crank pully wobbly :(

[IggDawg]

sux0r. crank pully is a little wobbly at idle, and is making some noise. my initial thoughts were, of course, the worst. All day I had myself convinced my bearings were blown. the center nut doesn't seem to wobble at all even though the pully does. I'm thinking blown oil pump? anything else I SHOULD LOOK FOR? at least tell me all the reasons why it can't be my bearings. or IggDawg will cry

[Legacy777]

how much is it wobbling? Did it wobble before?

My stock one wobbled slightly.....I talked with a subie mechanic....he said he's seen a lot of stock ones that wobble to some degree. My Unorthodox one doesn't wobble.

it's probably just the pulley....could be the rubber damping material in the stock pulley is getting old and unbalancing things.

Doubt bearings would cause that.

What you can do is loosen the belts and try to wiggle the crank pulley around. If you can't......it's not bearings.

[IggDawg]

I've never noticed it wobble like this before. I'll try to get some more quantitative datatoday. it seems to be no more than 3mm or so in any direction. it makes an audiable sound too. I figure if it's just a little wobble it prolly shouldn't make too much noise. I'll try the loosen the belts thing. that will at least put my mind to rest .

[Legacy777]

Noise neccessarily isn't good. If it is loose.....you need to not drive it as doing so can round the end of the crank or keyway that the key goes in, and if that happens......not a good thing.....

[sullione]

Hey all, just my two pennies. Josh is right, your pulley wobbling and making noise can't be good. My car did the EXACT same thing...right before it grinded the little key to dust and rounded off the crankshaft. I got lucky...my pulley fell off as I was putting my car in the garage and I was able to repair it. The key way was damaged slightly but was still useable. You may want to park your car and take a look at it. Is there a fine powder all over the timing belt cover? If so you may be dealing with the same issue. Hopefully it won't be too bad...but don't take any chances with this.

[STi_GUY]

Mine was woblly last summer. It actually fell off on the road. Luckily my skidplate caught it until I could pull over. I had no ps or ac or anything. Really sucked. In my case, all I needed was a new pully, thank god. I too initially feared the worst. Get it checked out ASAP.

[Legacy777]

Since we're on the subject.......

The FSM is incorrect in it's torque specs for the crank bolt.

It should be torqued to 110 ft/lbs and locktite applied to the threads.

[DLC]

Perhaps the rubber is worn...our pulleys are a two-piece part with rubber in between. I replaced mine to get rid of the squealing as the outside was spinning on the inside, and to gain the benefits of the underdrive and lightweight aspects.

Dave

[IggDawg]

things I found out today:

1) a 1993 subaru legacy sport sedan can travel approximately 40 of mixed highway and city driving on the battery. if, say, the crank pully was no longer connected to the car appreciably

2) working with the crank pully without removing the fans because of a lack of proper tools on the side of the road is EXTRAORDINARILY painful on the forearms and knuckles. my arms are all slashed up and my alternator is scabbing up from all the blood splashed on it from my knuckles. KEEP A SMALL RATCHET SET IN YOUR CAR!

Crank pulley fell stopped spinning early in the morning. I saw the battery light on and felt teh wheel was much heavier than usual. I added 2+2 and pulled over. I looked under the hood and saw the crank pully was jut kinda sitting in it's socket, suspended by the belts. I tried to attach it again just finger tight but to no avail. I did more damage than good I suspect. I should have just removed it from the engine.

I drove to my ex-workplace to pick up the last of my belongings. she made it there on battery power. approximately 15 miles. This includes 3 starts. twice to test what good I may have done with the pulley, and once to get going again. At my workplace I run around and grab my stuff, and sucker the ex-boss into letting me borrow some tools. All I could get that was of use was a large spanner and aan adjustable wrench. not at all the right tools for the job. the old pulley was pretty well eaten at this point, and I didn't know it yet but the key was toast. tried a few more times to get the pulley righted, but it just kept coming right off. I could only get it as tight as it would go on while still letting the engine turn. I simply didn't have a wrench small enough to get at the belt tension bolts. I certainly didn't have a chain/belt wrench that I'd need to keep the pulley from moving while I torque the bolt. this left me with the option of super-tightening the belts and shoving a screwdriver through a spoke in the power steering pulley to keep it from turning.

so I come to my senses and yank the pulley after 2 more starts and get on my merry way. after some searching, 3 more starts, a jump-start and about 35 total miles, I get to a subaru dealership. almost. she ran out of juice as I was turning into the dealership. I blocked a lane of traffic and had to get someone to help me inot the lot. I buy a pulley from someone whith as many teeth as I have camshafts. he ws kind enough to throw in a new key for free. good thing too. I didn't think I needed one.

