Outer Limits 4x4 Board

ive bought a lwb vitara 1600 16v, some maniac has welded the crank pulley key in place, i assume coz the keyway was worn, this has melted the oil seal behind, wtf did he expect? anyone had a crank like this repaired? can i fit a recon crank ? can you get the crank out with the engine in place? wheres a good place to buy a crank? why do people do such stupid stuff to cars? why dont i just throw it away? how many trucks must people like this get through (woops ive just melted my engine) better sell it to some plum and buy another! if i drop a b@ll@ck i fix it ($) not pass it on to the next victim, am i stupid? probably!

Ok, this is a reasonably commom problem.

Yes you can have it repaired.

The best way is to remove the crank, the engine will have to come out for this.

Buy a new pulley and key then take the lot to a good engine shop & they will be able to spray weld & repair for you. You WILL need the key & pulley because they machine match the crank to the pulley. It will also be reliable if it is done this way.

I bought my old TD MK with this very same issue, crank pulley came loose & wore the keyway.

I did manage to do the bodgy on it using a dremel, some good filing, a bunch of new keys and Locktite shaft fit.

I machined the keyway roughly with the Dremel (it was hard going for the poor dremel) & then filed down the key to match the groove. I then filed the pulley to match the key.

I then used to shaft fit to fill the gap on the nose of the crank which had been worn when it was loose. I then used thread lock on the pulley nut & then tightened with the 3/4 drive socket.

I had nothing to lose when I did this because the cost was going to be the same if I had to remove it later.

I was also aware that this was potentially unreliable & had to carry the socket & breaker bar with me every time I travelled.

It lasted 3 years like that that I owned it, for the first few services I had to tighten the crank (it would start to throw oil on the inner guard) so I removed it all & refitted with new goo. Managed to tighten it better & it never came loose after that.

Very bodgy repair & would not have done it to a customers car but it worked for me that time.

dmould66 wrote:ive bought a lwb vitara 1600 16v, some maniac has welded the crank pulley key in place, i assume coz the keyway was worn, this has melted the oil seal behind, wtf did he expect? anyone had a crank like this repaired? can i fit a recon crank ? can you get the crank out with the engine in place? wheres a good place to buy a crank? why do people do such stupid stuff to cars? why dont i just throw it away? how many trucks must people like this get through (woops ive just melted my engine) better sell it to some plum and buy another! if i drop a b@ll@ck i fix it ($) not pass it on to the next victim, am i stupid? probably!

man for the money your going to spend removing, repairing and refitting the crank, you will get a second hand engine,

failing that, just get a used crank that is good and doesent need machining.

Jes

a very common method of repair is to scotch-key the pulley onto the crank. when done properly it provides more than adequate drive, and the assurity that it wont fall off, even at insane rpm's.

Its easy to do yourself at home, although you will have to remove the radiator to get drill access.
1- give the pulley a good hit to drive it on fully
2 - use a pistol drill with 6mm tapping size drill and drill 2 holes opposite each other in the crank/pulley (basicly into where the ID of the pulley touches the OD of the crank).
3 - tap M6 and locktite in 2 M6 grubscrews.

This simulates having 2 6mm keys - sort of!

hi thanks for the advice, at least i know it can be fixed. how much should i expect to pay for a secondhand engine? anyone know a good breakers near dubbo? or somewere i can get a recon shortblock? sorry for all the silly questions but im new, im a pom but i dont whinge (much) cheers

1MadEngineer wrote:a very common method of repair is to scotch-key the pulley onto the crank. when done properly it provides more than adequate drive, and the assurity that it wont fall off, even at insane rpm's.

Its easy to do yourself at home, although you will have to remove the radiator to get drill access.
1- give the pulley a good hit to drive it on fully
2 - use a pistol drill with 6mm tapping size drill and drill 2 holes opposite each other in the crank/pulley (basicly into where the ID of the pulley touches the OD of the crank).
3 - tap M6 and locktite in 2 M6 grubscrews.

This simulates having 2 6mm keys - sort of!

just did this to my surf has done 12000ks and all good
nice cheap repair