If it ain't one thing it's another! My wife just called me and told me she was pulling into the place to get some lunch and she heard what sounded like a belt squealing. Well then she couldn't hardly turn the steering wheel. I'm at work so I won't get a chance to look at it until this afternoon.

I still have the volt meter hooked up in it to keep an eye on the craptastic autozone alternator. So I asked her what it was reading and she said about 13, which is what it reads normally (sometimes it's up to 14 like it's supposed to be). Anyway she said the brake and battery light came on too!

I'm about to lose my mind with this thing now. It was fine for over 8 years and now it has issues every other month!!!

 

Well I got home and popped the hood and the immediately noticed the Alternator belt was off. So I got under it and pulled the skid plates off and what do you know the freaking balancer bolt is sticking out past the pulley! The balancer and pulley is about to fall off the front of engine! So I called the mechanic that did the timing belt and other crap, he's coming by the house in the morning to put the balancer back on and put some locktite on it! What should have been done to start with! At least it isn't anything major this time.

 

the bolt is probably broken.
you may well have severe engine damage. The bolt should be replaced EVERY TIME the belt is replaced.
do NOT use locktite!

 

No it's not broke, but it did break the little pin. He had to pull everything back down to the timing belt again to get the timing belt crankshaft gear off. He took it back to his shop to drill out the broke pin and put a new one in. I asked why the bolt backed out like that anyway, he said he didn't know.

What's wrong with using locktite on it? Just curious. Is it a TTY bolt like some Ford head bolts?

 

Ok so it's been about two weeks and it has worked it's way out again!! He did reuse the bolt and he did put locktite on it. I asked him if I need to buy a new bolt and he said no. But I think I'm going to anyway.

I just called the dealership and they have one in stock for $8.12. I hope that's it, that it only needs a new bolt.

 

Okay, I went to the dealership this morning and bought a new balancer bolt and a new crankshaft timing gear. So I don't have to worry about the bolt or the broken pin. Hopefully I can get it put on Saturday and all will be well again.

Til the Alternator goes out again! LOL

 

sorry to tell you this, but it is VERYpossible that the threads in the crank shaft have been damaged. that bolt working its way out the first time is caused by one thing and one thing only. the crank bolt was not properly torqued when reinstalled. the torque on that bolt is 134ftlbs. and yes use loctite as well. before the crank bolt completely fell out, it was loose and wabbling aroung in the hole destroying the threads. the only known fix for this, short of replacing the crankshaft is to use a new bolt, get a proper tap and recut the threads in the crank. they are damaged. get the red loctite and cover the entire bolt with it. up the torque on the new bolt to 150ftlbs. after you do this, let it sit overnite to completely dry. i have had alot of success using this method, but it doesnt fix em all. if it comes out again, you will have to replace the crankshaft. been there done that. not to put down your mechanic, but he sounds like a jackleg or also a shade tree mechanic. next time take it to the dealer. this wouldnt have happened. good luck!!

 

It never did come completely out. It just backed off enough to let the pulley loose and break the pin on the timing gear. When I posted my first post in this thread I didn't realize the head of the pulley bolt was so long (old style) and the head is almost flush with the edge of the balancer even when screwed all the way in. So it was not as far out as I first thought.

We did nearly everything you just said except tap the threads. We did clean them and inspect them and they looked fine so hopefully it's fine, but if not, I'm not replacing the crankshaft. I don't know what we'll do, because to me it's obviously the mechanic's fault for this happening. We went to him because a friend said he was good and honest. We took it in because the truck really is in good shape all we wanted was to get the timing belt changed and a few other things.

Now it seems like we may be out of nearly $2,000 (counting the new tires we bought) and a vehicle that used to be fine, but needed a new timing belt.