Crankshaft Pulley Bolt TOOOO TIGHT

:banghead: I have a '96 Metro, 4 cly.,4 door sedan.
I have been trying to get the crankshaft pulley bolt off so I can replace the oil seal.
They must glue the bolt on at the factory. :evillol:
I am bending 1/2" breaker bars with a 17MM impact socket.
I am turning it counter clockwise to get it off.
I am going to try a 3/4" breaker bar and socket set up.
There is almost no room to fit a big impact socket between the frame and pulley also! :disappoin
Has anybody had any luck removing this bolt?
I don't want to damage anything.
I love this car.
:sly:

Impact.You maybe NEED to..probablly should apply impact.Sometimes twisting does damage..NOT so much(rarely) with impact.Impact when you can't practically get a gun in there.The right combination of socket/ratchet/bar..appropriate extension.Then HIT it with a BIG hammer..maybe a sledge/small sledge/mallet.Best to have someone or someway of holding the wrench.You will PROBABLLY(most likely) secure the crank from moving.I don't like the wrench idea on the flywheel bolt.Seen a few come loose/off..then chew up the bolt/nut.NOT fun.I have a HEAVY piece of very short angle iron.I think it is 3/16.. 2" angle about 2" long.With a hole in.I usually pull a flywheel(convertor,plate) bolt..and bolt this on so it stops the crank turning at the block/bell housing somewhere.OR I bolt it to the block,bellhousing somewhere so it stops the flywheel at the bolt.
There is the "stop the piston from turning way" too.NEVER! use a "piston stop tool in the plug hole"..not unless you REALLY want to change the motor.I did one recentllly where for some reason?? can't remember..??I couldn't get under the car.Find the point where BOTH valves are closed(tdc) AND the piston will be going UP as you turn the crank backwards.Back the piston back down a bit and fill the cylinder with water through the plug hole.Put the plug back in.NOW you can turn the crank bolt and the crank won't move. When done..yank the plug..BY HAND! NOT STARTER!!..turn the engine over SLOWLY a few times..(revolutions)..then crank it with the starter.IF you use oil for the above..you WILL be a while before the bellowing smoke stops.You can also thread in rope through the plug hole.This is a good trick when changing valve springs etc.,
I ALWAYS use impact sockets for this!..having had a few regular sockets split,SPIN and take the bolt head with it(round them) again..NOT fun.
Good luck..

can also use the starter to spin engine and brace breaker bar against lower control arm, engine with spin clockwise which will break bolt loose but be careful cause breaker bar can fly off is not wedged against something, DO NOT hold bar while cranking engine and pull coil wire so it doesn't start. try bumping it over, have broken stubborn bolts loose this way, starter has a lot of torque

Hey Crvette..THANKS! for the memories/LAUGH..ROFL..Should NOT admit to this..YEARS ago.Heard WEEEEERD noise..NEVER! heard a noise like that before?! OOOOPS..forgot to REMOVE ratchet.Engine started.There's me..peering in..WTF!!.. ratchet there? NOT moving?? I LEAPED back from the car..fully expecting when I realized what had happened to get speared..or worse! Ratchet was hanging there.Off the crank bolt.Fortunately!! it was stationary and the ratchet mechanism moving.

Buddy has an Accord..runs it hard.Gets CHEAP timing belt,w.pump job.Crank bolt not properly re-torqued.Simply HARD! to believe the damage it caused around the front of the engine,engine compartment,hood..WHEN the bolt came loose..off..dampner off.. on the highway.

thats why i said pull the coil wire lol bet accord engine was toast, all hondas areinterference engines

Thanks for the help.
I have done the old V8's and Toyota cranks, but this one bites.
I am going to try the impact first.
Maybe heating it also.
Will a hand impact with a small sledge work.
I have an air compressor also.

Crvett..wasn't so much the engine damage per se..I mean sure it was toast.BUT! IF it had just been the engine..no big deal.Get another engine..re/re.In this case EVERYTHING..about a foot ahead of the dampner..AND in a circular path of about 2 feet was trash.Didn't quite come through the hood..but pretty much wrecked it.

