[bsmoov]

Hey all,

I'm getting conflicting info regarding the crankshaft pulley replacement. I'm going to be replacing mine asap as I my current one is wobbly, rusted, worn, and has some visual cracks on it. I have the manual transmission pulley already, but I need to know if I need to lock the engine? If so, how do I lock the engine on the n52?

I definitely don't want the pulley itself/center bolt to spin while i'm taking off the 6 bolts holding the pulley on. Will spinning it slightly mess anything up? I assume once I reinstall and tighten the bolts, it should spin slightly back to it's original position?

Has anyone done this procedure and how did you go about by doing so? Any insight or tips?

[hassmaschine]

you do. There's a hole for a lock pin at the rear of the engine, to lock the crank in place. Because the crank hub is not keyed, you need to lock the crank in place or risk messing up the timing and blowing up your engine.

[bsmoov]

Originally Posted by hassmaschine

you do. There's a hole for a lock pin at the rear of the engine, to lock the crank in place. Because the crank hub is not keyed, you need to lock the crank in place or risk messing up the timing and blowing up your engine.

Ok, that's what I thought.

How do you lock it (heard some people use an allen key)? Where is it exactly located/any pics? Is it accessible? or do you have to take off the intake manifold?

It would be easier to remove the alternator then removing the intake manifold, but not sure of its location, I would think you can get to it from the bottom of the engine, but look at starter DIY and see if you see the hole/slot for the pin under the intake manifold.

[bsmoov]

I'm wondering if it'll be ok if I had a buddy hold the crankshaft bolt with a socket and breaker bar to keep it from moving while I take off the 6 harmonic balancer bolts.

I've seen it done on youtube where without someone holding it it moves just slightly, but when someone is there actually holding the crankshaft bolt itself, it doesn't move at all.

[PhaseP]

The TIS doesn't mention any locking of the engine. As long as you are not untightening the center hub bolt you won't have problem.
You could use two wrenches, one holding the opposite bolt of the one that you are trying to untighten to keep the pulley from turning while you untighten the bolt. Keep doing it six times then remove all bolts. This way you don't touch the center hub bolt at all.
I have never done this on this car, but I would think it may be a lot of rust and corrosion there. I would suggest tapping on the wrench gently to try to free the bolts, like an impact wrench would do.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...damper/GM2wprM

The torque on them are not very high but with corrosion it will be high to break free. Tapping and hammering breaks away rust corrosion :
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...damper/5nWSOVb

[bsmoov]

Thanks PhaseP!!!

Merry Christmas. That’s exactly what I need!

[desertman123]

lol I literally just loosened all the bolts with the belt still on, then took the belt off, took the crank pulley off and bolted the new one up.

You don't need to touch the center bolt, and the 6 small E-torx bolts aren't really torqued on there super tight.

Pretty sure anything timing related is inside the motor, the hub/chain/etc

Still running like a top thousands of miles later.

[bsmoov]

Thanks for the insight desertman!

I wasn’t going to touch the center bolt either, but more as a precaution to hold that pulley steady than to have it slightly turn with each pulley bolt I take off. I wouldn’t be loosening it either just holding it still.

[k90]

As the thread name is specific enough.

N52 harmonic balancer difference between AT and 6MT?
Looked some commodity quality HBs and all of them said in "for automatic".

Visited local Bavaria yesterday to order some bolts etc. and while at it asked the price for HB to my car. Aaaand.. 800EUR.

My HB is quite crusty, but I didn't jump to buy replacement yet.

[PhaseP]

check realoem.com for part number differences

[k90]

Originally Posted by PhaseP

check realoem.com for part number differences

Thanks! Useful.
MT and AT are indeed different!