Meloyelo90

OK, have the WP out , removed the wp shaft coupler as well for clearance, went to remove the opti, and the crankshaft hub ? (3 pronger that holds the damper) is sticking directly in the way of opti removal. Every pic I see here has it lined up perfectly for opti removal...

This is getting a little out of my league so I am requesting the experts here...is it safe to loosen and turn the hub ? I assume it's one bolt in the middle ? Can this screw up engine balance somehow by just moving the hub ?

I am trying to inspect the opti for moisture since the WP leaked - I have a 95 so it's vented, seeing if I can save some $.

Also, I tried to remove the cap with the opti on the engine and it won't budge. I removed the female torx on each side - is there something else
that needs to be removed ? If I can get this off I won't need to remove the opti unless it's wet inside.

Thanks again !

Meloyelo90

geist

Don't loosen that middle bolt unless you plan to remove the hub. Just put the car in neutral then it should be easy enough to turn. But first note there should be a long ridge between 2 of the 3 prongs, this indicates which way the arrow on the balancer pulley points, at least it did on my 92 not sure of all years so look

IIRC my cap was held on by 4 inverted torx (E4?) bolts. Again, I have a 92, opti is diffferent.

Meloyelo90

Thanks...I will put her in neutral and see if it will turn. So on yours, the first two inverted torx were on the top left and right, where were the other two ? Since it's still o nthe car I can't get a good look at the bottom.

Thanks again ,

Mojave

There are 4 torx screws that hold the cap on, and three screws that hold the opti on the motor.

Just spin the motor until the opti will clear the crank hub. Also, the pulley will only go on the hub one way.

The hub is on the crank, so you just spin the whole motor. Don't remove the bolt. You can't just spin the hub on the crank; just leave the bolt and spin it all.

geist

one of the bolts was set away from the opti unit, theres kinda a wing in the bracket that stuck out. (edit: oops thats the opti mounting not cap)

a google image search should pull up some pics of your style opti, so you can see where the bolts are
http://images.google.com/images?q=op...=1&sa=N&tab=wi


If yours is original you may want to consider replacing it while you are in there, you can see the work involved to get to it.

Meloyelo90

Now for the completely incompetent, what's the best way to spin the motor ? Like geist was saying, throw it in neutral and move the hub ?

Thanks for the pics, I have the two torx out, looks like the other two may be in the small holes in the middle of the cap.

Thanks for helping - never done anything like this before so this is quite the learning experience.

Meloyelo90

Going to try to spin the motor tonight - what is the best way ? Should I turn the key slightly or try to turn the hub with a wratchet ?

Thanks !

pianoguy

You can just turn it with a ratchet on the hub bolt.

Meloyelo90

Excellent - thanks again !

96Eric

I just took off the crank pulley. Spin off the bolts on the motor mounts, jack the motor up a bit and take of the three bolts holding on the pulley, dont mess with the hub, it isn't necesary. The crossmember is in the way of the crank bolts, thats why you jack it up a bit to get a ratchet in there. It took me five mins to get my pulley off. Don't do xtra work if you don't have to!

geist

Whoa there, in the right positions I found all the bolts are accessible! I got 2 in one position and rotated to get the third... I ultimately did have to jack up the motor to get the oil pan back on with the gasket in place, but that is another story....

Anyhow I think the OP already had it off by the time he made the thread. Hope you've progressed Meloyelo90.

Meloyelo90

All set - cranked the hub over last night and got it in the right position...opti came right out. I already ordered a new one but wanted to know what the old one looked like so I cracked it open. As Murphy's law would have it, it looks like new even after coolant spilling on it.
Must have been sealed extremely well, or the venting did it's job.

Pretty surprising for a 13 yr old car, now I am second guessing the original coolant leak...maybe it came from somewhere other than the WP. I will have two good opti's now - with my luck they will both come in handy at some point !

Thanks to everyone for the assistance, waiting on parts now and replacing as much as possible in the mean time...plugs, wires, pcv, ff, serp belt etc...