Hello to all. I have a 1993 with the stock B18A1 in it. I have found my water pump leaking and currently in the process of changing it. The problem I have run into is I can’t get the crank bolt out to save my life. I have the chain wrench, I have a 12in breaker bar(not able to get anything bigger under the car). I even went out and bought an electric impact wrench just for this bolt. I’ve heard people bumping the starter with the breaker bar on the bolt. I’m not sure how they accomplished this since common sense tells me the engine spins in the wrong direction. I’m hesitant to put heat to it with a torch, I dont want the pulley to warp. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
On another matter, I broke 2 of the studs taking the wheel off. Do I have to remove the entire spindle assembly from the car to change them?
The crank tool is your best bet. I jumped into the job thinking the crank bolt wouldn’t be an issue since I have air and a 3/8 & 1/2" impact. Neither would budge it. Not sure if this will help you but I ended up using 2 spindle nuts from a late 80’s Toyota 4x4 front end, welded them together, welded the spindle nuts to a 16" section of old leaf spring (use the floor to stop pulley movement), ground them down 1/16" to fit and drilled a 3/4" hole through the middle for the 1/2" extension to fit through. It worked but if I had to do it over I would have just waited to do the job and ordered the crank tool. .02
Even with the crank pulley tool it can be a bitch to get that bolt off. I had the tool and still had to alternate heating the bolt with a heat gun and hitting it with an air impact wrench for about 20 minutes before it finally loosened. Be patient and you will eventually get it.
Get a longer breaker bar (24" or so) plus the special holder tool. Use the shorter breaker bar on the holder tool and arrange it such that the bar rests against the chassis crossmember or even just the floor, resisting the counterclockwise rotation. If you have the car supported high enough (use jackstands at the front chassis jacking points and make sure it’s solid!) then you should be able to have the longer breaker bar on the bolt and have the handle pointing towards the front of the car. Use a medium-length extension (impact if you have one). Imagine the long breaker bar pointing to the 8 o’clock position when looking at the crank pulley. The idea is to leave as much space as possible between the end of the long breaker bar and the floor. The bar may contact the inner fender slightly, but that’s not a huge deal.
Now go to the front of the car and step on the long breaker bar. Steady yourself and push down on the end of the bar with your leg. The bar may bend almost to the floor, but it worked for me. Steady pressure did the job.
One of my breaker bars has a ratchet end, which really helped adjust the relative positions of the two bars.
At first I said WTF?! a heatgun… whew… that trick worked… of course i gave up on the impact and i was bracing the front of my car grasping the radiator core support and using my foot against the breaker bar but it didnt do anything until I pulled out my trusty heatgun. I put heat on it twice, both for 3 minute intervals.
Glad to hear the heat gun worked for you. I know it sounds weak compared to a torch but those electric heat guns can get really hot. I use mine for suspension bolts too.
i needa try heat i guess, got a jdm b16 at the shop used that above tool with my matco 1/2 impact no luck. and also with breakers bars, no luck heat here i come lol