I have a 1996 integra ls with a 98 gsr engine. I was driving around and my harmonic balancer decided to fly off at 4K rpm. Before this happened (the road right before this) I heard either a loud clunk or some suspicious pops. When the balancer came off I again heard the clunk from the pulley and possibly more pops. I pulled over with the car still running but not long enough to determine any funny sounds. The timing belt damn near came off on the bottom end of the belt routing. I looked at the cam gears and the intake cam might’ve moved by one tooth. I’m wondering, what are the chances I messed something up in the valve train just by losing the balancer. Also wondering if the “key” on the crank pulley is supposed to line up with TDC. If that’s the case, timing is no good.

 

The keyway on the crankshaft does not line up with the TDC mark on the crank pulley. If the motor is at TDC the keyway will be at the 12oclock position and the TDC marks will be at about 11oclock as seen in this photo I found on google.



Verify that the timing is correct then do a compression test to see if you have any damage in the valvetrain.

 

Just answering your last question quickly, no the keyed notch on the crank pulley/end of crank does not line up with the plastic tdc notch on the plastic cover if that's what you were asking. As far as the valve train, no that wouldn't be directly damaged by the crank pulley coming off. The only thing that would be is the bottom end like the crankshaft and bearings but I doubt you drove it long enough to damage anything. I would definitely reset the timing belt and make sure everything is in time, not off by any teeth. So basically just doing a timing belt job. I would go ahead and get a new timing belt/tensioner at this point anyway unless yours is newer. The question is why the crank pulley came off in the first place?? A lot of people have trouble getting them off, and if torqued down right will never just come off. Do you know who took it off last? It will never fly off if torqued down to the proper spec - 130ftlb

 

Thank you for the advice. I will be replacing the belt, tensioner, and water pump while I’m at it. I did the engine swap with this engine back in August. I did take the pulley off then but I had retorqued to about 115-120 ft lbs. I know it was at least 100. The pulley is destroyed from flying off, I’m assuming the key broke first and that’s what caused it to come off. So I will taking a pulley from a b18b1 at a junkyard, yes I know it’s a little bigger than the gsr. Another thought I had as to why the bolt came out, this car has solid motor mounts. The car has been known to yeet bolts and nuts just through vibration. Usually it’s something simply like the alternator adjusting nut or the exhaust flange nuts.

 

I had this happen to me, when the mechanic replaced the 3 serpentine belts with brand new ones. New belts have more tension on them, and will 'stretch' out accordingly after 20 miles of driving or so.

 

You seem to be kind of new to working on cars. It also seems like you don't have a good feel for how much to tighten your bolts. No matter the motor mounts, your car shouldn't "yeet" anything. I'd recommend getting a copy of the Honda service manual pdf (Google it). This is the big one, not the little book behind the counters at AutoZone. Then following the specs in that, use your torque wrench and torque everything down to spec when you're tightening. This'll give you a feel for how tight certain things should be. Even after you stop using it on every bolt, you still want to use it on the big ones like the crank shaft pulley.

 

I know how to tighten bolts properly. I’m not going to waste my time reading some jackass on a forum that seems to know everything. I know what my car does and I know it vibrates excessively everywhere. And by the little books you mean the Haynes manual? Yea, pretty sure those are accurate.

 

No need to get upset. You posted here to get advice. The crank shaft pulley would never just fly off so whoever put it on last didn't tighten it all the way. No biggie, just have to tighten it properly when you put it back on. Other bolts like your alternator bracket also wouldn't just fly off if it was tightened down.

 

The alternator bolt didn’t fly off, the alternator tension on the belt would loosen from vibration.