On Friday, i set off for work and hadn't gone a hundred metres when the power steering failed on my TP wagon. There's nowhere to turn around for a couple of km so I continued on to work. The battery discharge light came on and I realised the alternator/power steer drive belt must have gone.

In fact the belt had not broken but had come off. I bought a new one and fitted it but as soon as I started the engine, it was thrown off again. Had another attempt with the same result. I noticed then that the crankshaft pulley was too far forward and also wobbly. The pulley is also a harmonic balancer and it seems to have come apart.

I drove home without the belt and parked it in the garage. Fortunately I have the sedan to fall back on. Repco's price for a new harmonic balancer is $295. They can also supply reconditioned but I dont know the price.

Anyway, the hardest part will be getting the old one off, so I will do that first and then weigh up my options. I can't find any mention of the pulley or harmonic balancer in the Haynes manual other than the torque setting of the bolt. Can anyone tell me whether it is normal or left hand thread? Also, how do I stop the crankshaft from rotating while I'm trying to undo the bolt?

I realise that I will have to undo the passenger side engine mount and lower the front of the engine to get a socket onto the bolt. Apparently a puller is also required to get the pulley off but is that going to work on a pulley that is coming apart from its hub?

Any advice would be welcome
thanks, Coldamus

Info

the bolt comes off the normal way 22 mm I think

shouldnt need a puller its on a keyway should slide off without too much effort

you undo the inspection cover to get to the teeth of the flywheel or torgue converter and hold against the rotation

The other way is a bar and socket on the bolt and hit the starter quickly

on the 4 cylinder you may have to undo the front and rear engine mounts to get the tilt of the engine right
the passengerside engine mount has to come off

Pretty much as above, get an old spark plug and connect your coil lead to this and earth it, this bypasses the dist and also stops the back charge going through your ignition module

Grab a 22mm socket and then sit it between your drive shaft and control arm on a breaker bar, give the key a little hit.

To remove it, support the engine, remove the pass side mount, loosen the crossmember (one that goes front to back, drop the engine and off it comes

Thanks for the advice, guys. I probably won't try till next weekend but I have the car up on stands with the passenger side front wheel off ready to get started. I spoke to Mitsibits (local Mitsubishi wreckers) this morning and they have second hand ones for $55.

Edit: More progress than expected. Tonight I took off the splash tray to have a look and had no problem getting a socket and bar on the bolt. So I used the starter motor trick to loosen the bolt. After removing it, I used a big screwdriver to lever the pulley loose. I haven't undone the engine mount yet but will only need to drop the engine about 3 or 4 cm to get the pulley / balancer out completely.