I changed my oil about a week ago after putting the new filter on I figured I would make sure the crank pulley is tight, I had an issue during the summer where the pulley came loose somehow. So I proceeded to tighten the bolt and I rotated the pulley about 180-360 degrees, not thinking like a noob about the timing issue. After I finished up I took it for a ride about 20-30 miles. Then the next morning I went to start it up and it was rough and erratic idling, and noise coming from the pulley. Also the battery light came on. I was running late for Christmas day at family's so I just figured the alternator belt came off. After arriving at my destination I jacked it up and took the wheel off to inspect the pulley. The pulley was loose as hell and the bolt wouldn't tighten. So I managed to drive it home and as soon as I got close to home it started to cut out and died as soon as I pulled into my parking lot. Now it won't start at all. The starter engages, but no turn over. I'm able to turn the crank pulley bolt, but the cam gear doesn't turn. The timing belt is intact. So I think the problem is in the Timing belt gears? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'd start with checking your mechanical timing.

 

Your belt probably stripped and you now have a FUBAR'd engine.

 

I don't think the belt has an issue aside from maybe a broken key in the crank gear causing the belt to not turn the cam gear. I can turn the crank bolt and see the piston in cyl #1 moving. so it's gotta be something wrong with the timing belt or gears. I'm going to attempt to take the pulley off tomorrow and look to see what is not causing the cam gear to not move. thanks for the replies.

 

Well I was able to get the pulley off with the 10mm closed end wrench in the flywheel and the jackstand supporting the extension method. Used an 18 inch breaker bar with a 4ft length of pipe. Started to strip at first but then just put gradual pressure on it. Got about Half way out I think and then the bolt snapped. Going to try to use a bolt extractor or drill it out tomorrow. Does anyone know how long the crank pulley bolt is?

 

about an inch. varies slightly by model. your engine is toast bro.

 

I wouldn't say the whole thing is toast but I'd definitely be finding a new crank, timing gear and crank bolt! Hopefully you learned a lesson....

 

Belt definitely jumped. Valves are probably bent. Your engine wont rotate because the pistons and the valves are knocking each other out. When you tightened the harmonic balancer bolt did you put a pry bar or screw driver at the fly wheel assuming you did not gun it.

 

The balancer and the crank sprocket operate this way , the balancer is totally dependent on the crank sprocketand not the other way around. if you loose your balancer it does not mean you loose your timing belt, you will only loose accessories using the drive belt. Id say its a timing component issue, we can all guess what it is but we wont really find out till you open the tb cover. It can be stripped belt, stretched belt, tensioner issue, guide issue, it can even be a bad crank. This is a typical symptom of a tb issue, at 70 k whether it needs it or not, replace the timing components and not just the belt, throw in a new water pump to. I always tell my customers that $150 is cheaper than $750. Oh i forgot, your cam or cam sprocket it totally dependent on your crank sprocket and not your balancer.

 

Thanks, I Got the covers off and the valve's look fine, Definitely need a new Crank Sprocket, The key broke and there's a little piece stick in there. I tap and died it yesterday and took a 3/8"x 1.5" bolt and put a little epoxy on the threads and threaded in about 1/2". Didn't work on it today because it was 6 degrees with a wind chill of -15. So I can wait til tomorrow, and spray some PB Blast on it. Thanks for everyone's input.

 

Well the 3/8" bolt just came right out, the epoxy didn't hold. Going to try to fix the timing w/o the crank pulley on it and see if she will turn over, also need to check the distributor.

 

Your valves can be bent enough to cause issues and look fine from the top... A leakdown test is in order. A compression test would be comprehensive as well.

 

x2 I see this too often

 

What kind of engine is this and which direction did you turn the motor by hand initially, clockwise or counter clock wise? From the way you describe the situation it sounds like the crank pulley stripped or somehow broke the key which caused the crank pulley to spin independent of the actual crankshaft. That would explain the battery light since the crank pulley wasn't spinning the alternator, it could also explain the erratic idle/dying if the battery voltage dropped below 12 volts since it wasn't being charged. If that's the case then your valve train is most likely in tact and you need to focus your attention on the actual crankshaft and crank gear. First remove the timing belt and crank gear and inspect the crankshaft. If there's major scoring or metal shavings then your crank is most likely toast and you need a new crankshaft/bottom end. If there doesn't seem to be damage to the crankshaft then replace everything else, crank gear, crank pulley, key, bolt, and maybe even the t-belt or lower cover if damaged. Then put everything back together paying careful attention to how the parts go back together. You shouldn't have any major trouble sliding the crank gear onto the crankshaft, if you have to beat the gear onto the crank with a hammer then there's definitely something wrong. Once you have the gear and key in, there shouln't be excessive lateral play in the pulley to crank. After you get it back together you can either do the leak down or just fire it up. If you have valve damage it'll run like **** if at all. If it runs like **** next step would be a leak down test, and btw you can't see bent valves just by taking off the valve cover. The only way to see bent valves is by removing the head, or if it fails leak down. If you didnt hear any loud metallic sounding tapping noises when your car died, then your valve train is most likely ok. Just make sure your crank is ok first, pics would help.

Learn from this experience too, if you ever have a problem like this DON'T drive it. Needing to get somewhere is no excuse to drive your car when somethings majorly wrong with it. It would of been cheaper to call a taxi or friend to pick you up then potentially destroying your engine which it sounds like you did. If your engine isn't toast you dodged a bullet.