What does it mean when your crank pulley wobbles?

Worst case scenario has already been explained to me by someone else so feel free to state your opinion without fearing that I will **** bricks.

 

it happened to me man....get it fixed now or bye bye crank but thats if it falls off.

 

When the crank wobbles does that mean the pulley is bad or something internal?

 

the rubber center of the pulley that is used to dampen vibration may be worn out. replace it, if it still wobbles drop your oil pan and check the journals for proper bearing seating and look for any abnormal wear on the bearings themselves

 

So what if there is oil leaking from the seal?

 

bump

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by iiilgsrlll &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... Worst case scenario has already been explained to me...</TD></TR></TABLE>
So somebody already told you that it MIGHT be a bent crankshaft?

Sure, but it might also be a bent pulley, including the rubber part being screwed up. You can't just repace that, the rubber isolator is part of the pulley.

You could take out your crankshaft & have a machine shop check it for straightness. But its a lot easier to put on a new pulley & see if that fixes it...

Leaking oil seal could be caused by a bent crankshaft. OR it could be caused by a bad seal. I'd cross my fingers & replace the seal.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JimBlake &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
So somebody already told you that it MIGHT be a bent crankshaft?

Sure, but it might also be a bent pulley, including the rubber part being screwed up. You can't just repace that, the rubber isolator is part of the pulley.

You could take out your crankshaft & have a machine shop check it for straightness. But its a lot easier to put on a new pulley & see if that fixes it...

Leaking oil seal could be caused by a bent crankshaft. OR it could be caused by a bad seal. I'd cross my fingers & replace the seal.
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Someone has already told me that it could be a bent crankshaft. Scheduled to go in the shop to tear my motor apart on the 8th of July to see what's going on. If crank is not bent the pulley will be replaced and motor will remain stock. If crank is bent then the motor will be built with new forged rods/pistons and of course a new crank. Will keep you guys posted on what happens.

Guess nothing bad can result from this other than the fact that the car runs. Damn the temptation to drive it!! Talk about dangling a carrot in front of the donkey.

Thanks for your reply JimBlake.


Modified by iiilgsrlll at 1:37 AM 6/27/2003

 

hold on, lets examine a few things first. First off, did you remove your crank pulley or any of your assory drive pullies? If you have something misaligned it could cause the belt to not be stirght and wobble some. If your crank pully isnt seated correctly this could also occur. Perhaps you forgot to reinstall the key when putting the crank pulley on, if you took it off. Here is what gets me with the "bent crank" idea. First, dont you think the engine would exhibit some kind of odd sound or poor running conditions if you could physically see that much movement in something that is set in a loaded race and has end play that is usually measured in the hundred thousandths???? As also mentioned earlier, you could have worn out center rubber surround that isolates viberation. And, it could also just be a loose belt that appears to be wiggling the pulleys. Take a closer look, think about what you have done recently that could have or would have effected said area, and get back with us.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxxdout &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hold on, lets examine a few things first. First off, did you remove your crank pulley or any of your assory drive pullies? If you have something misaligned it could cause the belt to not be stirght and wobble some. If your crank pully isnt seated correctly this could also occur. Perhaps you forgot to reinstall the key when putting the crank pulley on, if you took it off. Here is what gets me with the "bent crank" idea. First, dont you think the engine would exhibit some kind of odd sound or poor running conditions if you could physically see that much movement in something that is set in a loaded race and has end play that is usually measured in the hundred thousandths???? As also mentioned earlier, you could have worn out center rubber surround that isolates viberation. And, it could also just be a loose belt that appears to be wiggling the pulleys. Take a closer look, think about what you have done recently that could have or would have effected said area, and get back with us. </TD></TR></TABLE>

The crank pulley and other belts haven't been replaced or removed so forgetting to install something is probably not something that could have caused the problem. Only routine maintenance has been performed on the car and at 43k miles that would not involve replacing any of the belts.

