OT: Kia crank pulley wobbles

[pheasant]

Greetings all, Kia's NG is too new to have any techs hanging around so hope
someone here will help.

Wife's Sedona 12k miles has developed one hell of a squeak coming from under
the hood. A quick check by me shows the crank pulley wobbling. The
service manager say a wobbly crank pulley is normal????? HUH?????
They have replaced the power steering tensioner, and both belts. Gonna have
a factory service rep check it. The squeak seems to originate in
the vicinity of the alternator belt tensioner. Sooooooo.... in 30 years of
shade tree fixing, I've never known a crank pulley that wobbled to be
normal. Mebbe Kia's engineers have one up on me, but if that's the case,
how come the V6 in the Optima loaner is running true?

Inquiring minds want to know!!!!

Mark

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

My 2 standard responses to "they all do that" (honed to perfection while
I owned a Windstar van) are;

1) "Really, give me the keys to THAT one" (so I can see it do it too.)

2) "Really, then they're all broke, they all need to be fixed and you
can start with mine."

Carl
1 Lucky Texan

 

[Edward Hayes]

What a crock of baloney (politically correct) instead of what I should say.
You have be given a line of BS. Pulleys should not wobble period. eddie

 

[FFF]

Greetings all, Kia's NG is too new to have any techs hanging around so hope
someone here will help.

Wife's Sedona 12k miles has developed one hell of a squeak coming from under
the hood. A quick check by me shows the crank pulley wobbling. The
service manager say a wobbly crank pulley is normal????? HUH?????
They have replaced the power steering tensioner, and both belts. Gonna have
a factory service rep check it. The squeak seems to originate in
the vicinity of the alternator belt tensioner. Sooooooo.... in 30 years of
shade tree fixing, I've never known a crank pulley that wobbled to be
normal. Mebbe Kia's engineers have one up on me, but if that's the case,
how come the V6 in the Optima loaner is running true?

Mark, posting this on the subaru group will probably result in a nice round of
merry Kia bashing.

Did the pulley do this right after the belts were done? Only if the engine was
pulled, I could see how the crank shaft pulley got knocked and the shaft bent
out of true. In this case, it seems more likely that the pulley wasn't installed
properly.

The "we aren't fixing it till it blows up" attitude certainly puts the 100k mile
warranty into perspective.

florian

 

[wilf]

Pulleys should not wobble period. eddie

Eddie:
That's what I thought. However, a while back when I had things apart for a
timing belt change on my '98 Outback, I gave the alternator a spin and could
see a very pronounced wobble in the pulley as well. Presumably it's been
like that since new. Ironically, I had declined to get the alternator
replaced under the recall notice for the problem with the brush wires, since
it was working fine and it sounded like the rebuilt exchange alternators
could be less reliable than the originals.
So, next time I'm in there, I'll have to take a closer look to determine the
exact nature of the problem.
Wilf

 

[Jim Stewart]

Greetings all, Kia's NG is too new to have any techs hanging around so hope
someone here will help.

Wife's Sedona 12k miles has developed one hell of a squeak coming from under
the hood. A quick check by me shows the crank pulley wobbling. The
service manager say a wobbly crank pulley is normal????? HUH?????
They have replaced the power steering tensioner, and both belts. Gonna have
a factory service rep check it. The squeak seems to originate in
the vicinity of the alternator belt tensioner. Sooooooo.... in 30 years of
shade tree fixing, I've never known a crank pulley that wobbled to be
normal. Mebbe Kia's engineers have one up on me, but if that's the case,
how come the V6 in the Optima loaner is running true?

I know nothing about crank pulleys wobbling. Never
seen it, never heard of it.

As to the sqeak, it's almost certainly the tensioner
pulley. Take it out, pop off the shields, if any,
squirt it with brake cleaner until it shines, dry
it, repack it with grease, put the shields back on
and reinstall it. Expect to do it again in another
year or two. I've had problems with tensioner pulleys
squeaking in 3 different cars. The Subaru was no
exception.

 

[Bruce L. Bergman]

Greetings all, Kia's NG is too new to have any techs hanging around so hope
someone here will help.

Wife's Sedona 12k miles has developed one hell of a squeak coming from under
the hood. A quick check by me shows the crank pulley wobbling. The
service manager say a wobbly crank pulley is normal????? HUH?????
They have replaced the power steering tensioner, and both belts. Gonna have
a factory service rep check it. The squeak seems to originate in
the vicinity of the alternator belt tensioner. Sooooooo.... in 30 years of
shade tree fixing, I've never known a crank pulley that wobbled to be
normal. Mebbe Kia's engineers have one up on me, but if that's the case,
how come the V6 in the Optima loaner is running true?

Inquiring minds want to know!!!!

Mark

Inquiring minds are right - they should not wobble.

