lone500 Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 (edited) hey guys had a problem and figured yall could help me out. i have a 94 subaru legacy L. its FWD has a 2.2l engine and such. anyway got this car about 15 months ago. did a lot of work on it but my mechanical knowledge is very limited. i would like to fix my problem because this had been a great car and has never let me down and is still in good shape. ok so i had this mechanic replace the front main engine seal on it for an oil leak. fixed that but what i did not know at the time was that to do that you have to take the crankshaft pulley off. so when he put the pulley back on he did not tighten it enough. GROAN. ya i think a lot of us have been here at one time or another. so me and a buddy pull off the pulley today and find it is WRECKED. ya i expected it. had a new pulley waiting. no problem. except i have a BIGGER problem than i thought. Problem on the end of my crankshaft there is like this little sprocket like deal. Now the little nub of metal that goes in your pulley (guess i would call it the "key"?) is messed up. i didnt put the new pulley on it because i would just have more problems down the road. the key is smashed to the side pretty bad and on the bottom corner away from the direction its being pushed it looks like the metal is tearing a little bit. sorry i dont have any pictures. i would have if i had my camera but didnt work on my car at my house so that wasnt much of an option. if required i will get pictures but id rather not since its not exactly my idea of a blast crawling around under a car. Solution ya this is where you guys come in. not really sure what i can do. do i have to get a new crankshaft? does the end of the crankshaft come off or is it one peice? if anything could i just pull the crank and do some welding and machining on the key? dont know much about this and what would be the proper thing to do. thanks for any help you can give! Edited October 2, 2009 by lone500 sry 4 no pics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 You can get a new key to go along with your new pulley. The bigger question is did it hog out the the keyway slot in the crankshaft? The crank is one piece so replacing it would mean totally disassembling the engine, not really a reasonable approach. Others have had the same problem and there are various "degrees" of fix! Try the search function, something like "crank pulley keyway" for ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Oh, and welcome aboard by the way!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdjdc Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 Afriend had the same problem with his. According to a Subaru master tech, this is not an uncommon problem. What you will need to do is to grind down the key so you can get the timing pulley off. Once you have that off you can work to get the ruined key out and the inspect the crank for damage. Replace the key and reassemble the engine. The one I did was not damaged, but had it been, we were going to put locktight on the back of the crank pully and sock it down as tight as possible. Engine repalce ment just wasn't in the cards for the owner. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CNY_Dave Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 The mechanic that screwed up owns this one. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 How long ago was the seal replaced? Did you have any other work done at the same time? (Timing belt, idlers, water pump, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone500 Posted October 2, 2009 Author Share Posted October 2, 2009 probably 8 months ago or so was when the mechanic worked on it. when he did the front engine seal he also did cam oil seals and timing belt. rather just fix it myself and not even deal with him. i would probably end up doing something i would regret later if i went to talk to him. so does the key come off the crank? if so i dont think it will be a huge deal then. i have a new pulley already and im just held up by this smushed key. i dont think the crank has taken any damage but of course i really wont know till iget that key out (if it comes out) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdjdc Posted October 2, 2009 Share Posted October 2, 2009 As I said earlier, you need to grid the key down back to the timing gear. Slide the timing gear off the crank and you will see that the key is pressed into the crank. Use a pundh to tap it out and you can then replace it with the new one. Put everything back together and you will have fixed the problem. If you have any questions feel free to call me 804-393-0516 Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone500 Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 ok just figured i would give you guys a update. problem fixed! no more wobbly pully. just like you said after grinding it down(and inside of the sprocket too) the sprocket came off and i was able to put a new key in. in the end of the crank the key hole was good but it had messed my sprocket up so i had to get a new one. but after that its all good! thats my most serious problem fixed. now to work on my 4 or 5 lessers problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 ok just figured i would give you guys a update. problem fixed! no more wobbly pully. just like you said after grinding it down(and inside of the sprocket too) the sprocket came off and i was able to put a new key in. in the end of the crank the key hole was good but it had messed my sprocket up so i had to get a new one. but after that its all good! thats my most serious problem fixed. now to work on my 4 or 5 lessers problems. what did you torque it to?? any lock tight? you don't want it to loosenup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lone500 Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 didnt put any locktite on it but it SHOULDNT come out. doesnt mean it cant of course. torqued it to 250+ pounds. i really put it to it. was afraid i would break something if i went for much more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 . . . torqued it to 250+ pounds. i really put it to it. was afraid i would break something if i went for much more. WOW!!! Did it pop the taillights out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 WOW!!! Did it pop the taillights out? mine did just reading about it. i guess this answers the question of whether 140ft/lbs is too much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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