Does anyone have any tips for keeping the engine from turning while I'm taking the bolt off this thing? Honda makes a tool for holding the balancer in place; does anyone happen to have this lying around?

Here's the mess:

Belts are out now.

Time to see how flamable PB Blaster is...

8/18/2006 7:04:33 PM

search, there is a thread about this

someone made their own

8/18/2006 7:07:57 PM

searching for "harmonic balancer" and "crankshaft pulley" in the garage turns up 0 hits. What did they call it?

8/18/2006 7:18:33 PM

3/4" impact

8/18/2006 7:30:24 PM

Yeah, OTC makes a tool for it, but nobody around here stocks it. You can order it online for around 25 bux.

T-Hoff might actually carry it.

Or make your own; I can't remember who the blue fuck here did it, but they used pipe reducing bushings, a tee, and a length of pipe.

You can also use a king-size strap wrench or a chain wrench.

I know my 1/2" impact gun won't touch it.

8/18/2006 7:39:36 PM

The starter looks fairly easy to get to. How dumb would it be to pull that out, wedge a screwdriver in the ring gear, and keep trying to get the nut off with a breaker bar?

8/18/2006 8:15:58 PM

$13 from lowes
pipe fittings are 1-1/2" and the span across the bushing is just under 2 inches. I had to grind down the 1-1/2"/1" reducing bushing by about 1/32" on all sides and I held the bushing in place with a few threaded rods. The Tee worked great because you could fit the wrench in there to get to the crank bolt. You will have to loosen the engine mount on that side to drop the pulley down an inch or so which you wouldn't have to do if you had the real tool. That engine mount has a really long thread but I think you have to remove it to take the belt off anyway.

8/18/2006 8:40:31 PM

i made a tool back in the day and promptly broke it. ended up clipping on a pair of vice grips to the pulley.

8/18/2006 9:13:41 PM

I had a feller come into the parts store one Saturday and ask if we had a "harmonical balancer"...

I said that we didn't carry them for Datsun pickups and that he'd either have to go to Nissan or a junkyard. I asked him what was wrong with his and he said it was stopped up.

I said WTF...

He was talking about the cat. Ya never know with these Johnston County folk...

8/18/2006 9:31:08 PM

I dont know much about honda engines, but that thing looks FUBAR.

8/18/2006 9:33:39 PM

^^^^ That is beautiful. If all else fails, I'll give that a shot. I really don't want to mess with the engine mount though.

^ it is. That metal ring is supposed to be driving the larger of the two belts. The smaller belt (power steering) was still working fine for the few miles I drove it though, even with part of the pulley resting on it. Go Honda.

The chain wrench sounds like a good idea. If harbor freight has this:http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42717
in stock tomorrow I might give that a shot. The outer diameter of the balancer is about 7" to 7.25" which is too large for any wrench I've found, but the smaller pulley only has about a 4" diameter so if I can get it on that it could work.

I'm still considering sticking a screwdriver in the flywheel ring gear too, but the starter is more of a bitch to get to than I thought.

Thanks for the help.

8/18/2006 10:09:55 PM

What happens if I swap power and ground going to the starter? Right now if I stuck a breaker bar on the bolt and ran the starter it would tighten the bolt, but if the starter ran the motor in the other direction it could help. I really don't know what's in a starter yet.

8/19/2006 5:07:10 PM

WILL NOT WORK.

For one, you stand to fuck everything up electrically.

For two, the starter has an overrun clutch built into the drive gear. It basically won't spin shit if you ran it backwards.

8/19/2006 5:41:21 PM

Quote :

"I'm still considering sticking a screwdriver in the flywheel ring gear too, but the starter is more of a bitch to get to than I thought. "

some hondas have a hole with a rubber plug in it, at the front of the engine, you can hold the flywheel with a screwdriver through that hole. not sure if it came on the '90.

screwdriver and 1/2 inch IR titanium done it for my prelude though. my lil cheap gun would not touch that bolt.

8/19/2006 11:27:53 PM

go 1" drive or go home, shit will take it right off

8/20/2006 1:10:27 AM

I have never needed a inch drive for anything on a car or otherwise, a 3/4 drive breaker bar has always done right by me.

