How to re-stablish crank pulley position?

Post by **scot850** » 05 Aug 2016, 14:56

Bone-head alert!!!

I was pulling the crank pulley off to check the front crank seal, and to remove it you need to use a 3 legged puller. Volvo in their infinite wisdom position the inner fender so you cannot get a 3 legged puller in unless you rotate the pulley away from the timing marks (in my case about 15-20 degrees CCW. Reason for this is the stress in Vida NOT to put the legs of the puller on the timing belt area directly to pull but to insert 2 of the harmonic balancer bolts all the way through the pulley and use the ends of these to position the puller and pull on there. Hence the reason for the rotation as there are only 4 holes and they were positioned so the puller could not get to them without moving it.

So now having wrestled the pulley to come loose it comes off before I can re-position the crank to the correct position. Did I mark the pulley and crank centre? That would be a no as I had planned to do that when the pulley reached the end of the crank lock nut threads before removing the pulley completely.

So how in the heck do I re-establish the correct position of the pulley relative to the crank and therefore the timing marks?

I've done some dumb stuff in my time but this is the best yet! In my defense, I am used to pulleys being keyed or marked in some way, but being Volvo it is not.

HEEELP!!

Neil.

Post by **scot850** » 05 Aug 2016, 16:36

Alert can be rescinded for the moment. I am still a bonehead, but I have found the solution to my predicament.

The Volvo gods were watching over me in the form of they actually have had an engineer who could foresee me working on their cars. After banging my head for a while (it must have help clear a blockage!!) I went out and had another look. Thankfully Volvo engineer made a double wide 'spline' on one part of the pulley and crank splines so the pulley can only be fitted one way. Hooray!!

Just in case there are any other boneheads who want to do what I did, here is the solution:

: Wider spline on timing crank pulley (1)

: Wider spline on crankshaft

Hopefully you can see the marks I am talking about.

Thanks anyway!

Neil.

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 05 Aug 2016, 18:56

Good for you! The spline is cut so that it should only go on one way and that is the correct way.

...Lee

Post by **rspi** » 05 Aug 2016, 20:40

So, was the seal leaking? Did you replace it? Mine is leaking and I'm about to do the same job on my car. A local mechanic told me that the seal likes to leak after installation, due to the inner lip of the seal tossing the spring. So I had a seal installer manufactured.

Post by **scot850** » 05 Aug 2016, 23:12

I know even the Volvo mechanic that replaced the one on my 'R' had to have 2 goes to get it right. As best as I can tell it is not leaking, but looking from above it appears to have a bit of a wave in the outer edge of the seal.

The Service Manager at the dealer has agreed to loan me the crank and cam insertion tools for the after noon tomorrow to replace them. The head mechanic will be there so I will be grilling him on the best way to get success on this process. He is a good mechanic.

I will also take photos and measurements of the tools for reference if I try to make up a set of these tools also. I might just wait for your tools to become available to purchase Robert once they are proven and de-bugged!

Let us know.

Thanks again,

Neil

Post by **abscate** » 06 Aug 2016, 00:22

Late to thread. This is pretty standard practice. A critically positioned pulley on a shaft will have a key way or spline eccentric that will create the right reference unless you really gorilla something.

Nice careful work though!

Post by **tryingbe** » 06 Aug 2016, 03:46

Unlike the cam pulleys, crank pulley only goes in one way. I always mark the cam pulleys before taking them off.

Post by **scot850** » 06 Aug 2016, 09:09

Yup, cam pulleys I have loads of marks on them to ensure correct fitment especially with the slotted holes. Good to reinforce the protocol though!

Neil.

Post by **rspi** » 06 Aug 2016, 09:58

scot850 wrote:I will also take photos and measurements of the tools for reference if I try to make up a set of these tools also. I might just wait for your tools to become available to purchase Robert once they are proven and de-bugged!

As mentioned I had a full set of the tools make out of aluminum. I'm having the crank tool tweaked so the seal can be driven in with the crank pulley nut. The ones I had made for the crank were to long to drive it in with the nut. A Volvo mechanic I met with said that driving it in with a washer and the nut is the safest way to do it.

I'll probably make a video later today and post it tomorrow sometime. (I'm having serious back issues now, ouch! Spend 7 hours at the VA hospital yesterday). You can use the seal dimensions to manufacture the tools. The ones I have seen were made out of a plastic (at 2 different shops).

: Engine seal press; sealpress.jpg (85.62 KiB) Viewed 1629 times

Post by **scot850** » 06 Aug 2016, 23:09

Robert, I have taken a bunch of pictures and measurements of the Volvo tools for the front cam seal and crank seal they loaned me. I don't want to post his info as it is probably proprietary. If you want to PM me I can send you the info.

: Front cam tool

: Front crank seal tool

: Internal of crank tool

Neil.