolt on the front of the crankshaft. That was only a temporary fix and when I got in there the pulley wheel key slot was widened out.

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The key on the crankshaft was also messed up.

The timing belt gear was also similar to the pulley, sorry no pic.
So after a couple of trips to the wreckers I replaced the key, pulley and timing gear. Before the repair it seemed to be running ok even though the cam timing would have been retarded. There was some pinging though, which seemed to improve a little bit. Just put new plugs in. I'm thinking that may help. The old ones looked a bit shot. Funny how it has run pretty good even with these issues.

takza · Post by **takza** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:16 am

When I first did my t-belt...the front pulley bolt could be turned by hand or close to it...but wasn't making noise. Key and slots looked OK...just that there was a few thousands slop and who knows how many degrees looseness. Still running it that way.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:05 am

Jeeze... And the key didn't fully break? What would do that?
I guess I better check mine! I'm about due for a T-Belt change anyway.

simon84 · Post by **simon84** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 12:24 pm

I have no idea how it got this way. The channel on the crankshaft was still ok as far as I could tell. The new key went in pretty well. I was careful to remove the key at the wreckers without mangling it. Maybe someone was less careful in the past and once things started getting loose then it just distorted over time.

takza · Post by **takza** » Tue Jan 09, 2007 5:37 am

The key is mostly there to "locate" the pully vs the crank...the bolt is supposed to keep it in place for the most part.

The real problem comes when the bolt is so loose that the slot in the crank gets chewed up...then you have to custom fit a key and /or do some welding.