Crank pulley

racer88

Registered User
Has anyone ever had the 4 bolts that hold the crank pulley on, break off?

Mine did over the weekend. I think that the bolts came loose on me and when I accelerated the torque from the acceration broke the heads right off.

Could the bolts being loose cause the breakage or am I missing something else?

Thanks
Bennie
 
WHAT TO DO ???????????????

go to the search site will find plenty..........................FAST FREDDIE........................:rolleyes: :cool: :D
 
It's possible the bolts themselves have simply failed.

But it is more likely that there is a problem with your Harmonic balancer that the pulley bolts to. Over time the elastic components of the balancer break down allowing excess vibration. This excess vibration causes the aluminum center section to become loose on the crankshaft. This creates even more vibration until eventually the bolt on the end of the crankshaft breaks and/or the balancer itself breaks.

Inspect your crankshaft end to make sure the bolt is still there, and check the pulley while the engine is running for any wobbling.
 
Mike,
The center of the balancer is fine. The crank bolt was in good shape. The problem I had was with the 4 bolts that hold the pulley to the balancer. I got everything fixed and put back together. I started the car and drove it today, no vibrations at all. the balancer and pulley doesn't wobble.

I think that 2 out of the 4 bolts were loose and caused the pulley to wobble. Which then caused the bolts to weaken and then break.
 
3 months after I bought my 89 in 2000, I had a strange wobble. All of the sudden in a parking space after startup one day, the crank pulley fell off tearing the belt and bolts. Replaced the crank pulley and belt. All was well untill 6 months later. Balancer and pulley broke completely off. I then replaced it with a used unit which only lasted 3 months. I later bought a new one and never had trouble again. I was told here on this site that when my crank pulley broke at the bolts originally I should have made sure that they were balanced together when reinstalling the pulley. The one I bought from Ford came balanced and you could see the to little wieghts welded to the pulley. Man what a world of difference when i put that on...... Good luck.

Joe
 
Bennie - same thing just happened to me on my '93. When the pulley started wobbling I immediately thought that the center bolt had failed. However, that was ok. But 2 of the 4 small pulley bolts had broken & the other 2 were loose. I managed to tighten the remaining 2 bolts enough to drive the car home safely and then matched-up the bolts at PepBoys & replaced all 4. Luckily the 2 broken ones had enough thread beyond the face of the balancer to be able to unscrew then, without having to drill or use an extractor. My original balancer broke apart when the main crank bolt sheared. So this one was a completely new factory unit about a year ago. I'm wondering if the solid engine mounts are causing too much vibration. Anyway it's been ok since.
 
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