The situation now is that I have an oil leak and it appears to be from the seal behind the crank pulley (getting progressively worse) along with misfire codes. Once I explained this to everyone, that I have asked about this problem, they recommended that I take a closer look at the motor to make sure that no internal damage has been done to the rod bearings and crank. I think it is probably best that this is done for "peace of mind" purposes since this will be a forced induction motor.

I agree with you that there would some type of odd sound or poor running conditions if the crank was bent so that's why there's still hope nothing "major" is wrong. Others have said the motor would have spun a bearing or threw a rod already if it was really that severe. I'll see what happens but until then the car will not be driven....you know...just in case I can't lay off the boost or something

Thanks for the response and if any of you guys have anything else to add please feel free.

 

What kind of pulley do you run?

Unless you run an OEM CTR N1 crank pulley you will eventually damage your engine in the long haul. All of those aftermarket crank pulleys lack a crucial harmonical balancer that is designed for that engine. They are mass produced and stamped out with no intent of balance in mind. Hence, the vibration dampaning material on the pulley.

OEM pulleys were Harmonically balanced for each engine specified for during the design phase. Than during production the pulleys are balanced again while being cut.

Your pulley has most likely been dropped or something to severely throw off the balance of the pulley. Also, it will put prolonged wear on the crank bearings, as well as the oil pump.

If I were you I'd ditch that crank pulley for an OEM. The Aftermarket crankpulley is a time bomb waiting to happen.

 

The crank pulley is the original one and has never been removed.

Is there a specific color code or number code I give to the dealer if I needed a new pulley (similar to rod bearing color coding) since you state that they balance each pulley specific to the motor?

TIA

 

Prolly just get a pulley for the same motor you have.

But are you sure it's the crank pulley? You could have a busted motor mount or something causing the entire engine too look like it's wobbling.

I've never heard of an OEM pulley wobble like what!?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by P1mpSlap &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Prolly just get a pulley for the same motor you have.

But are you sure it's the crank pulley? You could have a busted motor mount or something causing the entire engine too look like it's wobbling.

I've never heard of an OEM pulley wobble like what!? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Its definitely the pulley that's wobbling. I did a search for previous threads last night and see that some people have had this problem.

 

#1, if you have a visible oil leak then a seal has been compromised. That seal is a front main. That also means, that that perhaps a bearing race is cocked out or spun. Simple check: if you feel comfortable, drop the pan and spot check a few main bearings. OOOh, better though, check for visual crankshaft lateral runout, or as its more commonly called "crankwalk" or crankshaft endplay. First load the crank pulley towards the transmission by pushing it that way. Its probably easker to get at if you take ou the inner fender panel. get your big pry bar, and pry it not too hard, but just enough to see if it moves. This test is probably best performed with the belts off the crank pulley ....btw. PRobably easier would be the bearing check...dont know for sure how this happened to ya dude, but it doesnt sound good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by maxxdout &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">#1, if you have a visible oil leak then a seal has been compromised. That seal is a front main. That also means, that that perhaps a bearing race is cocked out or spun. Simple check: if you feel comfortable, drop the pan and spot check a few main bearings. OOOh, better though, check for visual crankshaft lateral runout, or as its more commonly called "crankwalk" or crankshaft endplay. First load the crank pulley towards the transmission by pushing it that way. Its probably easker to get at if you take ou the inner fender panel. get your big pry bar, and pry it not too hard, but just enough to see if it moves. This test is probably best performed with the belts off the crank pulley ....btw. PRobably easier would be the bearing check...dont know for sure how this happened to ya dude, but it doesnt sound good.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thanks for tips. The motor will probably come out of the car tomorrow and will find out more on what's wrong. Leaning towards a bent crankshaft. Swapped out the pulley yesterday and that didn't fix it. Figured it would be worth a shot. Don't know how this happened either but I guess it gives me a reason to rebuild the motor.

BTW if anyone has a OBDII crank for sale please let me know. It'd BETTER NOT be bent. I am in San Diego so a local source is preferred.

Thanks.