Honda Car Forum

I'd loosen the crank bolt then marked the bolt, washer and pulley. It
took three hard push to release. Each push produces a crack. Upon
release I quickly tighten the bolt to 83-ft-lb, there is no snap or crack.
Then release again but no crack. Then realizes that I should have mark
the bolt before releasing.

Put oil on the threads and took less than a quarter turn to tighten from
7 ft-lb it to 83-ft-lb. Went for a drive. The marks didn't move. This isn't
conclusive yet. The face of the bolt and washer show signs galling, a
surface that has been rubbed by something else. See

http://square.cjb.cc/images/boltfaces.jpg

I had to use some of Jim's similar images - can't find my camera.

I might need to get a new washer and bolt just to see if the galling
returns. A few years back I'd removed a 92 Accord, 92 Civic crank
bolt, most likely their first timing belt change. No locktite. These
bolt didn't produce a loud crack or galling as I'd expected. Here's
more statistics on the subject car:

At 230k:

Bolt face galled: Yes
Hard to remove: No; about 90 ft-lb, one swing, 3/4" ratchet - no ext.
Color of threads: Grey from lube
Thread degrease: Yes
Threads oiled: Yes
Reused bolts: Yes
Bore threads cleaned: No
Torque to: 83 ft-lb

At 280k, Yesterday:

Bolt face galled: Yes
Hard to remove: Moderate; 98 ft-lb, took 3 swings, 3/4" ratchet - no ext.
Color of threads: Grey from lube
Thread degrease: Yes
Threads oiled: Yes
Reused bolt: Yes
Bore threads cleaned: No
Torque to: 83 ft-lb

If the bolt moves or gets tighter I'll post a follow-up - but don't know when.

"Burt S." <burtsquareman@gmailcom> wrote
> I'd loosen the crank bolt then marked the bolt, washer and pulley. It
> took three hard push to release. Each push produces a crack. Upon
> release I quickly tighten the bolt to 83-ft-lb, there is no snap or crack.
> Then release again but no crack. Then realizes that I should have mark
> the bolt before releasing.
>
> Put oil on the threads and took less than a quarter turn to tighten from
> 7 ft-lb it to 83-ft-lb. Went for a drive. The marks didn't move. This
isn't
> conclusive yet. The face of the bolt and washer show signs galling, a
> surface that has been rubbed by something else. See
>
> http://square.cjb.cc/images/boltfaces.jpg

Just looked at these. Interesting pics. Something's turning at some time. It
seems to me the scoring could just be the loosening by hand or final
torquing by hand. The pulley-crankshaft assembly is being held steady when
tightening and loosening everything, after all.

Burt S. wrote:
> I'd loosen the crank bolt then marked the bolt, washer and pulley. It
> took three hard push to release. Each push produces a crack. Upon
> release I quickly tighten the bolt to 83-ft-lb, there is no snap or crack.
> Then release again but no crack. Then realizes that I should have mark
> the bolt before releasing.
> Put oil on the threads and took less than a quarter turn to tighten from
> 7 ft-lb it to 83-ft-lb. Went for a drive. The marks didn't move. This isn't
> conclusive yet. The face of the bolt and washer show signs galling, a
> surface that has been rubbed by something else. See
> http://square.cjb.cc/images/boltfaces.jpg

At some point in time somebody forgot to tighten the bolt correctly or
left out the key. But then if someone left the key out then the washer
shouldn't look like that. You really need to get a new bolt and run the

test again. This time, also clean the bore threads.

If you only hear that crack sound going one way but not the other
direction then that means that the bolt had stretched. This would
mean that the bolt took more turn to loosen but less turn to tighten.