Crank pulley falls off

[SakoTGrimes]

 

My engine makes a whining noise, sorta like an electric drill, goes up with the RPM. I thought it might be an idler pulley going bad. And it stalls..... so, to allow myself to look at the belts and such while moving, I turned up the idle.... accidentally dislodged the throttle cable.... the point is: when I reattached it, I revved her up to about 5K to make sure the gas pedal would work properly, but then all the warning lights came on, and the mysterious whirring stopped. Because the crank pulley had come off. On the surface that contacts the engine there is an indentation that looks like a nub on the crank should fit into, yet the crank has no such thing (and it does not look like one used to be there either) so I figured it just wasn't bolted on tightly enough and put it back on, although I couldn't get it as tight as I want because trying to do so just cranks the engine. Once everything was back in place I fired her up and held her at 5K for about 5 seconds and sure enough the same thing happened again. So...... what the heck am I doing wrong?

[Yo'J]

I like to keep a 4" house door hinge pin or two in my box to use as a stop for the flywheel, with a bent end obviously. They bend easily enough to use for a couple of uses, but wear out rather fast. Did you try to put it in gear? Locktite? Its been a while for me to say anything about a nub and hole for any ea82 stuff, but metal might have moved if there is a wear spot in that area. For the whirring, have you looked for anything while running or listened maybe? Something might be putting extra tension on your belt, water pump, compressor, whatever.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Yo'J
oops

[Markus56]

The same thing happened to my XT. i wrapped the crank pulley bolt in Teflon tape so the pulley would center on the bolt. then i bolted it back on and tightened the crap out of it. That was back in December and it is still holding

[justincase41]

Reminds me of the time I was investigating a noise under the hood of a mini moke. I had the bonnet resting in againsed my hands and listening at a strange whiring sound. All of a sudden BANG!!!!. I then realised that the front pulley/harmonic balancer had sheered of and gone right through the bonnet. Yep, there was a hole in the moke bonnet where the harmonic balancer went straight through it. I drank myself stupid that night and rocked myself to sleep for at least 2 weeks! I would have been a dead man if I was looking right over the engine, but I was looking and leaning to the side near the radiator (East-West Engine)

Edited March 25, 2010 by justincase41

[ivantruckman]

i would take it off , clean the threds real good . use blue locktite. put a center punch in the flywheel to hold the engine from turning. ( you may need another persion to hold the punch). and use a breaker bar , and maby a short pipe on the breaker bar. tighten the @#%# out if it. then let the locktite cure for 12 hours before starting it. it should never happen again after that.

[ivantruckman]

Reminds me of the time I was investigating a noise under the hood of a mini moke. I had the bonnet resting in againsed my hands and listening at a strange whiring sound. All of a sudden BANG!!!!. I then realised that the front pulley/harmonic balancer had sheered of and gone right through the bonnet. Yep, there was a hole in the moke bonnet where the harmonic balancer went straight through it. I drank myself stupid that night and rocked myself to sleep for at least 2 weeks! I would have been a dead man if I was looking right over the engine, but I was looking and leaning to the side near the radiator (East-West Engine)

 

 

yikes. mini mokes rock. ive never seen one in real life before

[SakoTGrimes]

Tightened it again today, this time in 1st gear and the wheels blocked. Strange whirring still there and coming from the crank pulley, but I will try using Locktite. I was worried some permanent fastener had been destroyed, like what can happen to loose wheel hubs.

[shuffbag]

when i rebuilt my rx i had the same thing happening

 

best way to fix it is with a rattle gun, it never came loose after

[szybura]

Subaru actually makes a tool that locks up the flywheel and sits in the timing hole of the bellhousing. Mine cost 75, yes I know expensive, but more than pays for itself over time.