AO

As most of you know, I was about 10 minutes into my SITM journey when my main crank pulley decided to divorce me at 80MPH along I275 right near my house. All I heard was a great big "THUNK!" and then I felt a little bump like I had hit something along the road. When I looked in my rear view mirror to see what I had hit, all I saw was this great big black think go shooting off into the median. My dash lights were lit up like a Christmas tree. What had happened was my crank pulley (the one that drive the alternator, power steering and airpump) had broken off. This is the last remaining picture of what was left.



Why did it break off? Who knows. About a week before SITM, I put a new SCer belt on and noticed a spot on the pulley that looked like someone (PO?) had jacked on it. I even thought to myself, "You know... I should really replace that one of these days." I'm pretty sure the SCer put some additional stress on it that shortened its life, but I got almost 10k miles before anything happened. I f it happened again, I'll work with DR to get a new pulley made.

It didn't appear (at first) that there was any collateral damage. The last 2 evenings I've been working to get the car running again. While I was at SITM, DR hooked me up with an upgraded bracket and a new pulley. Thanks again DR! You're the greatest!

The first night I took the time to inspect the TB to be sure everything was happy - just in case. Everything looked good. I even checked the tension WIAIT. Last night, I was determined to see if I could get her to run again before I went to bed. So I put the new bracket on, and went through a little learning curve on how to get it and the belt on. Once I had it on, I noticed the passenger side end tank on the radiator is leaking! I was a bit bummed to see this as it was fine before, but I think I'm gonna drive it a bit and see how bad it really is before I replace it.

After I got it all ready to run, I turned the key and... VROOM!

I still have a couple of minor things to finish before I can drive it, but it looks like at worst my rad needs a little TLC, and at best it's a little dribble and I get through the season as is - but I think I'll probably pull the rad this weekend and get it fixed.

Brett Jenkins

Yay! Glad it was a simple fix and no lasting damage.

Big Dave

heinrich

rock on

checkmate1996

Sweet!!!!

camboinc

exxxxxxxcellent! (montgomery burns). now give me a ride yo! and step on that bitch!

Sab

Andrew, there is a shop here in Florida that sell's the Behr GT radiator for $400.

Gretch

So you are running around without your belly pan on............. Bare midriff style.... you ARE a kinky bastard.

AO

Sab, PM sent!

Thanks Gretch... that means a lot coming from you! I'll re-install the belly pan after all the leaks are gone.

cfc928gt

Andrew, you were very fortunate to have an object that big, spining that fast, to not wreck havoc while it exited the vehicle. Congratulations on getting it going again so quickly and easily.

AO

I didn't say it left nicely... Afterall I did call it a divorce, and divorces are usually pretty bitter. I'll see if I can get a few pics tonight of DR's x-pipe which appears to have taken the brunt of the trauma. (Maybe the car was getting back at DR? )

Jadz928

Andrew,
I read your story in the the SITM thread. All I can say is wow! My eyes would've went WIDE when all the warning light went on... at 80mph. Way to handle the situation and tread on to SITM. Seriously glad to see no major damage done.

Big Dave

Yes, it's certainly a unforgettable experience.

Johan928

Andrew,

Glad to hear your car lives again.
Sorry to hear about passenger side radiator end tank leak.
My car has the same affliction.
Thanks for your help with the belt re-tension at SITM.

John

Mike Frye

Andrew,

I would've had some serious upholstery issues if that happened to me on a highway. Glad you were able to recover so quickly. I recently heard from someone that said his crank pulley had a flat spot from a PO (or previous mechanic) apparently using the pulley to turn the engine or maybe instead of a flywheel lock. You said there had been some evidence of damage on yours.

I guess this should be a cautionary tail for anyone out there to check on this, especially for those of you running SC. If your crank pulley is out-of-round or shows any kind of damage, it's probably been weakened and you're on borrowed time.