Volvo RWD 200 Forum

hey,

Long story short, the harmonic balancer came loose on my car. The crank bolt wasn't tight enough and worked loose I guess... I stopped the engine before any major damage occurred but the car isn't driveable. I pulled the balancer and timing belt covers off just to check for issues, it looks like the little key on the crankshaft sprocket is chewed away, so the balancer is just going to spin and spin. I've ordered the part from FCP Groton... new timing belt too, for good measure...

SO!

How hard is it to remove/replace the sprocket? Any tricks? Is this a nightmare I'm about to face or not so bad?

Thanks

Thaddeus

Someone must not have tightened the pulley bolt properly.
The spec is:

Stage 1 44 ft lbs
Stage 2 an additional 60° angle tightening.

You need to counterhold the crankshaft when tightening the bolt. For that I recommend the Rope Trick. See This POST for details.

--
Bruce Young, '93 940-NA (current), 240s (one V8), 140s, 122s, since '63.

The sprocket came today, and I slapped the thing back together... very carefully.

I actually own the special tool that allows one to counterhold the pulley while LOOSENING the bolt... so I used it to counterhold the thing while I tightened it, too.

It works both ways. LOL.

Thanks for the advice...

"Someone" was me. Stupid dink that I am.

I'll fix it and that will be amends enough.

It is easy once the belt is off, just pull it off. It might be stuck but a little gentle persuading will get it off.
Dan

Thanks man, that's a relief. Hopefully it will just slide off when the time comes. I don't have the heart to mess with it any more today.

Actually, the good news is that I came within a few seconds of losing a timing belt and the engine as a consequence.... so, actually, it was a lucky day.

That's a really weird noise when the balancer goes 'off''... kind of a wugga wugga wugga... and most of the lights on the dash went on too. My kid (who has his learner's permit) was driving... I heard the wugga wugga and saw the lights, and told him to pull over and turn off the engine. He was quick enough I guess.

Still, what a pain...

Note that if the timing belt had broken, that would have been the extent of the damage. Our bricks use non-interference engines which means that even if all the valves were wide open, the pistons would not hit them! This is the direct opposite of most engines where a failed timing belt can bend valves and even punch holes in pistons.

jorrell
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92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

Really! I thought the B230F was interference.

One less thing to worry about. I'm all about having one less thing to worry about. :D

Trust me on this one, I've had two B230F T-Belts grenade while driving. The first was due to a failed tensioner bearing on the freeway. The second was a rogue projectile that made it through the grill, AC condenser, and radiator (all of those survived without a leak, but a fan blade, timing belt cover, and timing belt bit the bullet. The latter was not criminal in nature... just a poorly designed experiment on the test range that produced a freak ricochet. Glad I'm not in that business any more!

jorrell
--
92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!

One of the parks we run is a gun range. In 27 years working here I thought I'd heard it all, but a brick blown up with a single shot? SRY about your lost but I'd love to have seen that post.

The "projectile" was actually a splinter from an inert prototype "test" round of a 20mm explosive round that was made of entirely of aluminum. The DoD accident report was 14 pages, trust me, you would have fallen asleep half way into the first page. The end result was a reduction in the source to target angle from 12 degrees to 8 degrees along with a few more perpendicular absorption walls back from the target.

No harm, no foul, my parts bill and tow was paid... but I did have to return what was left of the "splinter"! Wish I still had it so I could frame it and mount it on the wall.

jorrell
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92 245 278K miles, IPD'd to the hilt, 06 XC70, 00 Eclipse custom Turbo setup...currently taking names and kicking reputations!