8/20/2006 3:17:15 PM

There is a small cover that can be removed to give access the flywheel. Haynes gives instructions for removing it (6 bolts - 3 on this piece and 3 on the torque converter cover) in the section on replacing the timing belt, but does not reference this in the section on replacing the pulley/harmonic balancer. It's hard to get a screwdriver in there so it will hold the wheel instead of bending out of place, but it looks possible. I haven't scratched the bell housing up too badly yet.

I think I'm going to try getting a ~2 foot extension for my regular sockets so I have room to play with a breaker bar. I'll find a way to brace it with a cinderblock or something if I end up needing a huge cheater.

Random question: do automatics have flywheels? I thought that piece was less massive and went by a different name on autos.

8/20/2006 3:31:10 PM

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Honda-Acura-Crankshaft-Pulley-
Holder-Tool-1990_W0QQitemZ160020096151QQihZ006QQcategoryZ31483QQcmdZViewItem


screw driver holding flywheel works fine too
or you can be ghetto and stick some rope down the spark plug hole.

[Edited on August 21, 2006 at 8:29 AM. Reason : -]

8/20/2006 5:43:43 PM

Quote :

"you can be ghetto and stick some rope down the spark plug hole."

Method works great on 2-strokes, but I recommend being very careful to do this ONLY ON THE COMPRESSION STROKE on a 4-stroke. The reason? You don't want to bend a valve. Yes, you can bend a valve if the damn thing is open and that wad of rope is pushing on it sideways.

8/20/2006 6:55:50 PM

This is an excellent way to bend screwdrivers.

Rope is an interesting idea. I'd be worried about it knotting up though and not coming out.

8/20/2006 6:56:51 PM

I stall it in reverse at the top of a steep hill, put the breaker bar on and push it forward down the hill. Genious.

I'm guessing that torque converters are disconnected/naturally open/whatever with no power applied tho. oh well.

8/20/2006 7:07:05 PM

advance auto can order the damn tool and it isn't that much $...about $20. Just depends how much time you have.

Made by ampro tools T70127 Depth might be an issue though.
http://www.amprotool.net/product.php?mode=show&cid=21&pid=566

8/20/2006 8:31:49 PM

if youre a real wizard just use your majic stick and a spell

8/20/2006 9:03:59 PM

^^well goddammit. I spent I-don't-know how long looking to see if they carried one, to no avail.

Oh well. 5 more dollars for the OTC one ain't too bad.

8/20/2006 10:33:55 PM

I don't have time to mess with this. Who wants some work, and how much do you want for this job? I already have the new harmonic balancer and belts. I can probably drive the car at least a few miles from the lake johnson area.

9/6/2006 6:02:11 PM

Anyone? I'm willing to pay cash money for a job that should be pretty simple if you have the right tools.

9/6/2006 9:05:44 PM

wamp wamp

9/6/2006 9:07:12 PM

hahaha. simple. Yeah. It is simple. That's why it took three of us the other night to do one. Of course, the motherfucker hadn't been off since the car was new, and it had 150k on the clock.

Yeah, I can do it...but it'll be Saturday before I can get to it.

9/6/2006 9:09:15 PM

Mine was just the opposite in that it loosened itself and damn near fell off. Maybe neverseize was a bad idea.

9/6/2006 11:09:13 PM

hey zxappeal, what parts store you work at in JC?

9/6/2006 11:31:50 PM

Cleveland Parts and Accessories at I40/NC42. The Carquest store.

9/7/2006 12:19:09 AM

how i got the crank bolt off my jetta:



correct size socket on the end of my 1/2" ratchet, slid a length of pipe over the handle of the ratchet long enough to touch the floor, set the ratchet in the opposite direction the engine turns over, remove coil plug from distributor cap, key in ignition and just bump it.


to get it back in i pulled the starter and wedged a screwdriver in the flywheel teeth.

same concept, different car.

9/7/2006 7:21:28 AM

Quote :

"same concept, different car. "

except for the fact that the rotation is wrong, it will tighten it fucktard

9/7/2006 7:37:28 AM

^true statement right there folks

9/7/2006 10:30:07 AM

this is why i buy new cars and dont own one for more than 8 years if that

honda or not shit like this is just not worth the headaches

9/7/2006 10:58:55 AM

^I beg to differ, man. If I can pick up a car for a few hundred bux, and it's one that I've had a long history with...

