Removing Woodruff Key on 1995 2.2L Subaru legacy

[jimdanahand]

Just so we all have a better "mind eye" view

of what Jim is up against,

 

here is a shot from the work position.

 

I placed a piece of yellow chalk into the hole

to simulate the broken bolt.

 

Now he will probably remove the rad and fans but the AC

condenser coils are still there.

 

 

Thanks Skip. I've already removed the radiator and the bolt is even further recessed than the chalk! Tough angle to work at.

[Skip]

You're welcome Jim,

 

I had to show everyone what you are up against.

 

With talk of torches and welding and wielding hammers and

chisels, my other picts may have led them to believe

there was more room than there is.

[jimdanahand]

Just thought I'd give an update with my broken crankshaft bolt that I needed to remove. I'm happy to say I was able to drill a hole into the broken bolt using a left hand turn drill bit then easily extract the broken portion of the bolt with an extractor. I removed the timing belt cover to better inspect the partially bent woodruff key and think I'll leave well enough alone. There is some play in the crankshaft sprocket but I believe when I tighten up the crankshaft pulley it should be snug enough. I'd like to have changed out the oil pump seals but I'm afraid if I use a puller to get the sprocket off, I won't be able to get a new woodruff key to fit into the slightly deformed crankshaft key slot. So I think I'll just change the timing belt (the old one looks fine but I don't know how many miles are on it). Should I stick to Subaru timing belt or is aftermarket okay? I've pulled the water pump and it seems fine other than a little rust on the outer surface of the impellar so I'm going to re-use it. There was some oil on the timing housing but not sure if its coming from the cam seals or oil pump seals.

 

I've still got mixed message on how much to crank up the new crankshaft bolt. The Subaru dealer told me 105 ft-lb but then one of the mechanics came out and told me they tighten the bolts to 150 ft-lb. I broke the last bolt just before I reached 125 ft-lb but it may have been fatigued from crankshaft wobble. I'm not sure I want to pull another broken bolt so I'm thinking of going to 105 ft-lb and using blue lock-tite.

 

Hopefully, will get it all back together tomorrow afternoon. Thanks again for all the helpful advice.

[cookie]

A lot of us would use a Subru belt. They have marks for the timeing that after market belts sometimes do not have.

[jimdanahand]

UPDATE:

 

I finally got the old car running like new! After I pulled the radiator, removed the sheared crankshaft bolt, I went ahead and removed the timing belt cover to check out the timing belt condition. Since I was already that far into the front of the engine it made sense to go ahead and change out the oil pump seal, tighten the oil pump back plate, replace the cam and oil pump seals, and replace the water pump. I found to install the cam sprocket seals that a 2" dia 3" long piece of plumbing pipe from Home Depot worked great to tap the seal into place. In addition, I was able to finally remove the crankshaft sprocket with the deformed woodruff key. This was critical since the sprocket had excess play which would have resulted in a future failure if not addressed. It took some work with a screwdriver and small prybar to pull the crankshaft sprocket over the deformed woodruff key but it was necessary since the crankshaft sprocket key slot was widened due to the woodruff key movement that occured after the crankshaft pulley started to wobble. Fortunately, the key slot in the crankshaft was still in pretty good shape. After I installed the new woodruff key and new crankshaft sprocket it fit tight as it should. The only problem I ran into was when I installed the new timing belt, I over torqued the bolt that holds the timing belt sprocket onto the waterpump resulting in stripping the threads! I didn't exceed the torque rating but I noticed when I backed out the bolt some coil spring came out with it indicating the re-manurfactured water pump may had been re-threaded which may have weakened the thread. Fortunately, I was able to purchase a longer bolt at Home Depot and grab on to some deeper threads and only torqued it to 20 ft-lb. When I finally got back to installing the replacement crankshaft pulley I decided to only torque the bolt to 105 ft-lb but I put some blue quiktight to help keep it from backing out again. I just didn't have the courage to torque it again to 125 ft-lb and risk shearing another bolt! Once I put everything back together again I had no extra pieces and the car started without a problem. Thanks everyone who provided input to help me work through my first mechanical encounter with a Subaru. Next up, I need to replace a rockerarm gasket (oil leak) and figure out how to get the drivers "automatic" shoulder strap back to the retracted position so I can use it!

[OB99W]

UPDATE:

 

I finally got the old car running like new! [...]

Congratulations!