Crank Pulley Removal

[Nissandriver714]

I need to remove my crank pulley and take off the front cover. There is oil leaking from it, I'm assuming there wasn't enough liquid gasket on it. How hard is it to remove the crank pulley? Any step by step instruction or suggestions to make the job easier?

[95Blue240sx]

search!!!! the past 3 weeks there was like 2 threads on this.

FYI- it is the front crankshaft seal, not a liquid gasket.

[HaLo]

Take out main bolt, remove pulley with a puller..

as easy as pie.

[180fan]

Remove the drive belts. Put your car in 5th with the motor off, ebrake on, have the car very stable. Bust the crank pully bolt off (27mm) with the car in 5th. Take the car out of 5th. Use a pulley puller to pull the crank off.

If you're trying to get the front crank seal off, use a screw driver or a dentists pick to pull it out.

If you've a KA24DE or SR, you'll need to pull your oil pan to get the front cover off if you're trying to get that off. If you've a SOHC KA, you can get the front cover off using a pry bar. Then reapply gasket, but remember to clean up the mating surfaces.

[meme]

i had to put a breaker bar against the floor and cranked the motor. came right off.

[Drunk Bastard]

took me like 8 seconds to do it tonight. get an impact gun plus the 27mm socket, it'll come off real quick. then go get your pulley puller and pop off the pulley. obviously you need to take the belts off, drain your oil, pop off your pan, then you can take off the front cover. have fun!

[Nissandriver714]

will I need to take out the radiator? this is on a redtop sr btw

[180fan]

you do not need to remove your radiator. If you've got nismo motor mounts, it will buy you some space to drop the upper oil pan without having to hoist your motor up. It would be a great benefit to have a 12mm ratcheting box wrench to undo those bolts that are holding the upper oil pan. The two 10mm nuts that are at the back of the upper oil pan are a pain to get to, they're also hidden behind that little plate thing held in by 2 bolts. There are also the 4 tranny bolts at the back that's holding onto the oil pan. First though, you must drop the lower oil pan. Then start working on the upper oil pan, when you've got the upper oil pan off (found it difficult to pry the upper pan off using a pry bar like I did initially so I put a tranny bolt through the two bolt holes at the back of the oil pan that will seperate the upper pan from the block) to pry off the upper pan. From that point, undo the two bolts that are holding the oil strainer to the front cover's oil pump. When you've taken off the bolts holding the front cover (there are 3 at the top and one is hidden behind the upper coolant elbow), the two or three at the bottom of the front cover, and the dozen or so at the front, you should be able to pry off the front cover (granted you've already pulled the crank pulley). Be careful when you're scraping off the gasket off the front cover not to lose the small o-ring for the oil passage into the block from the oil pump.

[projectRDM]

Why in hell are you guys dropping the oilpan? The front seal comes straight out of the cover with just a seal puller or a screwdriver, there is no need to drop the pan and pull the cover. At all. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of.

[misnomer]

He said he is leaking from the front cover (timing cover I imagine, not familiar with the front of the SR). NOT the bolt. If it were just leaking from under the pulley then yes, dropping the pan is assinine. But, it sounds like it is leaking from around the cover.

[180fan]

Yep, after my initial post, I was under the impression he had a leak coming from around the front cover, and to get that off, you must drop the oil pan. Maybe I assumed wrong, but that was my impression if he was asking if he needed to remove the radiator and wasn't sure if he was referring to clearance for the pulley puller.

[Nissandriver714]

The problem in more detail:
It's a redtop SR, according to S14 FSM the front cover (aka timing chain cover) is leaking. I've looked up the FSM on the S14 and this place uses liquid gasket to mate the two surfaces together. I'm guessing they didn't use enough liquid gasket when they put it back on so now it's leaking oil.
I hope I don't have to take off the oil pan.

[Bradman123]

MY BIG STORY:
when i bought my sr it wasnt inspected properly by heavy throttle and had front cover damage. from being wrecked in the front, the pulley was bent or something lodged behind it and wore a hole in the oil passage of the front cover. if you just now did the swap check for this type of damage, mine was not visible because it was only a small hole about the size of a half of a dime, but was filled with silicone, and a new pulley was installed, so there was no way of knowing. taking off the front cover is a BITCH, but can be done probably in a full day if ur good, or 2 days if ur not and you have the hole day morning till night to get it done. i work slowly and cautiously though so that might be me just taking longer. you have to drop both oil pans and take of the valve cover, you have to remove the cam sprocket on the exhaust cam, remove the CAS, remove the chain tension(in order to remove the sprocket) there is a bolt holding the front cover on under the cam sprocket thats why it has to be removed. taking the cover off is easy, 10 bolts hold it on in the front i believe and two from top and two from bottom, the two on the bottom are the bolts holding the oil pan on. like the other guy said make sure not to screw up the oil ring around the oil port going into the block, this has me paranoid still cuz i have not yet got mine running again since i the fix because im on vacation. just afraid it might for some reason leak since that is the way my project has been going so far, something always goes wrong. but anyway, if i were you i would replace the main seal first, if that does not fix it i would clean the outside edges of the cover and rtv silicone the edges and see if maybe that fixes it, and if there is a hole or some type of damage like mine then depending on where the hole is replace the front cover...if siliconing the outer edges doesnt work take off the cover you have and re gasket it. but i would just make that the last resort...because that front cover is a pain to change, and like me you would have cam timing to worry about, and whether or not you did a good enough job siliconing the oil pans and front cover...good luck..oh and i removed my radiator when im working on the front of the motor, you cant get an impact or a pulley puller on the crank pulley bolt with it in. have fun, later, oh by the way searching probably wouldnt have helped him because every problem is suited to the individual and his may not be a simple main seal change...

-Brad

[180fan]

Well if it's leaking around the front cover, you're in for a bit of work. Took me about 16 hours from draining the oil to ripping everything apart and putting everything back together. Use the red RTV to seal stuff up. I had better luck with using a razor to get the old gasket off the upper pan and block, using a gasket scraper with another razor on the section just above the steering rack. If you're gonna tear all that out, you might as well do a timing chain job. Since it's basically what you're gonna have to do to get that front cover off. lol