On Sat, 10 Apr 2004 00:18:43 GMT, "KWW" <kwalker@nospamaircooled.net>
wrote:

>I am glad I stopped on my way home from work today when there was a clunking
>noise and a smell of burning rubber/plastic! The outer ring of the larger
>of the two belt pullies on the crankshaft pully came off and forced the A/C
>belt off its smaller, front pully! (2.2L 4 cylinder) It looked like a
>retread tire. The big belt was resting on a smooth inner part of the pully
>and the ring with the grooves and the guides for the belt was sitting off to
>the side. That has never happened to me before! Somehow the look of that
>two-piece pully looks vaguely familiar - like something I saw years ago
>somewhere, but the repair manual I have for the car just shows the pully as
>a single-piece item. The car has 145,000 miles on it. Is this a common
>occurrence on this engine? Sure, the car has a lot of miles, but one
>doesn't expect this sort of thing. It is peculiar!
>
>Anybody heard about any recalls or anything?
>KWW

Check for TSBs at
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/pr.../tsbsearch.cfm. IIRC the
problem is known, especially on Preludes of that era. The outer ring of
the pulley is separated from the inner hub by a bonded in rubber ring,
which is a harmonic damper to minimize crankshaft vibrations. One thing
which can do this kind of damage is using a belt type pulley holder when
trying to get the crankshaft pulley bolt off for timing belt replacement.
I guess if you had an A/C compressor which was binding somewhat it could do
similar damage, though you'd think the drivebelt would act as a
(sacrifical) safety link in the system. An oil leak wouldn't help either -
could rot the rubber.

Rgds, George Macdonald

"Just because they're paranoid doesn't mean you're not psychotic" - Who, me??