But, I am def in a rut.

My girlfriend has my old car, a '93 Pontiac Sunbird 2.0L OHC. And the water pump went on it. I could tell because it was dumping out coolant out of the weep hole whenever it stopped, and was over heating.

So here's my problem. The water pump is located off the timing belt. So this entitles to remove the alternator, coolant overflow, cam cover, ile pulley, the lowest pully, the idle pulley inside of the cam cover, the inside cam cover, and lastly the water pump itself.

I have everything undone and ready to go, marked the cams, and the bottom pulley, and have everything undone and now the bottom pulley (still don't know the name of this pulley), is totally frozen.

How do you unfreeze a frozen nut that is holding down a mobile pulley? it NEEDS to be removed for my progress to go any further.

I have used:
PB Blaster, an impact gun, an alen wrench on a long piece of lead pipe to hold it stable while i use a breaker bar, and nothing seems to work.

Help!

Thanks alot guys!


I'm back from the dead.
Currently Driving: RSX Type-S.
My Cavalier Burnt up :-(

Have you tried moving the nut in the opposite direction?

Do nuts on pulley's turn in opposite directions?

such as, righty loosy, lefty tighty?


I'm back from the dead.
Currently Driving: RSX Type-S.
My Cavalier Burnt up :-(

It's worth a try. It seems like you have tried everything in your power to remove this nut/pulley the traditional way so I suggest you try moving it the other way. It could very well be reverse thread. However should something go wrong, don't blame me.

Andrew Gillan wrote:It's worth a try. It seems like you have tried everything in your power to remove this nut/pulley the traditional way so I suggest you try moving it the other way. It could very well be reverse thread. However should something go wrong, don't blame me.

Hahaha, thanks.

I actually have read online of three new ways that i haven't even considered trying, two being 100% rediculous, and the other seems like a modified version of what i have tried for hours on end already.
1. Use a breaker bar, and mount it sturdy on the ground, and to the nut. and TAP THE STARTER (seems like something would break!)
2. Tie a rope around the cam gears, and pull upward with the rope while someone takes a haul at removing the bolt. (Logial, but seems like it's reiterating the frustration of what i have experienced hours already).
and 3. Heat up the bolt head until it's cherry red, and try taking it out. (I did this already to her goose-neck for her coolant, and the bolt broke off inside the head, i needed to use an easy-out to get it out and re-thread the hole to a larger gauge).

All of them just seem like thaught out ideas, but too risky for the location.

Should i just throw in the towel and have it towed to a mechanic like it is with all the parts?





I'm back from the dead.
Currently Driving: RSX Type-S.
My Cavalier Burnt up :-(

Actually the breaker bar / starter tricks works pretty good. Make sure you have the fuel or ignition disabled so it wont start though. The crank pulley (damnpner) should turn clockwise if you're facing the front of the engine so line up the bar so it's tight against the frame or ground. Have someone "bump" the engine as you watch,as soon as it breaks free stop and do the rest by hand. You will probably need a puller to get the dampner off once the bolt is out. At work I have and Ingersol Titanium gun running @ 150 psi and still run into crankbolt problems.The ol breaker bar starter trick works every time.

I replaced the water pump on the 93 2.0 OHC Sunbird I used to have by myself also.

The upper pully is called the cam pully, or cam gear, the lower pully is called the crank pully.

The harmonic balancer and pully just pop off with a pry bar once all the bolts are out pretty easy.

I Lossened all the bolts with the belts still on the engine when I did mine to keep them from moving, than I just used and inpact gun.. I can't remember if it is left or right hand thread though. Do not try to remove the cam gear.. you can mess up your journal bearings for your cam and it doesn't need to be removed.

The water pump is actually used as a tenstioner for the timing belt, but you can force the timing belt over the cam gear with the water pump bolted in tight if you use the right tools and try hard enough.

The pullys shoud be market from the factory but it's still a good idea to mark them again with something.

What ever you do to get the bolts loose, you don't have to worry about any pistons hitting any valves so it's not that big a deal if the crankshaft turns over without the cam moving since its not an interfearance motor.

Once you get the timing belt back on, pull your spark plugs and turn the engine over by hand making sure the marks on both pullys point streight up at the same time every other revolution. When you put the timing belt cover back on, make sure you get the dust seal (stripping around the cover) on good or it can get cought in the belt and cause it to slip and you'll have to remove the belt again and realine everything but it won't hurt the engine.

Good luck with getting the bolts off.. sometimes putting an impact gun on it and zapping it back and forth in both directions a few times works wonders to loosen them.

This might be more info than your looking for, but I remember doing this pretty clearly and you can never know too much.

Sorry... now that I think about it, I'm not sure if both marks are supposed to point up at the same time or point at each-other, your service manual should tell you though.

I don't know what was harder..
taking the bolt off, or the pulley.

hahaha. but i got most of it done. just having trouble putting the timing belt back on.

What happens if the crank pulley is off timed from the cam pulley? because we took our best guess, but the paint mark we made got scaped off when we got the pulley off.

:-(


I'm back from the dead.
Currently Driving: RSX Type-S.
My Cavalier Burnt up :-(

Either the car will run OK or it wont... I guess.

As far as damage goes, you should be safe, when I did mine, the dang timing belt slipped almost 180 degrees (dust seal I was talking about),... I thought I was screwed... I put it back where It was supposed to be and I was Fine.. thats how I know it's not an interfearence motor.

I believe that there are marks or notches from the factory on the gears/pullies that you can go by... I just used a marker on mine to make them easier to see. For future referance... make sure the factory marks are lined up (#1 cylinder TDC) before you remove your timing belt... thats REALLY important.

Either re time it using the factory marks... or just start it.. and if it runs OK, don't worriy about it.