Ok, I'm trying to get the head off my civic (1999 model EJ6 engine).
I am unable to undo the bolt that hold the 'auxilliary drive belt' pulley to the crankshaft.
It's supposed to have been torqued to 170 ft lb.
I have checked and its not a left hand thread.
Problem 1. stopping rotation of the crank/engine. The haynes manual recommends a strap or chain wrench round the pulley. I have tried this and snapped a 'boa constrictor aluminium' wrench - supposedly 4000lb strength! I have tried with the car in gear with the brake pedal wedged down to assist. The 'proper' tool is a 2 inch af hexagonal thing with a hole in the centre that fits into a recess in the pulley thats about 8mm deep, and I have made a plate from 10mm steel to fit in it, but turned the corners off it. Obviously everything breaks/falls out at the most convenient time!
2. To provide enough torque!
I have snapped the square end off my britool 1/2 drive T bar and there is no movement at all. I have tried heating/ cooling/ penetrating oil/clarke 240 ftlb impact wrenches/traditional impact driver/turning it the other way/swearing (a lot)/crying......

Does anyone know of a way to release this ?@~#~$$ bolt? I guess the do or die metod would be to hire a 1" drive impact wrench and it'll either undo (then I can fix the engine) or snap the bolt (new engine or car)

Thanks for any help
Hugh

Get a bigger impact wrench or hire/borrow one.

The makita 110V 3/4" drive ones are very good.

David

As a last resort, Stillsons pipe wrench

I do it the pikey way. Long braker bar agaist the floor and crank the engine. Hasent failed yet for me.

Thanks for the suggestions so far.
I have found out we have a 3/4 drive 600 ftlb impact wrench here at work that I can borrow so I'll try that first. If that fails I think I'll try the 'pikey' route, as long as the direction of rotation is right!
As usual, flak's avatar manages to raise my moral, and a drive in an onyx mongoose with 'David' at cadwell was what inspired me to build my current project!
Regards
Hugh

[Edited on 8/9/09 by hughpinder]

One word of WARNING if your going to try the Long beaker method,
if you've got a manual check it has a keyway in the crank to locate the timing belt pulley before you try.

I did the cam-belt on my 2001 Laguna a few years ago used the same method as i have many times before to my horror once the pulleys loose the belt pulley just spins luckily for me i didn't bend any valves.

quote:

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Originally posted by CraigJ
I do it the pikey way. Long braker bar agaist the floor and crank the engine. Hasent failed yet for me.

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Good tip locoR1 - from memory the timing belt pulley is keyed, but the auxillary belt pulley isn't, however, once the aux pulley is released, the timing pulley can just slide off!
I'll give honda a quick call to check.

Thanks
Hugh

I think your better using the impact wrench tbh as that will be better for the rest of the engine I have a simple electric one which works wonders and cost very little, takes off very tight wheel nuts with no drama

Thanks Mr whippy

I have tried a standard clarke 240ftlb impact wrench to no avail - I'll be trying the 3/4 drive one from work tonight and if the 600 ftlb doen't sheer the bolt, then may go for the long bar/starter as a last resort- I spent half of saturday and all of sunday trying to get this bolt off! Even the old leyland truckI had which had wheel nuts torqued to 480 ftlb and rusted in place put up less resistance than this thing (once I'd realised the ones on one side are a right hand thread, and the other side a left hand thread).

Regards
Hugh

Once had the same problem with a Honda pulley bolt. Tried everything I could think of, broke several tools etc... borrowed a Snap On dual action impact gun and it did it as if it wasn't even tight! I think you'll be OK with your 3/4 gun. Good luck

Ian
I really hope it does just undo.
I'll post on here how I get on.

Thanks
Hugh

Did a timing belt on a 1.4 Civic today and used my new Snap On air wrench with 1200lbft break away torque took all of 2 seconds to undo the bolt .In the past I have used a 1" drive wrench and struggled. Not bad for 1/2" drive ! DO NOT use the pickey method , the normal direction of rotation of the engine may be anticlockwise when viewed from the crankpulley end of the engine which would tighten the bolt. Also the pulley may have a very small key which drops out if you are not careful, catch it when you remove the pulley

Thanks for all the ideas and info. I finally got the bolt off last night - It wouldn't undo at 8 bar, so I upped my compressor setting to maximum (10 bar), and it still seemed like it wouldnt budge. After a few minutes, when I was jsut about to give up, it suddenly freed off and whizzed off!!

I was so happy for a moment - then realised that undoing that 1 bolt has taken as long as completely stripping my donor mondeo to its component parts!

Thanks everyone
Hugh

Great stuff , when a plan comes together life is good again.

Mike