1997 buick lesabre power steering pump pulley

dingobait · #1 03-20-2005, 06:08 PM

1997 Buick Lesabre power steering pump pulley - is there a special tool needed to remove this pulley? I can see that there are threads down inside the hole in the center of the pulley, which makes me think that a puller is required. At first it seemed that an allen wrench would loosen it since the end of the hole is of that shape, , but that doesn't work, it just seems to turn with no effect.

Is there a special puller needed?

I am trying to change a water pump, but one of the bolts (about 3" long) will hit the very edge of the power steering pump pulley.

The holes in the pulley don't help since the bolt head is only 50% underneath the outer rim of the pulley (no pulley holes line up with this bolt). Earlier forum entries point to using the pulley holes but those are for different year models.

1997 Buick Lesabre 3.8L series II V6

Any information greatly appreciated.

Mark

Lasota · #2 03-20-2005, 07:32 PM

Yes, there is a special puller for the pulley. Could you not loosen the pump it self and move it out of the way.

dingobait · #3 03-20-2005, 07:40 PM

Without the puller, it appears that's the only way.

Is that special puller expensive?

rustbucket · #4 03-21-2005, 08:41 AM

I havent had to get in there yet, but I planned on loosening the pump mounting bolts through the holes in the pulley, and moving it to the side. (Haynes manual sort of hints at that.) Let us know what you find out.

Lasota · #5 03-21-2005, 07:04 PM

The puller that I purchased was about fifty dollars (Canadian), you can find cheaper ones but they do not work as well.

dingobait · #6 03-31-2005, 02:19 PM

I fully believe that a standard pulley tool would remove the pulley. Mechanics at two local dealers that I talked to both confirmed that, but both indicated that a special tool is needed to install the power steering pump pulley. That seems even stranger than needing a special puller to remove it.

As I stated previously, there is no access through pulley holes etc.. to the water pump bolts on this model. As soon as I get time to get back to this, I'll either just remove the entire power steering pump to get access to the water pump, or I'll remove the power steering pump pulley and see just what the deal is.

Many thanks for your input. I will provide feedback on the outcome.

Mark

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