So, I was driving down the road a few days ago, when the steering got stiff and the generator/battery light came on. I thought it was that the belt had failed, as it did about 6 years ago. Turned the heater on high and limped the car the last mile to the house. Temps stayed very near the normal range, so I don't think there is any heat damage. But, when I opened the hood, I found more than a few pieces of the vibration damper scattered about. Seems it had separated from pulley body, which is still in place, and looks so nice an shiny. So, I ordered a new pulley from Needswings (just love that site) along with the tool they sell for keeping the pulley from turning while trying to remove the bolt (what a monster that is. Heavier as the new pulley). I placed the tool and put my socket on the crankshaft pulley bolt, and pulled as hard as I could. Thing would not budge. Just wondering if anyone has any tricks for removing that, learned while swapping out or repairing the crankshaft pulley. Wondering if my impact wrench might do a better job, but it is only rated at 90 foot pounds, and that bolt is supposed to be tightened to 148 foot lbs, and then turned another 90 degrees.

Also picked up a new Relay Control Module from Needswings and have already installed that. I was experiencing some strange issues that seemed to be tied to that, and I'd been hearing some "clicking" coming from the behind the dash on the passenger side. Knowing these units have had problems in the past, figured I'd give that a go, and it was not overly expensive. And, I installed a new intercooler pump which also came from Needswings. Again, hoping to resolve an issue that pop'd up recently. I try to do my own work, but somethings are beyond me. This kind of stuff, though, I should be able to do.

It seems as this car grows older (14 years since I bought it this October) it is showing a bit of wear and tear, but I'm OK with that. I'll keep fixing it so long as parts are available. This car still has me wrapped around it's pinky, and I don't think I'll consider selling it. A couple of years ago, on a wet interstate, while transitioning from I-75 to I-85 while on the way to work, I stepped on the gas a little too hard coming out of that curve (25mph curve), got into a spin (which I recovered from) and found myself heading sideways towards a concrete barrier. Smacked the right rear quarter panel and had to have some body work done. Replaced the entire quarter panel, so there is no bondo on this car. But, as a result, I guess the body shop didn't do the repair quite right, I had some water leakage I didn't know about. This car is not usually in the rain, so it took about a year and half before the locking system air pump failed. That was a lot of fun to fix, but it is fixed. Maybe, one of these days, I'll take it to those boys who where were dropping the 55AMG engines in to replace the 32AMG engine. I feel my car is pretty beastly already, but would really love to feel the power of that V8.

Crankshaft pulley minus vibration dampener and belt flange.

 

Are you going to the tail of the dragon i'll have a v8 there, may be for sale,. also i will be in blairsville for the next few months you are a little over an hour away. https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...y-up-sale.html jim

 

Hi AMX. Don't know if I'll be at the Dragon or not. Got an awful lot going on around here. But, I notice you are from down in Fla, and wonder if you will be taking I-75/I-575 up towards Blairsville. If so, you'd be passing my home, which is just about 7 miles west of the I-75/I-575 split. I'd buy you lunch for the chance to have a look at your car.

 

I will be taking I75 but sold my car i got a limited crossfire in a different skin it a C 320 when i get to dragon rudy is meeting me with the other v8 crossfire i have (stock)
.pm me your phone i'll try to meet up as i go north around the end of Aug.

 

Well the easy way is remove the fan and shroud, then use a short pneumatic impact driver, (I use an Ingersoll-Rand} rated at 650 ft lbs. It will loosen that bolt. It has 4 different settings, so it is also good for installation, I believe mine was purchased at Lowe's.

 

Thanks for the suggestion on using an ingersoll-rand impact drive. I have a Kobalt and it is not quite doing the job. As you can see in the image, the fan and shroud have been removed, I've got a friend who has one of those impact wrenches you mentioned, so I'm going to see if he can come by this evening with his.

