Eg8 Crank Pulley Coming Loose

[BladeRunner]

Hi guys,

Not sure whether this has been discussed before, my car is a 91 Civic EG8 VTi. While I was driving to work today, heard a noise from the engine bay, and lost power steering immediately and got the battery charging warning lamp a little later. When i had a look under the hood saw the drive belts have come loose along with the crank pulley and i had to tow the car to a garage.

Any ideas on whats the best way of fixing this, i heard tht if the crank thread is bad, may even hav to replace the engine.

Any experience regarding this from EG8 owners here?

Cheers!

[The Don]

Are you sure its the crank pulley that has come off and not any of the other pulleys and adjusters?

If the crank pulley has come lose the first course of action is to fix it back and see if it holds. It could be that the nuts holding it had come lose. Take things one step at a time rather than panicing and thinking about worst case scenarios.

This is the first time I've heard of a crank pulley coming off, but the key thing here is what is the state of the components the pulley is attached to. Find that out and you will have the answer.

I do think replacing an engine is a very drastic step. Do the problem investigation first before thinking of solutions.

[Davy]

This is a common issue on the Civic if I remember correctly. I'm not sure of the actual reason behind it, but I think it has to do something with the mounting bolts coming off and the harmonic balancer wobbling and coming out.

Edited March 25, 2015 by Davy

[H.C]

Like Davy said earlier, this is a common issue in Eg and Ek civics. In garage bas terms, its due to "worn out key". I don't know the correct term for it .Its a small square shape metal part that holds the pully in its place. Usually it is sold with the crank pully and cost 6k about 5 months back at US auto parts, Wadduwa.May be you will be lucky enough to find the "key" for lesser price.

[BladeRunner]

Thanks for the replies guys.

But my problem is a bit worse, seems someone has had a go at fixing so called the key issue before, and ruined it completely. The biggest issue being the nut which holds the crank shaft pulley in place is stripped along with the thread inside the crank it self. I guess that happens cos when u dont have the correct key in place.

I was told tht this can be fixed by filling the crank shaft and re-cutting the threads, but i'm not sure if thts a proper fix or not, and how reliable that will be.

Cheers!

[Davy]

Oh, that's not good.

A safer option over filling the crankshaft and rethreading is to rethread to a larger bolt size and then use the matching bolt. I'm not really sure about the consequences of doing this, so you may want to check up with an expert as well.

Have you tried the option of sourcing a new crankshaft? That's the best solution for you IMO.

[The Don]

Thanks for the replies guys.

But my problem is a bit worse, seems someone has had a go at fixing so called the key issue before, and ruined it completely. The biggest issue being the nut which holds the crank shaft pulley in place is stripped along with the thread inside the crank it self. I guess that happens cos when u dont have the correct key in place.

I was told tht this can be fixed by filling the crank shaft and re-cutting the threads, but i'm not sure if thts a proper fix or not, and how reliable that will be.

Cheers!

How are they going to fill and re cut the threads? Are they removing the crankshaft from the engine? If so do a partial rebuild at the same time, which will be beneficial in the long run (new valve seats, piston rings, bearings, oil seals and gaskets).

If you can get a new crankshaft its better but seems overkill for this particular issue as only the thread is the issue.

Davys option is plausable but would obviously involve grinding down the crankshaft and threading for a smaller bolt and a matching "key" may need to be fabricated.

[Davy]

How are they going to fill and re cut the threads? Are they removing the crankshaft from the engine? If so do a partial rebuild at the same time, which will be beneficial in the long run (new valve seats, piston rings, bearings, oil seals and gaskets).

If you can get a new crankshaft its better but seems overkill for this particular issue as only the thread is the issue.

Davys option is plausable but would obviously involve grinding down the crankshaft and threading for a smaller bolt and a matching "key" may need to be fabricated.

The common thing done is to make the hole wider and then insert a sleeve. Then weld it and re-thread the sleeve. I doubt this will work on a crankshaft because the belts drive a huge load and the weld is bound to give way soon. I've heard of places that correctly re-thread crankshafts, cylinder heads, valve bodies etc. They do it in a controlled environment where the new metal is thoroughly bonded to the original part by a series of heating and cooling steps. I've not heard this being done in SL.

