[s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell - Success!!!!

[Southerlin, Russell S]

Fred and Qheads,
Thanks to all for suggestions and help.

I finally got my car back together last night after a snafu getting the
correct crank pulley.  

After finally getting my crank bolt out I found the woodruff key was
buggered up.  
I replaced the crank pulley and got a new crank bolt for good measure. 
Was relieved to find out that no other damage was done due to the
difficulty I had removing the crank bolt. It is very important not
remove the timing belt before the crank bolt is loose. 
I cracked a 27mm socket and also broke a 1/2 drive Craftmans breaker bar
putting 
quite a shock load into the crank but no issues as far as damage to
valves etc.

After closer inspection of my original crank bolt I think it had lube on
the threads and no
 loctite on the head.  Per Fred's suggestion I put light lube on the
threads and 
Permatex Blue on the head.  I ended up replacing the crank pulley and
crank bolt along
with all the other stuff.

Russ



-----Original Message-----
From: Southerlin, Russell S 
Sent: Saturday, January 08, 2005 9:45 AM
To: 'Fred Munro'; Tom Mullane
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com; paul.heneghan at bbc.co.uk
Subject: RE: [s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell (lessons learned)


Frank,
Thanks

I supposed once one thinks about it maybe it does make more sense to
loctite the head and not the threads.  I think I saw in some searching
that someone had loctite on the head and they thought this might have
caused the key to get damaged when removing the bolt.

If you are reacting the damper with the tool and loctite is only under
the head then it would make sense that the load would only go through
the damper and not into the crank.

Russ



-----Original Message-----
From: Fred Munro [mailto:munrof at sympatico.ca]
Sent: Tuesday, January 04, 2005 11:24 AM
To: Southerlin, Russell S; Tom Mullane
Cc: s-car-list at audifans.com; paul.heneghan at bbc.co.uk
Subject: RE: [s-cars] Crank Bolt From Hell (lessons learned)


Hi Russ;

The OEM crank pulley bolt on my '91 200q had dry threads and locking
compound under the bolt head. The OEM bolt on my '94 S4 had lube on the
threads and no locking compound. The first time I did the t-belt on the
S4 I
used Loctite blue on the threads and under the bolt head. I had no
problem
taking that bolt out the second time I did the t-belt, but this time I
lubed
the threads and used Loctite blue under the bolt head. I thought the
Loctite
on the threads might transfer some torque to the crank while loosening
the
bolt. I figure the torque on the bolt is what keeps it tight and the
Loctite
under the bolt head is added insurance to secure it to the pulley and
keep
water out to minimize corrosion.

Paul, I've cc'd you as this answers your question as well. I suspect
some
shops wouldn't torque this bolt enough if they are not used to working
on
these cars - maybe that's what happened to your Avant. Many engines only
take 100 - 150 ft-lb or so on the crank bolt.

Fred Munro
'94 S4