 

Since you MUST tighten this by hand (148 ft lbs and then 90 degrees), you might as well use the same tool to loosen it. I use the crank holding tool (with a short length of pipe slid over it so it gets a better hold of the frame) and then I use a 3/4" ratchet (harbor freight set is pretty reasonably priced) with a 3 foot pipe slipped over it to loosen (and then later tighten) the bolt.

one thing that most folks overlook is that this is the PERFECT time to replace the $7 front crankshaft seal .... If you don't you will need to buy ANOTHER new bolt after you repeat the pulley installation process when you replace the crank seal. (don't oil the seal where the balancer slips through, this type of seal does NOT like that ... use a little spit on it if you want the balancer to slide in easy)

Hope that helps,
Chris

 

 

You are not missing a thing .... well ...

previous comments seemed to suggest using an impact wrench to reach final torque ...
I was indicating that you MUST use hand tools to torque this properly .... and I included the torque details (148 then 90 degrees) . Of course, the 148 ft lbs can ONLY be done with a torque wrench (I should have stated that for your benefit if for no other reason : ) ... The 3/4 ratchet (you can use a breaker bar instead) I indicated was only for breaking the old bolt loose and doing the 90 degrees (after 148 ft lbs) when doing the final torque ... I should have been clearer I suppose,

The "no oil" referred to the surface of the crankshaft seal that rides on the balancer (most folks want to oil this which is a "no no"

hope that clears that up some.

Chris

 

I never mentioned the oil on seal part of your post, I specifically stated no oil on the bolt.
I always take pains to fully describe any details I add to a post, we have people here who would not know which end of a wrench to hold to fully qualified mechanics, so I do not scrimp on full details.
I try to explain things to the lower skilled people and hope that the higher skilled people excuse the simple details.
I realized a torque wrench was needed, maybe others did not.

 

Thanks to all who offered advice on this question. The work is done and the new crankshaft pulley is installed. Torqued to 148 ft. lbs., then an additional 90 degrees. That last bit was a bit tough, but got
'er done. The service manual said to not replace the seal unless it showed signs of leakage. Mine didn't show any such signs, so I left the old in place. And, after putting the caliper on the old bolt, it seems
that it is still within tolerance. But, I put the bolt in anyway. After the install, cranked it up and watched for wobble, shimmy or other non normal spin. All looked good.

I have a new belt ordered, which should be arriving today, but as the old on looked to be in good shape, I put it back in place for the test drive. Looks can be very deceiving. After leaving the house, I got on
a 55mph road. The car was warm, and there were no odd noises, so I stress tested it since the 2 mile ride to the 55mph 4 lane was quiet and nothing seemed to be falling off. Taking off from the next stop
light, I put the hammer down, spun the tires a bit and jumped up to 55 quite quick. Drove on this road for a couple of miles and turned around. Coming up on the next stop light, I noted the sound of a thunk,
and then another as I was slowing down. I'm thinking.... what did the pulley come loose, did the drive shaft finally go? Ruled out the drive shaft when I stopped and still hear the thunk a couple of times. pulled
over checked, and the new pulley is right where it it supposed to be and looking solid. Then, I'm like, what is that tube sticking up on the left side, and seemingly open... wait, that's my dipstick tube. Where's
the dipstick? Saw something about the right thickness laying the pan, but it was a bit dark and couldn't see it well. Got the parts grabber and pulled it up.... rubber. Looked at my belt and found one rib section
had been stripped off. Then I noticed the big tear in the hood blanket. Seems that a piece of the belt shredded (just one rib), but it must have grabbed the dipstick and yanked it out violently.

Thankfully, I found the dipstick in the pan. It looked fine, so I cleaned it up and put it back in its place. What an adventure. Will be putting on the new belt as soon as it arrives today.

Thanks again guys... I really appreciate the advice.

 

 

Absolutely correct. I suspect that may have been the case, though I checked it twice before replacing the fan&shroud. Nice thing is, the new belt showed up today as expected.
Put on, and checked each pulley 3 times before buttoning things up. This time, no problems.