[bobbotron]

Been a while since I've been on the board! All in all the forester just keeps on ticking. Went to go on an errand today, turned it on. No power steering. Thought that's... odd? Backed it out of the garage, realized the battery light was on as well. Turns out both the alternator/power steering and AC belts were dumped off! A friend of mine came over and we messed around a bit, the crank pulley comes right off, like in this video. I'm guessing... this is not supposed to happen?

 

[Kevin]

I've seen it before when the bolt has snapped - probably from over-torquing.

Or, the bolt has fallen out.

 

[2.5x_sleeper]

It sounds like the rubber part of your harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) came apart. If so, just replace it & you should be good.

Take a look at this thread: Belt fell off AC Compressor Pulley and Crank Pulley Wobbling/Vibrating

Bobby...

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

 

[Blake Moore]

Hmm, that happened to mine a couple years ago, I was driving on the interstate in rush hour traffic and heard this horrible clanking and grinind from the front of my engine so I turned off the highway and turned it off, walked out expecting my timing belt to have come off and just lost my motor... boy was I confused to see my belts all torn apart and my crank pulley hanging at an angle...

Long story short the rubber part dry-rotted and allowed the outer ribbed belt ring to separate from the inner hub. My shop said they'd never seen anything like it and kept the crank pulley to put in their case in the waiting area as a souvenier.

 

[Inspector]

I've seen several of these posted on this board over the years where the outer ring of the pulley separated from the inner as some in this thread mention. Can you indicate how many miles and what conditions this car was driven in? Also, was the pulley removed anytime recently? I've suspected that these delamination failures are the result of someone whacking the pulley too hard when trying to remove it during a T-belt change, combined with age related deterioation of the rubber isolator ring.

 

[bobbotron]

It sounds like the rubber part of your harmonic balancer (crankshaft pulley) came apart. If so, just replace it & you should be good.

Take a look at this thread: Belt fell off AC Compressor Pulley and Crank Pulley Wobbling/Vibrating

Bobby...

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

I think this is it. The inner part is happily still bolted to the crank spindle.

 

[bobbotron]

Can you indicate how many miles and what conditions this car was driven in? Also, was the pulley removed anytime recently?

Car is at 220,000 (ish) Kilometers, or roughly 136000 miles. It's had a t belt change, a few years ago. Belt pulley hasn't been touched in a long while AFAIK. Mostly highway driving, 70/30 highway city.

 

[bobbotron]

Got the old one removed after building a cheesy but effective wooden removal tool. Torque spec for the new crank pulley?

Edit: auto shop gave me a A583010. Same dimensions as my old pulley, called a harmonic dampener, but machining is much different... probably ok? Attached is old and new part.

 

[2.5x_sleeper]

@bobbotron my Subaru technical service documents skip the '05 MY. The '04 is identical to the '06-'08 with a slightly different torque.

• '04 = 177 N·m (18.0 kgf-m, 130.2 ft-lb)
• '06-'08 = 180 N·m (18.4 kgf-m, 132.8 ft-lb)

Bobby...

'06-'08

['07 FSXT MODding Journal] ['03 X MODding Journal]

 

[bobbotron]

Thanks!! Wow, that is tight.

First I'd heard of the tightening angle, that's a nuisance. I tightened this down in the shop, just reading the torque number off my phone... Now to loosen and redo, or call it good enough...

 

[Inspector]

That new pulley looks more like what I have on my 2010. Has the smaller holes for a holding tool.


Wow, i cant believe it failed as such a relatively low mileage. Really sounds like damage was imparted to the dampener ring somehow.

 

[bobbotron]

I'm in Ottawa, Canada, there's a lot of salt and variable temperatures here. Looking online, it looks like I'm not the only one who's had it happen.

 

[bobbotron]

Ended up taking the bolt back out, dipping it in oil, torqued it in as mentioned above, easily 55 degrees. Thanks @2.5x_sleeper !