Need some help on crankpully problems:(

[hubble1953]

Hi everyone: Have not been on the forum for awhile, but really need some help....
My daughter has a 98 wagon, gl and had some problems with her car this morning. She took it in to a shop and they said the crankpully is coming apart and the tensioner is broken????
Now she just had a complete tune up two days ago, at the same shop, and then this happened, going to cost her 800.00 to fix.
Now the questions:
Is this a common problem with the 98 gl?
Would the pully just blow up, or should he have noticed it while doing the tune up.
BTW, guy seems honest, but really, is this called bad timing or what??
thanks for any help, tried to "search" no dirrect help,
jm

[dplacencia]

Hi everyone: Have not been on the forum for awhile, but really need some help....
My daughter has a 98 wagon, gl and had some problems with her car this morning. She took it in to a shop and they said the crankpully is coming apart and the tensioner is broken????
Now she just had a complete tune up two days ago, at the same shop, and then this happened, going to cost her 800.00 to fix.
Now the questions:
Is this a common problem with the 98 gl?
Would the pully just blow up, or should he have noticed it while doing the tune up.
BTW, guy seems honest, but really, is this called bad timing or what??
thanks for any help, tried to "search" no dirrect help,
jm

I have seen several crank pulleys sink in and cut into the timing belt cover. I have also seen many bad timing belt tensioners.

[RckyMtnLegacy]

I had the same problem. My crank pully was bent so the belt cut all the way through my timing cover. Pully just broke where it was attatched like it was hit by something

[hubble1953]

Thanks for the information. I did not realize this could happen, so I guess my daughter will just have to fix the pulley too:(.
Car has been so good for the last year or two. Now all this in just one week.
:cry:
again thanks,
jm

[Plays_with_Toys]

A new pulley is only $100 (look at perrin, it's a lightweight unit for the WRX/legacy), and is very easy to install (just make sure you have a torque wrench).

Which tensioner is broken? The alternator tensioner is pretty stout. The AC tensioner might break, I've seen it happen once. If the car is running rough, and they diagnosed it as having skipped a tooth on timing, then yeah, maybe the timing belt tensioner is shot. I'd like to know how they diagnosed it. Especially since they'd have to remove the pulley to actually look at the timing belt tensioner. If this thing is shot, you're looking at a timing belt job, which should be around $300. At the same time replace your crank and cam seals ($10 for the seals, this shouldn't add significant labor time, as everything is disassembled for the timing belt anyway).

[decke48]

you test a timing belt tensoner in a vise. should be a bit hard to tighten the vise. $800 seems over the top to replace a pulley and a tensioner. im guessing its a a/c or powersteering/alternater tensioner. get a second opinion on the job at another garage.

[hubble1953]

Right now I only know that the crankpully broke. The tensioner I believe was the alt. Cost $1000.00 to fix. I am trying to get ahold of the shop, but I live in Boise, and the shop is in LA. Shop time is $$$$ down there.
I was told a big bolt was missing. If this was the crankpully bolt, that is really bad, but would you not see something like that while doing a tune-up??
Who knows at this point, just may have been bad timing and everything happened after the tune-up.
thanks again for the input. I think I will go check my 97gt. Has the same number of miles on it :-(
jm