I put on the new pulley, hoping that there was enough key left to drive it. I start her up after a more toothed service tech was kind enough to give me a jump. I looked at teh pulley. a tiny bit of wobbling and no noise. very very little wobbling. figured she'd be alright.

some distance down the road I decide to pull over and check. the pulley is all over the place. at this point I decide it's time to call it quits. I simply don't have the tools for the job. my arms are chopped to strings, my fingers are bleeding everyhwere , some of my fingertips are burned, and I won't be able to get my hands clean for a week. I''m near my ex-work so Iimp there to call AAA. I'm 50 miles from home, and I know I can't make it on battery power. becides, the receptionist is cute and the coffee is free. I can think of wose places to call for a tow.

I get her home and finally start taking her apart. starting with the goddamn fan assemblys. I know at this point I need to install that key the tech randomly gave me, obviously knowing I had never done this job before. The pulley had some metal eaten away form the old key, but there was still enoguh left, I'm hoping, that the new key will be sufficient. the old key was chewed pretty badly. I have everything together now and tere is absoltely no wobble whatsoever. looking at the black pulley against the white exhaust shield, I can see no wobble at all. I'll have to keep an eye on it thos just to make sure. I could only torque it down to 75 lbft. the manual says 70-80 for 2.2, and 90-100 for 2.5. but if that's a typo and it's supposed to be 110, I'll just break down and buy a chain wrench to get the proper torque on it.

that's my story. thank you all for the advice. you better damn well liek the story too. my fingers are killing me, and that's alot of typing

[mikec]

Holy cow!

I don't know what else to say.... I bet you were happy to see home, huh?

[Legacy777]

Quite a story man......sorry it happened.

How did things get that bad.....did you not take the old one off to check?


As for the torque.....I'm correct.....the manual is wrong! I got my info from the dealer and from emily @ CCR engines who rebuild subie engines for a living.

The incorrect torque numbers in the manual are why the pullies come off.

here's what you need to do. Get a big prybar/crowbar, or even breaker bar.

On the passenger side.....on the bell housing for the auto tranny there is a little plug with a handle thing. When you remove this, you can get access to the back side of the torque converter. Jam/wedge one of those tools mentioned in there. There are little slats which you should be able to catch. That will hold the engine from turning. Then you can torque the crank bolt down to the proper specs.

[vrg3]

Damn, Igg!

After reading Thing You Found Out #1, I yelled "gah!" out loud enough that my girlfriend got scared.

I'm everything survived... How much did the pulley and key cost you at the dealership?

The point about keeping tools in your car is a good one... I actually keep most of my tools in my car, to the point where I've worn out my rear springs. Sigh.

Couldn't you keep the engine from turning by putting the transmission in gear and putting the parking brake on?

[IggDawg]

mike - I was VERY happy to see home. I was glad I'd decided to take the AAA route instead of trying to drive it, find a jump and 10 minute charge from a good samaritan half way home, and limp the whole way. it was so refreshing to have proper tools and a nicely lit workspace with beer and a loud boombox.

vrq3 - nope. autotranny . the TC is full of slush. slush don't hold so well against spinning:D. If I had a manual tranny that would prolly work.

Josh - I eventually got the 110 lbs. I ended up tightening the power steering/ alternator belt wicked tight. then I put a screwdriver through a spoke on the power steering pulley. I used a 24" crowbar to lean against the belt using the tension pulley for the AC compressor as a fulcrum. This essentially acted like a strap wrench. I got enough torque on it.

there's still a tiny bit of wobble. I'm chalking it up to lack of rotational balance. I dropped the pulley once and broke 3/4 inch or so of the very rear lip off. the lip of the track for the AC belt. it broke off as deep as one groove and about 3/4 inch along the circumfrence. no big thing. I filed it down so it wouldn't eat the belt. now it's not perfectly balanced. just by a tiny tiny bit. but I'm gonna keep an eye on the pulley every few miles for a little while till I satisfy my paranoia that the wobble isn't getting any bigger.

[chaz66]

i have one thing to say about the factory torque setting....ITS BS !!
I followed the factory torque specs to only have the pulley on my 1990 legacy come off later the same day and cost me a new pulley!

I cranked that nut down with around 150-180 ft lbs with cahin vise grips and a cheater bar and had no problems afterwards!


Chaz