Why does the crank pulley wobble?

[PatrickGSR94]

I've heard of problems on here about the harmonic damper/crank pulley coming apart or something, so when the pulley on my wife's 96 Corolla was wobbling about a year ago, I went ahead and replaced it with one from NAPA at a cost of nearly $200. Not too long after, the new one started wobbling, and unfortunately I did not get it replaced within the 90-day warranty period. So the current pulley at only about a year old is still wobbling. How can I fix this? Could it be something other than the pulley itself causing it to wobble? Hopefully it's not something like crank walk. I hate to pay another $150+ for another pulley only for it start wobbling again. Any ideas?

[speedy25]

Check to see if the bolt is tight to start with. If its wobbling because its coming apart then you definitely need to pick another supplier. I've also had to fix pulleys that were installed carelessly and bent the locating pin so it interfered with the pulley being on center.

Work smart!

-SP

[PatrickGSR94]

Locating pin? Is that like the woodruff key that goes in the little notch on the crank and pulley bore? I'm pretty sure I installed everything carefully (always try to) and tightened the bolt with my impact wrench. I don't have the proper tool to hold the crank in place so I couldn't really put my torque wrench on it.

[Keone777]

So my crank pulley was wobbling on my 93 1.8 corolla. I changed the leaking front crank seal and a new pulley (after I tested that it wasn't the crank seal allowing it to wobble). After all that, my pulley is still wobbling maybe 1/8 inch or so. Vibrates the car but it drives fine. Could this only be a crank bearing or bent crank? And what do you think this type of wobble would do to the engine? Cars got 138,000miles.

[Piloter]

At the first t-belt change the garage at the time found out that the pulley had gotten loose enough to chew up its own keyway, that might be another area to check.

[Keone777]

The keyway is good and cranked the bolt to 87 ft/lbs. Left with a scratching head and wobbling pulley.

[speedy25]

It wobbles because it is not attached FLAT to the crank. You have some dirt or maybe a metal burr keeping it from mating on the crank end correctly.

-SP

[Keone777]

Mahalo for the simple idea. I cleaned the crank sprocket and the timing belt washer before reassembly, and used a new crank pulley. Will check when I have a chance.