9 replies to this topic

[Hump3]

1990 RSP cooper A+

the crank pulley visably wobbles about accompanied by a metalic shingging noise which i presume is it rubbing on the timing case. are these pulleys rubber isolated? in which case i presume the rubber has broken down causing the puley to wobble around.

or is something else wrong?



pulley appears to be tight, and i cant move it by hand.

ideas?

[Big_Adam]

....the pulley have rubber in!

I always though they where a mass of machined metal.

I'd be getting down to the pulley and having a good check round. Make sure the pulley bolt is correctly torqued.

[mk1leg]

most likely crank end bolt and washer loose retighten to 150ntlbs and or take off first and apply locktite nut lock and retighten and bend lock washer in groove and nut flat good luck...P.S.you might have to take rad out first...........

[Hump3]

yeah have read up on how to remove/fit crank pulley, sucks that it might be loose.

only asked if it might be rubber insulated because i had a citoren engine do the same thing and that had the pulley connected to its center via a slab of rubber!

[GraemeC]

Yes the pulleys do have a rubber sandwich in them, that is how they achieve their crank damping. However it is unusual for one (especially off a later car) to break down so dramatically at that sort of age, unless it has been subjected to extremely high mileage or the rubber has been attacked by something.

I would investigate the pulley bolt first, if this proves to be tight then remove the pulley and inspect.

[Sprocket]

New ones can be had from MiniSport for about £45

[dklawson]

I don't know later cars but the early -S cars certainly used a crank pulley/damper with rubber bonded between the inner and outer ring.

Regardless... you need to check this out ASAP, do not delay. If it's a damper pulley failing, it can go catastrophically which will not only leave you stranded, it may do damage when the outer ring comes (flies) off. If it's NOT a damper pulley, the wobbling action caused by a loose bolt is now wearing the nose of the crank out, reducing it's OD. You may be able to salvage the pulley by filling the annular gap with heavy Loctite... or wrapping the nose with shim stock when re-fitting the loose pulley. Again, don't let this continue, it will only get worse.

[Ethel]

Think it'll be a loose bolt the rubber bonded part of the pulley is to the outside of the belt so wouldn't rub. Mind you if the bolt is loose there's likely to be a cause. Could be something inside the cover of course.

[Hump3]

thanks for your help everyone will investigate asap

[jayare]

Definitely need to check it out. One other thing it could be apart from the above mentioned loose pulley is the pressed tin bit that's rivetted to the engine side of the pulley could have come adrift from the pulley itself. If it has, you can just pull it off - it serves no useful purpose, but to get it off, you need to remove the pulley.

JR