Dear Andrew in AL,

Hope you're well. Here's what happened. The mechanic did not align the crank sprocker's projection with the notch in the timing belt guide washer or the slot in the crank pullety. The crank pulley bolt was then torqued improperly, i.e., it was slightly loose.

Because the crank pulley was not flat against the guide washwer and sprocket, the crank pulley wobbled. Over a few weeks, that vibration loosened the crank bolt even more. The pullet began to move, wearing-away the crank sprocket's projection. Once that happened, the crank pulley was able to rotate independent of the crankshaft.

I repeat my suggestion that you find a competent mechanic. No one knows everything, even on a single car. But smart mechanics do "homework" before they tackler a job that is new to them.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

reality is almost impossible to understand because we all see through our own senses. for the most part reality can be whatever you want it to be and if that doesn't conflict tooo much with the masses agreed upon reality you can delude yourself for quite some time with no harm done. we have all done it and more than once.

all evolution of our species demands of any of us is that we see reality in a way which does not impede reproduction and the rearing of said offspring. beyond that evolution does not care whether you think hillary is great, a crook or trump is hitler or straight shooter. none of the above effects evolutions goal.

crow is not required because you saw a movie that seemed to make perfect sense some of us did not see. i do however think your mechanics view of reality may be harmful to your volvos health.

Dear Andrew in AL,

Hope you're well. You need to find another mechanic. "Once a liar, always a liar". And, even if no lies were told, this fellow simply does not know how to do this work. When a customer has to supervise closely a mechanic, someone else has to be found to do the work.

I reasonably doubt whether this mechanic understands that: (a) the outer timing belt washer must be aligned, so that the washer's notch fits over the crank sprocket's projection; (b) that the crank sprocket's projection must fit perfectly into the crank pulley's slot; (c) the outer timing belt washer has to be kept in position (notch aligned) as the crank pulley is pushed into position.

Doing this isn't easy, because once the timing belt washer in emplaced, the crank sprocket's projection is about 1/16". That raises risk of misalignment of pulley-to-notch. The design isn't wonderful, but thousands have figured out how properly to seat the crank pulley onto the crank sprocket's projection.

It might help if a witness mark (white-out) were put on the inner timing belt case, to show the location of the crank sprocket's projection. This mark needs to be positioned so it will be visible, after the crank pulley has been put on the end of the crankshaft. Another witness mark should be put on the crank pulley's face, to show the location of the crank pulley's slot, into which the crank sprocket's projection must be seated.

When sliding the crank pulley onto the crankshaft, alignment of the two witness marks should ensure that the crank sprocket's projection seats perfectly into the crank pulley's slot. If this is done, the pulley should NOT wobble at all.

For what it's worth, hot sauce (sriracha) might make crow more "palatable", if only because the sauce will shut-down most tastebuds.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

i agree with spook.
until you remove the harmonic balancer and remove the crank sprocket and actually examine the key node that protrudes from the crank sprocket and examine the slot on the balancer for mashing damage i am not persuaded in the least your wobble has been fixed. the harmonic balancer failing effects the engine timing as it throws TDC off. i have never seen a failing balancer wobble. for that to occur the rubber between the steel sections would have to ridiculously degrade and become hand to the touch loose.

Dear Andrew in AL,

Hope you're well. Constant pressure can deform rubber. If drive belts are over-tight, the rubber bushings - on which are mounted the alternator and air-conditioning compressor - will deform. Those bushings are made of a fairly soft rubber. The rubber insert in the crank pulley is of a harder rubber. It likely will not much deform, if the drive belts are over-right.

A more likely source of the wobble is that the crank pulley is not mounted, such that its slot engages the crankshaft sprocket's projection. The "slight wobble" suggests that the projection has been damaged by the first, incompletely torqued crank pulley bolt.

There's enough of the crankshaft sprocket's projection left, that it keeps the replacement used pulley from sitting flat against the sprocket's face. Because the crank pulley is not locked into place against the sprocket - because the sprocket's projection is nearly gone - eventually the crank pulley will start to slip. That means the alternator does not get full energy from the crankshaft. The battery will not be fully charged. At some point, the battery runs down and the car stops.

I'm concerned because there's no proof that: (a) the crankshaft sprocket is serviceable (i.e., that its projection is present and has "square" edges) and (b) that the crank pulley has been squarely seated onto the sprocket's projection.

In the photo you kindly posted, the timing belt guide washer's notch does not align with the crank sprocket's projection. As a result, the washer covers the projection. If the crank pulley were installed - without the washer being aligned with the crank sprocket's projection - then the pulley will be slightly out of true, no matter how much torque is applied to the crankshaft's bolt.

In sum, I suspect your tech has mis-installed the replacement used crank pulley. It wobbles less than did the first mis-installed crank pulley, because the first crank pulley was not properly torqued and because the sprocket's projection was in better condition than now it is.

In conclusion, I am not persuaded that a crank pulley will fail, solely because the rubber insert is deformed by excess pressure from the drive belts. Rather, the accessory mount bushings will yield, and so protect the crank pulleys' rubber insert.

Even if that were not the case, each rotation of the crank pulley would compress and then release the crank pulley's rubber insert. The compression-release cycles will, inevitably, fatigue the rubber. The two steel sections of the crank pulley will separate. Witness marks on the pulley's core and outer rim will show that failure. They have not yet done so. They will, in due course.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Thanks. Where were you at the start of this quest? 😅

Yep. After a lot of this and that... that has been my issue.

When all this first started I called myself examining the balancer.. by looking at the marks I had placed there way back. The problem was the balancer was deteriorating, but it had not turned. It had twisted and was wobbling bad enough to make the belts chirp badly... all of them, not just one that would indicate say.. a bad alternator.

Thanks... I had a spare.


--
"Do you think that's air you're breathing now'? (The Matrix 1999) '94 940T (463K+), 92 245 (300K+), 90 740 (148k)

Dear Andrew in AL,

Hope you're well. What is the condition of the crankshaft sprocket's projection? Are its edges nice and sharp?

Further, was it - or was it not - the case that the crankshaft pulley was insufficiently torqued?

To what does the term "marks" refer? Does this term refer to marks made on the crankshaft pulley to show whether the inner and outer steel sections have moved, relative to each other? Or, does the terms "marks" refer to the timing belt adjustment marks on the crank pulley, timing belt case, and crankshaft sprocket?

It seems likely that the pulley's being insufficiently tightened and/or not properly seated could have caused the misaligned pulley to fail prematurely. Running the pulley for "weeks", when it is misaligned - i.e., when the pulley's face was not paralle with the engine block - likely weakened the rubber, that bonds the steel core with the steel outer ring, on which ride the drive belts.

The bottom line seems to be that you should find a mechanic more who knows more about B230F/FD/FT engines and is more careful.

Hope this helps.

Yours faithfully,

Spook

Doing well... Spook!

So this is a situation where he needs to pull the t belt off and start from scratch. I had not thought of this possibility.

Are you saying that even if it was a case where it was not torqued properly.. just the fact of the front pully being loose could indicate damage to the crank sprocket??

I caught it before it went too far, I am thinking. The car was running fine. Wouldn't that indicate that it had not moved far enough from proper positioning?

Hoping for an easy quick solution.

Thanks for your help.
--
"Do you think that's air you're breathing now'? (The Matrix 1999) '94 940T (463K+), 92 245 (300K+), 90 740 (148k)