hockeyman70s

Hi all, thanks for the add. My fiances 2004 Tl 6sp has been squealing a bit lately. She started it the other day and it started rough idling, steering went out and dash lights came on. Popped the hood and found that the Crank shaft pulley (harmonic balancer) had separated into 2 pieces throwing the serpentine belt off. The car is due for a timing belt/water pump. Should I do the crank pulley myself and then drive it to the shop for the timing belt or are they going to have to remove the crank pulley do do the timing belt anyways? If it makes more sense for it all to be done once I can have it towed.
One other concern- any chance the timing belt failed, seizing the crank and causing the pulley to spilt apart?
Thanks!

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
Have it towed and let the shop do the crankshaft pulley.
The timing belt is driven by #12 on the link below. The alternator belt is driven by the #14 crankshaft pulley.
If you do the crankshaft pulley, be prepared, because you'll have to deal with that PIA #15 pulley bolt.
Crankshaft - Piston - 2004 Acura TL 4 Door SPORT KA 6MT (acurapartswarehouse.com)
Good Luck!

twokexlv6coupe

IF you have the means of removing the crank pulley bolt yourself, widely known to be one of, if not the hardest bolt on the entire car to remove, by all means do the crank pulley yourself.

But yes the crank pulley needs to get removed in order to access the timing belt anyway, so you might as well have the mechanic do everything for you. The crank pulley's have been known to disintegrate and split into two pieces, it's very common.
It's highly unlikely your internals went out of time, splitting your crank pulley. It's the latter that's the weakest link in the chain.

TheSauceBoss

It kind of depends on your situation. The biggest thing is having the right tools. You almost certainly need a 19mm weighted socket with a heavy impact to take off the crank bolt. If you happen to have easy access to those, then I'd go for it. Because it's relatively easy at that point. And you could save a bit of money by sourcing your own replacement pulley. Then put your serpentine belt back on (a harder job than removing the crank bolt, in my own experience) and drive the car to the dealer yourself.

Alternatively, if you don't have the means to take off the pulley yourself, I'm echoing what Zeta said - just let the shop deal with it. The pulley needs taken off for the job regardless, it's just a matter of if they source the replacement part themselves and charge you a premium for it.

Coincidentally, I never knew that people have had crank pulley failures. There's over 250k miles on my original one, and it's been on/off the car at least 3 times.... I wonder if that's the next thing of mine to go.