My car started making a loud noise while driving so I parked it and shut it off. I started it again and looked under the hood and saw that the crank pulley was wobbeling. Is this a common problem? Does it just need to be tightened? I guess it could be the balancer to, or even that the crank is bent, but I really doubt it. This car is my daily driver and its 100% stock with 97k miles.
Thanks Mike

 

Most likely you need a new crank pulley. There is a rubber piece that is between the part of the pulley that is connected to the crank and the outer part that drives the belts. This can deteriorate and make the pulley wobble.

 

I got under the car and I could turn the bolt by hand. I tightened it up, started it and it made the same noise. The pulley is rubbing against the timing cover. Then I looked at the pulley closer and it is not straight. Im going to take it off tomorrow and see whats going on.

 

As 98accrd said, my friend had that problem, started driving, got like a mile and all of a sudden a loud *** whine followed by a grinding, crank pulley snapped right off right at the rubber part, the rubber part is what makes it stop vibrations

 

What kind of pulley does everyone recommend OEM? I havn't found one at an auto parts store. Anything special that I need to know when changing it? I wonder how bad it tore up my timing cover....

 

Bad news.....
The crank pulley tore up the end of the crankshaft. Im not going to be able to put a new pully on it, so I guess im pulling the motor. I will probably find a used motor since a crank is $400.

 

If you decide to go aftermarket on the next pulley make sure the timing marks line up properly, since yours is wasted, you will need to match it up with a new one from the dealer or a spare that a friend has.

Normally Honda crank bolts are extremely tight, on your next motor you may want to do a timing belt before it goes in, dont forget the balance shaft TSB (oil seal retainer) and loctite the hell oul of the next bolt.

It was mentioned that the rubber part stops vibrations, this is pretty accurate, it is a harmonic balencer, it removes harmonics (vibrations) in the crankshaft itself due to the pulses on different pistons depending on if they are in the INTAKE, COMPRESSION, POWER or EXHAUST stroke, it makes for a smoother idle also.

TIDBIT INFO, when the balencer rubber seperates on a Toyota, the AC belt slips (seems to slip as far as the computer sees) and the AC gets turned off and the power light flashes until the AC power is recycled and system works until the next hard accelleration.