Crank Pulley broke!

K

KurtL

New member
So this morning I'm driving and all of a sudden i lose power steering and the battery light turns on. I pull into my driveway, pop the hood and see the crank pulley just flopping around and of course none of the accessories spinning. I limped it to the closest shop that was open on a Saturday (Belle Tire) They inform me that the crankshaft end was damaged as well and likely needs to be replaced. Which is something they cant do.

What will something like this end up costing me?

My truck has only 106k miles on it. How on earth am i so lucky...
 
Register to hide this ad
Probably didn't break. Most likely the crank bolt came loose. Have you had the timing belt done recently?
 
Pull everything off and get a good look at the actual problem. Pull the pulley and crank sprocket off and see if the key is damaged. If that's damaged, you may be able to replace just the key and be back on the road.

If the crank is truly damaged beyond use, you're going to have to pull the engine.


It sounds like the crank pulley bolt has worked itself loose. I too would be interested to know if a timing belt job has recently been completed...
 
So i did have the timing belt done, 3 years ago...

I plan to have the truck towed to my toyota dealer for another look. Belle said something about something being "rounded off". Really hard to understand without actually seeing. Could they be referring to the crank bolt?
 
Motor will need to come out. May be able to save the crank but would need the motor out to pull the crank out to find out.
 
Im just not sure what to do here. I still owe $4500 on it, but it just seems that its constantly needing work done, still need to replace the steering rack and valve cover gaskets...

I guess when it comes to cars, age is more of a factor than miles. All these issues with 106k miles doesnt seem all that reliable...
 
Did you buy your truck from a trust worthy person? For 106 K miles, a toyota is brand new. I have 204 K miles and I recently did the valve cover and never ever touched the steering rack or any steering parts.
Did you do a carfax check? I strongly suspect an odometer fraud if you have all those leaks at such a low mile.

Can you post a picture of the crank shaft? We'll see the picture before commenting about the cost. It may be simply put everything back together and you may be good to go.
 
Even with a clean CarFax it is still possible you have odometer fraud. I agree with Nissan, 200k on mine and my rack is just starting to show a tiny bit of weeping. Did my valve cover gaskets for fun at 160k, no leaks then. No tranny or oil leaks of any kind.
 
Bought the runner back in 2012 with 61k miles on it from the dealer that i had been leasing my Infiniti G37 through. Huge reputable high-end dealer network so I highly doubt any fraudulent activity. That being said, 12 years old with only 61k miles could mean it sat around a lot, even years maybe and seals and shit could have dried out started leaking, right?
 
I love it if you could post a pic or two; we may be able to help ya out more with the carnage.

I am just amazed that the crank pulley came off before you got home, then you were able to start it and drive it to Belle Tire, even by limping it there and back.
 
I had a small shop that was a mile down the road from where i worked do it for like half the price of the dealer... I'd like to think they did it right... however i did have them also do my rear axle seals which then needed to be done again about a year ago...

I'll get pics if i can. Right now its just sitting in the parking lot of the Belle tire 20 miles away lol. Infact while i was limping it to Belle the pulley actually started to spin my accessories for a bit and got my power steering back, then i heared a really loud not so good noise. im afraid limping it is what made the worst damage...
 
Here are some pics.

Im starting to think its not as bad as Belle Tire made it sound. Im thoroughly convinced that its just the woodruff key. can that be replaced w/o having to remove the engine???



 
Last edited:
Yep, and a new crank bolt from the dealer. How do the drive belts and timing belt look? The crack in the harmonic dampener (balancer) is less than inspiring but should work OK.

After getting it all back together, if the dampener is wobbling bad then it may be time for a used engine. If not, fix the other problems.

Make the bolt is torqued to 217ft/lbs, not as tight as my impact will go torque.
 
LittleCaesar said:
Yep, and a new crank bolt from the dealer. How do the drive belts and timing belt look? The crack in the harmonic dampener (balancer) is less than inspiring but should work OK.

After getting it all back together, if the dampener is wobbling bad then it may be time for a used engine. If not, fix the other problems.

Make the bolt is torqued to 217ft/lbs, not as tight as my impact will go torque.
Click to expand...

The drive belts dont look bad, no cracks. No idea about the timing belt. I assume it should be ok as it was replaced about 40k miles ago.

When i started to hear noise in the belt are i never noticed any wobble in the harmonic dampener, and what was just a few weeks back so I'm hopping i should be ok.
 
Last edited:
Crank snout looks good. Need a pic where we can see the key slot--be sure it's not wallowed out. If not, you should be good with bolt and key, although a new Harmonic Balancer would be ideal. The slot almost certainly is OK, since the key only engages the pulley for like 1/4". Most of it is buried under the sprocket which appears to have stayed in place, since the engine kept running. The key likely sheared off at the sprocket. I would think you would have to pull the timing belt to get the sprocket off so as to be able to put a new key in under there.

Yeah, you are very lucky.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

Total: 371 (members: 4, guests: 367)

Forum statistics

Threads
278,307
Messages
3,554,056
Members
248,016
Latest member
Advally Service

Share this page

Trending content

Back
Top