Some cars have a problem with crank bolts coming loose.More serious in some cars than others.Some the bolt comes loose..the dampners are so hard to get off anyway.Others are such a good fit..they ain't comin' off..Others..bolt comes loose..bye bye.Not sure if this is because of improper torquing or not..but! when they do..the dampner starts to "walk" a bit ..and sort of get stuck now and again..in certain positions.Creates a real problem in diagnosing them often showing a crank trigger.By the time this gets ironed out..too often the thing has wobbled to the point where it toasts up the dampner keyway in the crank.I put a timing belt on a car that ran like new lately.Crank bolt was finger tight.Don't know why or for how long.Dampner/key/keyway/crank were REAL good fits! Not tight..just well made.

Speaking of dampners..I came within a hair of buying a 69 427 Vette engine once dirt cheap.The guy wouldn't let me get a good look at it so I bailed.Anyway..in a bad accident and somehow?..the dampner had come down so hard on something?? that it broke the snout on the crank.He wouldn't let me check it out so I figgered there must be other problems.

Geoslim..last time I used a combo of socket/ratchet..can't remember the size.I jimmy'd up(wired) the ratchet so it wouldn't move far..OR bounce back..or come off..then I gave it a few hits..not that hard with my 10 lb sledge.There was no real room/awkward to swing it anyway.10 lb sledge impact..even light is SERIOUS impact torque.Came off pretty easy.I couldn't see ANY way that this bolt would have come off WITHOUT impact.Twisting it would have broken the bolt I am guessing.Had I been able to properly secure the crank(solidly) it would of course been easier.

Here's another way I use for "impacting" off bolts in innaccesible areas where I can't put the gun to it.Works REAL good for small bolts that break if you so much as look at them the wrong way..Get a cheap BEAM type (NOT micrometer!) torque wrench.Use the torque wrench like a regular ratchet.Yank on it QUICK..obviouslly not hard enough to break the bolt.I have used this method A LOT on bolts that were just gonna break anyway with good results.

Thanks for the reply.
I think this is close to breaking.
I soaked the bolt with penetrating oil.
Then I used a well made 1/2" breaker bar 18" long and used the best grade industrial Proto brand 17mm 6 point impact socket.
To get extra torque I used a five foot long rigid pipe on the breaker bar, and turned the breaker bar into a Banana.
I put punch marks on the bolt and crank to see if it budged even a little.
Nothing.
The breaker bar and socket is trashed and threw it out.
The socket was all swelled out inside and useless.
I think its the large round flange thats part of the top of the nut cap thats giving it so much grip.
They put lock tight under that bolt cap and threads.
I first tried hitting the breaker bar with a sledge while putting pressure on it before I used the pipe.
I have never seen anything this tight.
I easily put at least 250 foot punds of torque on it.
I am going to buy a 3/4" drive set up.

I don't think that the application of torque..at the amount that you are applying it can be a good thing..at this point.I have some 3/4 drive stuff..YES! there are times I dearly regretted using it.For all intents and purposes..I have a couple of 3/4 ratchets..nothing really is ever going to flex these handles.They can snap off big bolts in BAD locations.yes there are times I have JUMPED on the handle..or used my legs to press it.Breaking this bolt I assure you will definitely NOT be a "fun" thing.You will REALLY wish that you hadn't.If you can hit the much more solid 3/4 with a sledge..maybe a better idea.
The one I did recentlly..like I said..was tight.."bolt breaking if twisting with torque off" type of tight.
Judging from my experience with tight bolts on cars,pickups..general light duty vehicles..the actual application of 200 lbs to remove a bolt is very tight.Not many bolts will withstand 250.Basically none will withstand 300.

"Impact" is a COMPLETELY different story..I was applying probablly 200 or a bit more to the bolt I took out. With the ratchet secured..a blow from a 10lb sledge on that ratchet..applies an awful lot of impact. I can apply probablly 300 with my 3/4 ratchet.Judging from bolts that NO WAY could I remove with this ratchet..OR my gun..the sledge on that ratchet made them seem like cheese..Hitting it with the sledge..ya gotta make sure that the ratchet can't fly back.Best of the crank is a solid connection too..bracket at the flywheel.

If I were you I would head in the area of impact..IF you can't get it for some reason? with the sledge.I AM talking about a 10lb sledge with about a 3' handle.Then I would try and figure a way to get at this with a bigger impact gun.I can't remember if there is room to cut a hole there..or whether the motor can be raised/lowerred.If not..maybe bite the bullet and pull the motor up to do it.Sure..a pain.BUT!! IF you break the bolt..U're gonna have to do it this way anyway..PLUS the old motor is pretty much toast.Rest assured this motor is simply NOT worth trying to get a broken dampner bolt out of the crank snout.

Best of luck there buddy..