I am in the process of doing a full timing service on my '01 Montero Limited. Impact wouldn't loosen the crankshaft bolt, so instead of spending 10 minutes making a tool to hold the pulley, I put a pipe wrench on it. Turns out that the smooth part of the pulley is a weight, spaced out by rubber. Clamping down on it cracked it, so now I am out an extra $100 bucks for a new harmonic balancer, and I still had to make the special tool in order to hold the crankshaft for the rest of the job. Lesson learned: spend the extra time/money and get the right tools. I also made the little tool to torque the tensioner pulley. Now I just have to find a torque wrench that goes down to 3.3 inch/lbs.

 

I seem to having the same issue with my crank shaft pulley -
1998 Montero Sport 3.0

Dealership "fixed" it twice & it broke again today!!! Help!!!

How can I tell if it was covered by the recall?
Any mechanic referrals in Phoenix who can actually FIX it?

 

brick, I'm late to this party but you can call your local Mitsubishi service department with your VIN, or cast about on the web to find year and model-specific recalls. BTW, what does your dealership have to say about their "fixes" and more importantly, are they willing to stand behind their work?

As for Phoenix-area mechanics who you can take your cares to, let's hear from someone who knows...

 

It looks like Im late a few years to this discussion-it is now april 2011. Anyways I am in the middle of replacing my 96 Montero LS's timing belt. It has 150k miles on it and it looks like the belt is new. For a whie there, I was thinking of putting everything back, but with all the work already done, I was committed. so here goes.
My biggest obstacle is the bolt holding the harmonic damper with pulley onto the crankshaft.
I made a tool, basically an aluminum plate, I made a big hole in the middle to allow the 22mm socket to pass thru. Another set of holes 180degrees apart, I didnt have a pair of same size drill bit so they were actually 2 different sizes. Lastly I made 2 holes tapped off to the side of center. I made this hole so the I could bolt a bar to the plate. Using a pipe slipped over the bar and another on to my 1/2 ratchet wrench, the darn bolt came off.

FWIW- I started this project to fix an oil leak coming from the valve covers. The gasket was so brittle, they would simply snap in two if you bend it. I was able to remove a few valve cover bolts using a socket, extn and my fingers.

 

Welcome to the party, Green...

Half the "fun" of auto mechanics is creating workarounds for things we amatures encounter but don't have the specialized tools for.

The other half is not having to ever do this.

 

Hi Mothman56,

I got the harmonic/pulley out. I had made another custom tool to loosen this part. I got a 3/16 thick steel bar from Home Depot and cut 2 pieces, the peices held a pair of jaws off a hub puller, they were spaced just a tad bit more than the diameter of the harmonic dampner, I had the center part of the jaw puller to push the 2 bars away from the crankshaft. It loosened enough that I was able to use a rubber mallet to ease it off. I expected the harmonic damper to have more contact surface than what I saw.
Anyways, I ended up replacing the idle and the tensioner wheelsso I dont have to do this again too soon. I also bought a new bolt and washer for the harmonic/pulley, I figured the old one is pretty stressed getting it out.

I also made a tool to make a 'wrench' for the tensioner. Its a small aluminum bar with two holes on it. I stuck a pair of allen wrenches to go in the holes, I was able to turn the tensioner and tighten the bolt. I had to call my wife into this project so she can slightly turn the camshaft by its bolt, to remove the slack while I adjust the tensioner and tighten the bolt.
So the belt is in there now. All of my marks I made on the belt and the corresponding marks on thier respective pulleys, all line up.

This weekend Im going to get all things put back together and replace marginal parts/components as I go.
Cant wait to get it fired up again.

 

This weekend Im going to get all things put back together and replace marginal parts/components as I go.
Cant wait to get it fired up again.

Yeah, that's the fun part, isn't it? That's when you get to find out whether you're brilliant for saving yourself a bundle of cash by doing it yourself or instead you screwed up everything worse by doing brilliant work on the hard stuff but flushed it all down the crapper in a moment by going brain-dead and forgetting something simple like refilling the crankcase with oil before cranking it over.

Makes for fun times. Hope your project goes smoothly.

 

Hi Green96LS,

I'm just about to make a tool for my tensioner pulley too. I see that you didn't try and torque it to spec, did you just tighten it by feel? Did it take more than one try to get the auto tensioner to settle at the right spot? I was planning to thread holes so I can have a socket on a short bolt, and buy/borrow/make a torque wrench that can handle 39in/lbs...

Any advice would be appreciated, am I overthinking this?

 

Well, I was really hoping for the first scenario but it seem that I made newbie mistakes that I now have to correct. While installing the belt, I was turning the driver side bank cam end bolt and I turned it a bit much and I can imagine the valves slamming onto a piston. Now I have the center intake manifold and the exhaust manifold off. I need to get a 10mm tool to get the rest of the head out. I want to do this now and check to see if there is damage rather than find out when the engine is turning at fast speed(catastropic mode). Anyways, I consider these extra work as a on the job training. Anyways, I dont know what to look for a damaged valve other than its bent so Ill probably take the head to a an actual mechanic.

Thanks for the warning- your scenario with forgetting the crank case empty would be something I would had forgotten in the excitement of seeing if it works.

All these work is actually encouraging me- but I realistic

Regards,
Rob T

 

I have it set now by feel. I have to undo everything to get the head off( see my previous to this post). When I re-install then I will set it to spec.
The threaded hole bit sounds like a very good simple idea. My custom made tool at the moment would not have a way to put a torque wrench to it.
Good luck and pls post your progress.

PS- I was just thinking, how realistic is it to set the tensioner at spec and have that tension be equal thru out the belt loop. Because the cams could be wanting to turn at different directions, the tension on one segment of the belt (on the water pump side) might be different on the lower side. Talk about overthinking!! LOL

Regards,
Rob T