cdmapro

seeing all the posts about broken crank pulleys is worrisome. makes me think about proactively replacing mine before it goes. 99 w/ 155k mi.

for those who have had them break - at what mileage are they breaking?

also dreading the figgin water pump.

cashoit

A crank pulley is gonna make some noise before it goes. I wdnt worry about it.

Unless u wanna jus replace it...im all for preventative maintenacne

plugeye

99 max with 226k. i heard something not right one day & thought i saw the compressor wobbling. no problem, bypassed the compressor. then right after noticed it was the crank pulley wobbling. so i bought a used crank pulley from an inmate on here. it sat on the bench for maybe a week. noticed a noise only on start-up the last 3-4 times. then went to start it & the pulley snapped off.
so in my case, i heard the noise & shortly after it failed.

cdmapro

anyone have a sound byte of the noise? i do have a chirping sound coming from the general area. can't tell if it's the AC compressor, idler pulley, or what.

ajm8127

iTrader: (8)

Just do a visual inspection. If the rubber is starting to separate from the metal, replace the pulley as a preventative measure.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

159K is when mine went (like 2 weeks ago, lol).

Heard an awful noise one day coming from the pulleys, got down and looked and was able to move the crank pulley with my hand from side to side, so I got a new one and swapped it in. Problem solved.

defiance

iTrader: (1)

Are there instructions somewhere on here for installing these pulleys ?
Im pretty sure its not just an unbolt pulley - put new one on type of deal.

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (1)

It is unbolt and replace, but it's on there pretty tight and needs to be re-torqued properly.

I'm suprised these cars use a two-piece pulley like that. I just pulled a motor on a '96 and the crank pulley was completely separated. Had about 185K on the motor. It also chewed up the A/C comp pulley, not sure which went first though.

99BlackMaxMS

iTrader: (85)

The hardest part is getting the bolt off of the main crank pulley, other than that its a piece of cake. Without air tools and/or a lift, it can be difficult though, which is why I had help doing it.

99fivespd

127k - no warning - just ordered Unorthodox w belts for 230 on Ebay - dealer wanted 358.

JwaxMax99

iTrader: (14)

190K.

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (1)

I did it with the engine on a stand, and it took a jack handle on the breaker bar to get it off.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

I remembered my stepfather creating his own way to get that bolt off. What he did was cut off the tip of a spark plug and welded a 2" long iron to it and was just as thick to fit through the spark plug hole. Once he screwed it in into cylinder 1 and turned the crank until the cylinder head touched it, he then took a breaker bar with the handle from a 2 ton jack and broke it free without problems.

Opposite way used to tighten it back also...I wonder if something like this is sold now...if not, I gotta try and find him to get one made for myself...

plugeye

sounds hazardous
easy way was breaker bar wedged against the chassis, wife bump the starter.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

Nothing hazardous about it... he has done this to many cars he has worked on and not a single problem. He was a mechanic and retired..

dgoodhue

iTrader: (1)

The make piston stops which are similar to what your talking about. I know who did something like that with a piston stop. I later had the cylinder head off the motor, their was an indent in the piston. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't do or recommend it.

dgoodhue

iTrader: (1)

If the breaker bar slips it could cause some damage or hurt someone.

plugeye

you aint kiddin
the 1st attempt i tried holding it, haha put a nice dent in the oil filter

dgeesaman

iTrader: (10)

You can also jam the flywheel or just use an impact wrench to remove the bolt.

Mine went at 217k and I believe it was really caused by an oil leak in the area that got on the rubber element.

I've yet to replace mine, it's getting to the top of my list.

Dave

PGB25

160k

plugeye

amen. holed piston/ bent rod/ main bearing flattened...
a whole host of nasties with all that starter torque

Italianjoe1

iTrader: (1)

You can also put the car in gear and hold the brakes... much safer than trying to wedge the piston or something crazy like that.

TravisCadello

i got 298k miles and im pretty sure mines original.

i inspect it its dirty but not broken up.

Sandm849

iTrader: (1)

140k and started chirping before it totally came apart.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

What kind of chirping?? Is it the same as a worn accessory belt??

Dave Holmes

Both of my VQ30's ('97 Maxima & '00 I30) are right at 140,000 miles with no apparent problems so far. However, the I30 does have a "whirring" sound I have not been able to locate (but ruled out alternator, tensioner, AC pulley). I'll have to inspect the crank pulley closely.

smoketheresfire

My pulley lasted 225k miles.

Rltkktlr

Mine is gone. Didn't hear much but changed a bad serpentine belt and when I shredded the new one I started looking for the cause! Not my proudest moment. But anyway have to figure out how to get old pulley off. Has to be on there tight. Probably try impact tools. Anyway 95 maxi with 148k.

Trini Boom

iTrader: (5)

Well it appears the age of the rubber is the cause here and not the mileage after several reports..

Max_Gator

Knock on wood, I have not had a problem yet with either of mine. (Now, I know I will have one next week).

220k on the 2000 and 290k on the 1996.

catalinvint

Mine went out a month ago, at 226k km's.
It was making weird noises for the last couple of days like metal grinding on metal at high speed. Imagine when a train stops into a station, smth like that .
One morning I started the car a a big bang and a pulley was spinning in front of my car.
So yea, when you hear the noise change it

iDuty

Mine lost it a year ago, at about 132K miles. I suspect that this is more age related than mileage, as mine was almost 16 years old at the time. As others wrote, you do get some warning.

Transmission in gear and hold the brakes only works with manual transmissions.

Breaker bar held steady to the floor while wife bumps the starter works well to take the bolt off, that is what I did. But I had no way to tighten it back on, I had to borrow an impact wrench to do that.