Advice on removing crankshaft pulley from an auto Sprint, engine in situ.

[gmsclassics]

This started as an investigation into the increased rattling noise from the engine. Wear on the outside edge of the duplex camchain leads me to believe the camchain tensioner has shed the rubber pad. This engine previously did this back in May 2013 and the replacement tensioner has lasted over 9 years and 16000 miles. Fortunately work by the club means I know what tensioner to use this time!

With engine still in the car and radiator removed I am now at the point of removing the crankshaft pulley, but I can’t get it to budge with correct socket and long bar. I would normally try to lock the flywheel, but I am apprehensive as this is an auto and I have doubts the flexplate is strong enough for that approach. Neither can I hold the pulley tight enough with the alternator belt. What other options do I have?

I have resisted removing the engine from the car so far but realize that might be necessary in order to retrieve the tensioner rubber pad (or pieces of it).

Any thoughts or ideas appreciated

Geoff

PS. recommendations on best source of chain and guides also appreciated - I already have one of Alun's tensioners!

[Carledo]

You may remove the sump with the engine in situ, this will enable you to retrieve any debris from the tensioner and clean up. It will also allow you to jam the crank against your undoing efforts with a block of wood against the inside of the block, killing 2 birds with one stone!

On a personal level, I wouldn't necessarily distrust the flexplate, it does, after all, transmit all the engine's power to the trans and is partially reinforced by the convertor bolted to it. My normal trick of cranking the motor with a big bar and socket jammed against the subframe would be my go-to approach whether manual OR auto. But if you don't have to risk it, by using the method above, so much the better!

Steve

[soe8m]

Everyone with a non cracked flexplate has one that hasn't cracked yet..

Jeroen

[Carledo]

Everyone with a non cracked flexplate has one that hasn't cracked yet..

Jeroen

Having a personal inclination towards automatic cars (you could usually get them cheaper) and having no fear of the technology of them, i've probably seen more than my fair share of cracked flexplates! I've even BOUGHT cars with cracked flexplates, including one I probably shouldn't have, a 59 Ford Zodiac Farnham Estate auto, with Borg Warner DG transmission. The car, rare as hens teeth, had a rattly flexplate due to the rivets holding the ring gear in place on the edge having ovaled out their holes, was mine for a mere £120. Flexplates for these cars make Sprint flexplates look as common as fleas on a dog! But I found one and it didn't even cost much cos how many people will ever WANT one? The guy I got it from, had had it donkeys years with no takers, he was glad to get rid of it! I drove that car for more than 10 years and made a considerable profit when I sold it!

Yes, a flexplate CAN crack and some do, but it's not INEVITABLE as Jeroen seems to be suggesting. Even the one on the Zodiac mentioned above was more than 30 years old when it failed, had covered more than 200,000 miles and been used as a towing hack by a scrapyard owner for several years before I bought it. What clutch would survive that?

Steve

[dursley92]

You could always rest the bar against the chassis rail and give it a blip on the starter.
Violent but works.

[matt of the vivas]

Definitely drop the sump and use a block of wood as suggested.
I wouldnt risk the flex plate either.

[gmsclassics]

Thanks everyone. Yes, took the sump, pulley and front cover off tonight.

Found the rubber pad detached and almost undamaged stuck up under the front cover! Metal of the tensioner obviously been rubbing on the chain for quite a while. Not a pretty sight, worse than the last time back in 2013. Not sure why I didn't pick it up earlier.

Some debris in the sump (and in the drained oil), but nothing upstream of the spin-on oil filter. Oil pressure still good.

Will remove the guides tomorrow morning and see what state they are in........ Any ideas on sources of replacements for these and the chain? Happy if you prefer to pm these!

Geoff

[dursley92]

Sprint engine I bought had the tensioner failed as well. It was also running with TR7 pistons!

Hadn't suffered any other ill effects I could see though.

[xvivalve]

I still have healthy stock of the OE slipper pads and am persevering with supply of the alternative tensioner body as per this thread:

https://forum.triumphdolomite.co.uk/vie ... 5&start=45

to give a reliable and economic alternative.