Freak Accident....or 'How I screwed up my 3800 with a rag"

[Guest Kitskaboodle]

OK...here we go:

I left a cleaning rag in the engine compartment bay, forgot

about it and then started it up. The rag got caught in the pullys and ended up wrapping itself around the inside of the crankshaft pulley. The engine stopped immediately.

Anyways, I got it out of there but I noticed that inner wheel with the tangs (or slots) now has a few bent fingers and I tweaked the crankshaft sensor to where its acutally touching the crankshaft. Car cranks but will not start.

I went to a junkyard and tried to take a crank sensor off a Regal but it wont come off until the pulley comes off first.

How do I get the crankshaft pulley off and can I do it while its in the car? And what about that little slotted wheel? Can I bend the tangs back into alignment or should get this out of a junkyar also?

Thanks, Kit / 90 Reatta Coupe

[Guest kennyw]

tangs are part of the crankshaft pulley. Bolt is tightened to 250 ft. lbs. You will need an impact wrench-or-jam a breaker bar into the frame with the right socket on it and turn the key for a second or two. This will undo the bolt........IT IS DANGEROUS.....IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, DON'T TRY IT!!

In the jumk yard. ONLY IF THE MOTOR IS JUNK. Take out a spark plug and jam a long lug wrench in the hole.....this will stop the motor from turning........You will still need to use a breaker bar and apply 250 ft. lbs. of force to get the bolt out manually.......neither one is for amatures.........ken

[Guest CL_Reatta]

That is why pnuematic power tools are the greatest... I wouldnt mess with getting a sensor from the junk yard.... you dont know how much life is left in it

[charlie1]

ZZZ

Edited August 2, 2009 by CHAS1 (see edit history)

[Guest Kitskaboodle]

Thanks for the reply....

I still have one major question though:

Do I have to use a puller to get the crankshaft pulley off?

If so, can it be done while in the car or do I have to remove the engine first?

Kit

[Guest CL_Reatta]

No need to remove the engine... just remove the passenger front tire and the plastic shielding in the wheel well.... No puller is needed on the LN3.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

ey Kits, you do not need to remove the engine.

The pulley does NOT need a puller. The bolt itself holds it on. It should more or less fall off with the bolt removed.

I forgot the size of the head, 15/16'' maybe. The starter trick may or may not work depending on how tight the bolt is, your starter, and your battery. Most of the time it does not work for me, but basically you would put a socket with a breaker bar attached and allow it to rest on the radiator support/front structure. Basically that will hold the bar, then when you tap the starter it SHOULD break free. If it doesn't, become friends with a plumber with a 48'' or so pipe wrench to hold the sucker. The bad thing is that I believe you can potentially damage the harmonic balancer if it isn't a fresh one ($80 at Advance)

As long as you can bend back the tangs so they would touch the harmonic balancer, you're good, but this will be difficult so I'd just get the tangs from a yard if you can. They're bolted to the back of the harmonic balancer.

DON'T try this yet, but with my two stroke Jet Ski engines, you can feed a length of rope into a cylinder through the spark plug hole and that will harmlessly hold things in place...I don't know if this is safe to do in this case, so I advise not trying it without research.

[Ronnie]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">DON'T try this yet, but with my two stroke Jet Ski engines, you can feed a length of rope into a cylinder through the spark plug hole and that will harmlessly hold things in place...I don't know if this is safe to do in this case, so I advise not trying it without research.</div></div>

Two stroke engines don't have intake and exhaust valves in the head. Don't try this on the 3.8 or any other four stroke engine. You will bend a valve or worse.

[Guest NEMO]

To close the hood of any auto ,boat ,or engine cover,ALLWAYS check for tools, rags,bottles,anything that might be forgotten. Cap off the power steering pump,or oil filler.Take 1 minute to check. And there is only one correct way to close the hood. By standing in the front,never from the side. Never slam the hood.

[Guest F14CRAZY]

My bad...

I KNOW! Another alternative is to remove the black plastic cover from underneath that covers the ring gear of the flexplate. You can wedge a screwdriver or something similar against the teeth and the ground/floor to keep the engine from turning

[Guest CL_Reatta]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: NEMO</div><div class="ubbcode-body">To close the hood of any auto ,boat ,or engine cover,ALLWAYS check for tools, rags,bottles,anything that might be forgotten. Cap off the power steering pump,or oil filler.Take 1 minute to check. And there is only one correct way to close the hood. By standing in the front,never from the side. Never slam the hood. </div></div>

Actually... Ive been told that on hoods that dont have the struts let it go from about half way down... and to slam a hood with struts (not hard, but not soft).... this is because people that dont slam them... the hood doesnt close / latch, and then they try closing it by pushing down on it and then but a big ole dent in their hood.

[Guest NEMO]

It should close and latch with out much force.If not adjust so it will.Or you can slam away. Both ways work.

[Guest jcc3inc]

Sir,

I recently changed the crankshaft position sensor on my '91. It DID need a puller ('91 engine different from a '90). In order to prevent the crank from turning, I put a vise grip on the flywheel ring gear (gripped the sides) during both the removal and tightening of the crankshaft pulley bolt. It worked well.

I did find positioning of the sensor was critical; I wrecked the first one I tried!

Regards,

Jack C.

[Guest CL_Reatta]

Yes... the LN3 does not need a puller... 91's have the "Series I"