...then damn near all repairs are easy. And it is totally worth it to me to not have a car payment.

9/7/2006 12:14:10 PM

Quote :

"and it's one that I've had a long history with... "

well thats one thing

and i agree, but overall when shit like that starts happening and i get stranded on the road or even in my own driveway and have to tow the fucking car to places to just get an estimate... aside from like an alternator or battery dying causing the problem.... time for a new car

9/7/2006 12:32:55 PM

When I can afford a more reliable car, I'll probably go that route. Right now I'm taking out student loans to pay rent and buy food. Another 200-400 every month for a car payment just isn't an option.

Old cars can be really cheap. The problems with them can be manageable as long as you know enough about the car to diagnose problems with it and you stay aware of what could break on you. I don't have much of a history with this particular car or this model, so it's been kind of a pain, but overall it's still been a lot cheaper per mile than buying a new one would have been.

9/7/2006 3:38:10 PM

^6, yeah thats why i said same concept

instead of: exact same steps dont deviate from them


i dont know or care much about hondas, just sharing my experience


so way to suck at life, fuckstick...

9/7/2006 6:29:51 PM

It's a good idea, but it just doesn't apply here. The crankshaft is spinning so that it would tighten the bolt if I did anything romotely similar to that. Thanks for the idea though.

And no flaming in my thread, please.

9/7/2006 6:51:38 PM

^actually its not if you think about it and orient the ratchet/pipe setup correctly.





but ill leave you to your own method. gl.

9/7/2006 8:48:18 PM

^ actually you just need to stfu up cause it doesnt mater how you orient the mother fucker, if it turns the worng direction, it will not loosen that way, if it were that fucking easy, then no one would be discussing it

if you can jack the car up enough to get it under there and dont care about the old balancer, i have a 6" jaw pipe wrench about 4 feet long you could try

[Edited on September 7, 2006 at 8:54 PM. Reason : fag]

9/7/2006 8:50:31 PM

are you really as stupid as you sound? for fucks sake it is actually that easy.


but to be honest, youre not even worth explaining it to so im done with this thread.

9/7/2006 8:53:27 PM

well genuis, if you have a right hand thread in a shaft that turns counterclockwise, then at what point of the motherfucking circle that it travels in will the bolt loosen if held still while the shaft rotates? god damn you are an idiot

9/7/2006 8:56:43 PM

Quote :

"are you really as stupid as you sound? for fucks sake it is actually that easy. but to be honest, youre not even worth explaining it to so im done with this thread."

Wow, Speedsta800.

You are one dumb shitbag. 69 is totally right, and you're being a shitbag. Go be a shitbag elsewhere, shitbag.

9/7/2006 9:56:16 PM

for gods sake get a fucking electric impact at harbor freight and take the damn thing back when youre done.

9/7/2006 10:05:25 PM

^ i can beat my dick harder than those things, chicago sutff sucks at life, hell just borrow a compressor and gun, and even if you cant plug it in, if you let it pump up a 10 or 15 gallon tank and take the comperessor with you, thats enough to break it loose

9/7/2006 10:07:24 PM

even a pancake compressor.


if youre gonna hippie it, then you have to work smart.

9/7/2006 10:09:55 PM

I tried the chicago electric impact wrench. no luck. If anyone had offered to lend me a compressor 2 weeks ago when I had time to work on this, I would have been willing to try that to.

9/7/2006 10:55:04 PM

And my guess is that would not have worked either. Unless maybe you tried a 3/4" drive air impact gun.

Seriously, the Civic I did last week wouldn't budge with Jeepman's Ingersoll Titanium gun (1000 ft-lb in reverse).

I doubt my 450 gun will do it. I'd bet 100 dolla. Hell, it barely broke my wife's loose after I held my thumb on the pressure cutoff switch and rode her up to 180 psi. And hers had been done 90k miles earlier.

Quote :

"even a pancake compressor. if youre gonna hippie it, then you have to work smart."

Joel, even your ass is smarter than that...

[Edited on September 7, 2006 at 11:16 PM. Reason : so quit bein a shithead.]

9/7/2006 11:16:00 PM