removing crankshaft pulley on 90 escort

[sepharious]

Ok guys, first of all thank you to all who can help me. My problem is Ford decided to be stupid in their placement of the crankshaft pulley on the 90 escort. It sets less than an inch from the wall of the engine compartment and I cant get a socket into the pulley to remove it. My timing belt went and I have all the parts, manuals, and know-how to do this myself HOWEVER I need to know if there is some special tool or something to remove that pulley. Again any help is greatly appreciated.

[daleb9]

Try turning the wheels all the way to one side, then use an 18" extension on a socket wrench.

[dimarra]

It's not a matter of a wheel (or any other bolt-on component) being in the way. The pulley is less than an inch from the sheet metal comprising the unibody. Most automakers have a hole in the panel just for this purpose. Apparently, the Ford engineers weren't thinking "maintenance" that day.

I ran into the same problem on my '89 Monday night and promptly called it a night. (Higher priorities have hampered the rest of the week.) What I'm HOPING will work is to let the "front" end of the engine droop enough to get an extension past the offending panel. If that doesn't work, I'll probably cut a hole in it.

Does anybody have the size of that pulley bolt handy? It sure would be nice not to have to fight multiple sockets in place to determine the right one.

Keith

[sepharious]

I seemed to have found the solution....offset wrenches. I believe I need a 19mm offset. I got a 3/4 offset and it seems to be a little loose so i'm going back to get the 19mm. Ah, you have to love the engineers.

[sepharious]

ok new problem....does the stupid crankshaft pulley bolt loosen to the left or the right? All the instructions I've found are just "remove the crankshaft pulley..." No S$#@ Sherlock... I've put tons of pressure both ways on that bolt and gotten nowhere. Any suggestions?

[daleb9]

counter clockwise. wd40, and a water pipe that fits the wrench help.

[Jet-Lee]

:agree:

[butch100]

Righty-tightey leftly-loosey..Hey, it works for me..
Dont try to bust that bolt loose with a 3/8" drive rachet,
you'll need a 1/2" drive to loosen it. Also, if the car is an
automatic tranny you might have to put a large screwdriver
into the flywheel opening to stop it from moveing when you
try to loosen the bolt. An $11 shop manuel ( Haynes or Chiltons)
is the best money you can spend in trying to keep an older car running.
Good luck and let us know how you make out.

[oldframeman]

Some times if you smack the wrench with a hammer, it acts like an impact wrench and it will free the tight bolt. Some times the engine turns when you are pulling so hard, you need to put one of the outer pulley bolts back in and put a bar of metal or wood to keep the crankshaft from turning. Couple days late but i hope it helps. Good luck!

[butch100]

Originally Posted by oldframeman

Some times if you smack the wrench with a hammer, it acts like an impact wrench and it will free the tight bolt. Some times the engine turns when you are pulling so hard, you need to put one of the outer pulley bolts back in and put a bar of metal or wood to keep the crankshaft from turning. Couple days late but i hope it helps. Good luck!

There is no " outer pully bolts" on this engine...the lone crank pully
bolt is what he is trying to remove. In an automatic trans. car the
only to do this is to jam the flywheel so it wont move...