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Wobbly crank pulley


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Noticed I was losing power when steering as well as a rough start, noticed the Crank pulley has a slight wobble. people tell me to change the whole pulley. I've had a ton of people to change just bearing. Either way I'm pretty sure this is the main reason why my legacy won't get up and go.

 

What does the Legacy community think? Change just the pulley ? Just the bearing? Or do you guys think it's an internal issue. Nothing is banging or beating around in the motor

Video of the wobble below.

 

Thanks for the input guys.http://cloud.tapatalk.com/s/5c8c4168d1086/VID_20190315_182649.mp4

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

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I can't play the video.

 

Is the crank bolt tight?

 

If it is not you shouldn't drive the car until you come to a solution.

 

If the crank bolt is loose and that is why the pully wobbles you are damaging the crankshaft in a way that wrecks the cam timing. This leads to sluggish performance and eventually to unfixable oil leak.

 

This happened to me when I got work done on it and they didn't correctly tighten that bolt.

 

The correct solution is a new crankshaft or engine, but there is a workaround. If the workaround is done correctly you can go a long time on it. I went 12 years before I had to redo it and that was just because I had to take it apart for something else.

 

I'll keep trying to find a way to play that video.

 

If the problem is what I think, I can help out with the fix. If it is something else, well then that would be great and we can go forward from there.

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Nothing super bad will happen if that has failed, its a fairly common problem with cars that age, just replace it with a factory one or upgrade to a billet/lightweight one, install it and be good to go, I don't see any permanent harm being done.
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The whole thing was loose on the crank. I guess the last guys to do it didn't tighten the bolt down.

 

Went to go hit it with a breaker bar expecting a ton of pressure and nothing. I could take the bolt off with my hand. Once that was off you can see there's a ton of internal damage to the sprocket, the key that holds the balancer in place had bent and caused a wobble, that wobble cause a massive gouge and bend in my crank shaft.5ce147cc92a069a6bdc54b7e74a867f4.jpg

 

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

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Damn that's catastrophic woodruff key failure. BUT both the sprocket and pulley are replaceable parts so just swap them as long as the crank is in good order or at least usable condition. You'll have to take the timing belt off the replace the sprocket though.
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Mine wasn't that bad, but your crank shaft looks like mine. If you wanted to rescue this it can be done. You need a new timing sprocket for the crank, a new accessory pully, a new timing belt and idlers and tensioner. I would recommend inspecting the oil pump clearances and replace if necessary, and replace the water pump, do the crank and cam seals while you are in there. That way you should have many years of good service so you don't have to open this up again.

 

With all of that, you need to have the crank nose etc perfectly clean after putting the oiled main seal in. Then you cover the outside of the main seal with a decent layer of vaseline to protect it from the crazy step (ask me how I know that...) Finally you glue the timing sprocket onto the crank with the woodruff slots lined up. You have to use Loktite 609. It is designed to permanently attach gears to shafts with no woodruff key. You can take it apart again with the use of a torch. This can be done gently enough to only need to repalce the main seal. I would recommend threading the timing sprocket holes for a puller to ease future work. Even with the torch you'll really want a puller.

 

It's not a terribly hard job to do, but you must be absolutely sure of the sprocket alignment on the crank, and that you don't get the glue on the main seal. If you get glue on the seal you can lose 2 quarts of oil in 8 miles through that seal.

 

There are some finer points to this if you want to hear them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

i have a 98 that ran like crap and was given to me. Nobody could diagnose it. I figured the timing belt had slipped....Pulley wobbled, so I pulled it and found the loose pulley had ruined the keyway on the crank and the cam timing was way off.

 

The way it wobbles in your clip is exactly what I had. If the key and keyway is ruined, then you should pull the covers off, the timing belt, the crank sprocket and you'll find the damage...it wiggles, loses cam timing and tuns bad. Just like a timing belt replacement.

 

I used a product called permatex sleeve retainer. I got a used crank gear crank bolt, a used pulley, the belt was good, a new tension idler, and a key.

 

IIRC, I cleaned it all up real good, wire brush, sandpaper, brakleen. I gooped up the crank keyway with the sleeve retainer goo (like loctite bearing mount gel) and key, slipped the gooped up gear on and oiled the crank pulley and bolt (so they wouldn't stick) and put it together with mild torque on the crank bolt. Overnight set. Then pulled the pulley off, put belt on, timing pulley, set up the timing, and reassembled everything. I did put this sleeve retainer goop on the crank bolt and really wound the ol' torque to it. Ain't coming loose ever....if I ever need to disassemble, I'll have to put some heat on the end of the crank to soften the goop.

 

Runs great.,

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Yes. This happens sometimes. And people get past it. New crank is the perfect world answer, but there are much cheaper and easier ways if you want them.

 

For an oldie like this, i wouldn't be putting in a new crank...new engine is more like it in that case.

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This happened to me. Basically when the car came out the original torque spec was super low on the FSM. Subaru updated it within the first couple of years but people with old Hayne's manuals or whatever still have the old torque spec, so sometimes a mechanic that's unfamiliar with Subarus will leave it too loose.

 

The way I fixed it was to get a new woodruff key, new harmonic balancer, and new crank gear and go with some red loctite and just crank it down. The crankshaft nose was gouged on one side of the key slot but it was intact on the other, so that was enough to keep it in place. That being said, some of the other users replying here seem to have more thorough and less janky methods of fixing this.

 

Hope this helps.

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This happened to me. Basically when the car came out the original torque spec was super low on the FSM. Subaru updated it within the first couple of years but people with old Hayne's manuals or whatever still have the old torque spec, so sometimes a mechanic that's unfamiliar with Subarus will leave it too loose.

 

The way I fixed it was to get a new woodruff key, new harmonic balancer, and new crank gear and go with some red loctite and just crank it down. The crankshaft nose was gouged on one side of the key slot but it was intact on the other, so that was enough to keep it in place. That being said, some of the other users replying here seem to have more thorough and less janky methods of fixing this.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I see it the way you do. You said it better.

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