Even to fill and re-thread, they will have to remove the crankshaft from the engine. Only a very competent lathe operator would be able to do the job precisely.

[luckey007]

I have seen some bolts and nuts used to thread difficult parts[to fix to a lathe]. Don't know can re-thread a crank shaft from them.

[The Don]

I could not see the images in the office. One can clearly see the torque settings on the diagram for each bolt. Some of these issues are caused by nuts and screws not being tightened at the correct torque so its either over or under tightened.

[H.C]

If you want a crank shaft of a d15B, let me know. Because Ive put a new engine few months back and old one is at the garage. If it still available at the garage I can give it for free. crank pully key was not in good shape, so still you need a new pully and key.

[BladeRunner]

If you want a crank shaft of a d15B, let me know. Because Ive put a new engine few months back and old one is at the garage. If it still available at the garage I can give it for free. crank pully key was not in good shape, so still you need a new pully and key.

That will be a great great great help H.C, if you still have the crank shaft please do let me know.

I spoke to my garage guy and according to him, the crank shaft has to come out of the engine anyways, either to be repaired or replaced. I'm not sure how they are going to re-thread and how long it will last, so thinking about going with replacing the crank shaft, along with the crank pulley, key and the nut.

[H.C]

I'll check with the garage and let you know. Hope they haven't sold it for scrap metal!

[Davy]

If you want a crank shaft of a d15B, let me know. Because Ive put a new engine few months back and old one is at the garage. If it still available at the garage I can give it for free. crank pully key was not in good shape, so still you need a new pully and key.

Thumbs up H.C! This is what AutoLanka is all about!

Hope the engine is still there and it works out for OP - this is his best bet.

[The Don]

That will be a great great great help H.C, if you still have the crank shaft please do let me know.

I spoke to my garage guy and according to him, the crank shaft has to come out of the engine anyways, either to be repaired or replaced. I'm not sure how they are going to re-thread and how long it will last, so thinking about going with replacing the crank shaft, along with the crank pulley, key and the nut.

If they are going to open the engine up, might as well do the partial rebuild I mentioned above. It will inject new life into the engine and make it last a whole while longer. The chances are its probably due now anyway and economical to do it now since the engine is open. Have the valve seats replaced with originals, new piston rings and any oil seals and necessary bearings. Do it right and you wont need to open the engine up during your ownership. You need a gasket set anyway now.

[BladeRunner]

Thanks Don, yes totally agree with you on it, also its my daily driver so I want it to be as solid as possible. Wasn't planning for a partial rebuild this soon, but its time i guess, so have to get the $$$ ready now

[The Don]

Thanks Don, yes totally agree with you on it, also its my daily driver so I want it to be as solid as possible. Wasn't planning for a partial rebuild this soon, but its time i guess, so have to get the $$$ ready now

Yeah man, I feel for you. But this is the only silver lining in your situation. I was in the same situation a decade ago. My Mitsubishi engine started making the dreaded tappet noise, and replacing tappets with used ones only worked for a couple of months. So I had the option of either getting the tappet guides rebored and doing a partial rebuild or replacing the engine, and I took the latter option as it just so happened an engine was found for a pretty reasonable price and I did not have faith in the machine shop to do a good job after the first fix failure.

Since then I've discovered that there is another better fix for this issue which is to replace the tappets with ones with slightly bigger oil lines and that is supported to keep the issue at bay. So I now plan to put that option into action on my old engine, rebuild it and put it back in the car. Even the new engine has the tappet noise during warm up but then seems to go away (the issue is car doesn't get used enough so the oil tends to settle and sludge a little bit.....)

My point being the partial rebuild will buy you between 50-100k kms if its done properly, without having to work on the internals again. Just get it cleaned completely of sludge, blocked water lines etc, replace all packing, oil seals and gaskets with originals, replace valve seats with originals and the piston rings, well at least with good quality replacements. Replace the bearings as necessary. What you will have in the end is a fairly good strong engine.

Your block and head are probably still in good condition. Usually its the valve seats that tend to go and burn oil at higher revs. The rings you are replacing only because you can. But make sure the machine shop you use know what they are doing, because its in their hand really. Try to use as many close to genuine products as possible. Else the end result will be poor.