Has Anyone had this happen??? Need advice!

I have a 99 Mercury Marquis with 128k. The crankshaft pulley I discovered is a two piece unit. The outer part, the part with the ribs for the dirve belt came off!!! It left on the rest of the pulley which looks much like a large idler pulley.

There is a plastic intermediate part between the two metal parts of the pulley. The way I have it figured is it must be some kind of compression connection between all the parts with maybe some kind of adhesvie for added strength.

I need to fix. I just replaced the belt because of some squeaking which I suspect now came from this part beginning to fail.

I know that the remainder of the crankshaft pulley has got to be on there tight. Any suggestions???

Dave in NC

You will have to buy a new crank pulley (a.k.a. harmonic balancer) and torque to yield bolt from the dealer. You can use a used crank pulley from a similar 4.6L engine from a junkyard, but the bolt must be replaced with a brand new one. The bolt is around $10 at the dealer.

You can replace it yourself in a few minutes in your garage. Just get a harmonic balancer puller from AutoZone which you can rent, pull the old one off, use either a longer bolt to start tightening the balancer on the crank or use a harmonic balancer installer tool. Do not tighten the longer bolt all the way or you will damage the crank. Take the long bolt out and use the new TTY crank bolt to tighten it down to specifications. Remember to put RTV on the keyway on the crank to prevent oil leaks.

This must be a rare occurance because I did not find any mention of this problem here or, in the Crown Vic section during my search. Thanks for the information.

This must be a rare occurance because I did not find any mention of this problem here or, in the Crown Vic section during my search. Thanks for the information.

make sure you unhook neg cable before you start on this.

This doesn't happen very often but it does happen. The rubber between the two parts of the dampener does degrade over time and can fail and I've seen one even break apart and the belt was just riding on the inside part miraculously until the owner noticed and replaced it.

The crankshaft bolt does not need to be replaced. It just states to torque it in 4 steps. The last step is to tighten in degrees. Replacing the bolt is a good idea, but not a necessity. We have lost about 10 of the balancers since we purchased the 4.6 in 1992. That is over a 1000 vehicles we have replaced since then. So it is a fairly rare occurance, about 1% for us.

The crankshaft bolt does not need to be replaced. It just states to torque it in 4 steps. The last step is to tighten in degrees. Replacing the bolt is a good idea, but not a necessity. We have lost about 10 of the balancers since we purchased the 4.6 in 1992. That is over a 1000 vehicles we have replaced since then. So it is a fairly rare occurance, about 1% for us.

i never did replace the bolt i always and still do use the old bolt. who the hell told you that one? way to old is right.

i never did replace the bolt i always and still do use the old bolt. who the hell told you that one? way to old is right.

The bolt is a torque-to-yield bolt. The tightening procedure is done in a way to stretch the bolt threads in a certain way to keep a strong grip.

The service manual does not say you have to replace it, so I stand corrected. But for under $10, just save yourself the possible headache of a snapped bolt in the crank. You replace head bolts because they are TTY bolts. Why not replace the crank bolt when you have to remove it?

The bolt is a torque-to-yield bolt. The tightening procedure is done in a way to stretch the bolt threads in a certain way to keep a strong grip.

The service manual does not say you have to replace it, so I stand corrected. But for under $10, just save yourself the possible headache of a snapped bolt in the crank. You replace head bolts because they are TTY bolts. Why not replace the crank bolt when you have to remove it?

count me in on being wrog about bolt. but i would still use the old one if i can. besides that the old bolt is probably made better. what's everyone else say?

The harmonic balancer cost me around $160.00 by itself. The junk yards around here were going to charge me $75.00 for a used one that could possibly be on the verge of failing so, I went with a new one. I went ahead and replaced the bolt anyway. I considered it low cost insurance for such a crucial part. Thanks for the input fellas.

Dave in NC