Could be a few things - Either they bent the pulley somehow, it's
got a bad vibration damper in the pulley (the pulley is two pieces
with a rubber ring bonded between the hub and the outer ring, and the
bonded rubber has ripped or wasn't made right)...

Or worst case - if this is like most crank pulleys, the bolt holding
the pulley to the crankshaft is loose and the pulley is wobbling on
the crankshaft nose. If it is left loose for any length of time this
will chew up the machined surfaces on the crankshaft end, and may
require both pulley and (if it's bad enough) crankshaft replacement to
repair it properly. Yup, tear the engine down or change the short
block under warranty.

If the pulley doesn't seat firmly on the tapered end of the crank
they can torque the bolt at the crank nose holding the pulley on till
the cows come home, it will just work loose again. Out of warranty,
you could clean it up with a grinder and shim the new pulley with JB
Weld epoxy and get it to last the life of the engine (maybe) - but if
the car is still under warranty, make them fix it right.

Of course they're going to say "It's Normal" - they get paid less
for warranty work, and that one could be a whopper. If they can get
it past warranty without you suspecting it, you'll pay full price for
the repair work.

--<< Bruce >>--

 

[pheasant]

the hood. A quick check by me shows the crank pulley wobbling. The
service manager say a wobbly crank pulley is normal????? HUH?????
They have replaced the power steering tensioner, and both belts. Gonna have
a factory service rep check it.

Bash away guys, it's the wife's. The 86 GL wagon is my baby.
Thanks for all the tips. The belts are still factory when this developed.
They are giving me this line of bovine excrement and haphazardly replacing
bits hoping it will go away. I like the tip about removing the tensioners
cleaning and repacking, I've always just replaced the bearings in the past.
I've told the sales person if they caqn't resolve it to my satisfaction,
I'll go to Kia directly and get an alternate service location. Living 200
miles away from the dealer is a bitch when you want something done
correctly.
After the first trip in, Kia called wondering how the work was done, so
reckon they don't want me calling asking for an alternate service site, may
reflect badly on their status with the home office.

PS We WERE going to buy the loaner as a college car for daughter, but.....
think we'll keep looking and go back to the old standbys, toyota, honda,
maybe gasp, even something GM.

 

[pheasant]

Or worst case - if this is like most crank pulleys, the bolt holding
the pulley to the crankshaft is loose and the pulley is wobbling on
the crankshaft nose. If it is left loose for any length of time this
will chew up the machined surfaces on the crankshaft end, and may
require both pulley and (if it's bad enough) crankshaft replacement to
repair it properly. Yup, tear the engine down or change the short
block under warranty.

If the pulley doesn't seat firmly on the tapered end of the crank
they can torque the bolt at the crank nose holding the pulley on till
the cows come home, it will just work loose again. Out of warranty,
you could clean it up with a grinder and shim the new pulley with JB
Weld epoxy and get it to last the life of the engine (maybe) - but if
the car is still under warranty, make them fix it right.

Yep, did this to the Toyota 2 years ago. Didn't dare JB it as the oil pump
runs off the same so if it would need replacing would really be hosed. Just
torqued it tight and re check it once in a while.

 

[Ned Pike]

In

Yep, did this to the Toyota 2 years ago. Didn't dare JB it as the
oil pump runs off the same so if it would need replacing would really
be hosed. Just torqued it tight and re check it once in a while.

I once had to have the crank replaced in an 88 Madza 323 because the key
holding the pulley on the crank nose had worked loose and cracked the keyway
open. $1700 bill in 1992.

 

[davidj92]

12k miles has developed one hell of a squeak coming from under

Bash away guys, it's the wife's. The 86 GL wagon is my baby.
Thanks for all the tips. The belts are still factory when this developed.
They are giving me this line of bovine excrement and haphazardly replacing
bits hoping it will go away. I like the tip about removing the tensioners
cleaning and repacking, I've always just replaced the bearings in the

past.

The squeak could be the belt slipping as the tensioner can't keep up with
the wobble of the crank pulley. I agree with all the posts that the crank
pulley (dampener pulley) is bad and should be replaced immediately.

 

[pheasant]

The squeak could be the belt slipping as the tensioner can't keep up with
the wobble of the crank pulley. I agree with all the posts that the crank
pulley (dampener pulley) is bad and should be replaced immediately.

Hey all;
The sales rep that's acting as my eyes and ears tells me service is
satisfied they've fixed it. They stand behind their original statement that
a bit of wobble in the crank pulley is normal. (Had a traveling Kia
engineer look at it also, he says only the Sedonas do this; the Optimas run
true). Told them if that's the case, state it on the work order and return
the vehicle. Wrote a letter to Kia America and am awaiting a response.
Will keep you all updated since you've been generous enough with your
opinions figure mebbe we can all learn either that Kia is brilliant or a
sack of lying bastards.

Mark