A Little Story about a crank bolt
 

I was replacing a timing belt on a Honda Accord when I couldn't get the crank bolt out. This is a common issue with Honda motors. And the compressor I have doesn't help. I tried 3 different guns and tried to jam the cam. The belt eventually broke and the bottom end was free. We even tried to jam the flywheel with a prybar and couldn't do it. We aren't the biggest people. So we took out the spark plugs, filled the cylinders with water, and removed the cam so all of the valves are closed. Then we attached the breaker bar to the socket with a decent size extension and turned. The crank only turned about a quarter of an inch if that and the bolt was loosened. So just incase you ever in a position where you can't get your crank bolt out. You can use water! Oh, the Honda engines rotate counterclockwise, same direction the bolt is being turned while trying to be loosened. So we could do the lock it with breaker bar and key the engine.

that sounds like something i would never attempt...
leave a breaker bar in the cam gears and crank? ur just askin for trouble when you do that...

I never said it was in the cam gear. You attach the socket and breaker bar to the CRANK bolt and hold it up to the chassis somehow and then crank. the torque will turn the bolt out. Completely safe if your engine normaly rotates clockwise. Not if it rotates counter clockwise.

NEVER TRY THIS! This is one of the worst ideas I have ever heard and I hope nobody ever tries this for the sake of your engine. First off water should never be in your combustion chamber period. Second have you ever of hydrolocking. If not here is a definition from wikipedia.

In automotive terminology, a hydrolock (short for hydraulic lock) is the immobilization of an engine's pistons by a liquid (usually water, hence the prefix "hydro-"). Hydrolocking occurs when liquid fills a cylinder on the intake stroke and, due to the incompressibility of a liquid, makes the compression stroke impossible. This, in turn, prevents the entire engine from turning, and can cause significant engine damage if one attempts to forcibly turn over or start the engine. Typically, connecting rods will be bent, making the engine uneconomical to repair.

You are very lucky you did not ruin that engine! Make sure you aren't suggesting repair methods that could potentially destroy someones engine. Never use water.

I am not recommending this to anyone. The amount of torque being applied by myself as opposed to the initial hit from a starter is low enough that the rods wil not be damaged. And the engine is not rotating at any speed, so there is no build up of energy that has no where to go but to the rods, in the case of a running engine that just swallowed some water. You should not condem the strategy of some just because you do not understand the theory. And as far as water being in the combustion chamber, have you ever heard of methanol or water injection? This is small oamounts of a liquid that is being injected with the air/fuel mixture into the combustion chamber. By rotating the engine a couple of times manually, the water is pushed out. Then you simply blow out any existing water and drop a cap of oil in the chamber. Don't get so worked up.

Your silly, and probably have NOT turned as many wrenches over the 30 years I've been a professional auto tech.

This water idea is a valid one. And does work. The Hydrolock you are talking about will NEVER even come into play with the JOB the fellow is describing.

More research on you part before 'spouting off' is needed.

Thank You.

Hey its your engine...do whatever you want

looks like somebody spoke too soon, and got proven wrong:gtfo:

Yeah you are right putting water in your cylinders to keep the engine from turning over is a great repair procedure. That is what they do at all of the dealerships when they have a stuck crank bolt right? I thought I saw that in the service manual somewhere, must have just slipped my mind.

At the dealership, they have all of the right tools, and with the right tools you can do anything. But when your doing a job where you need the car up in a pinch, you have to be a little creative. It's all about turnaround time and cost. You try to keep your customers happy. What I did was a last resort kind of deal. This is not something you would do again. I will now go out and buy the correct tool or get stonger equipment. And by the way, you would be surprised what the dealer would do because your not looking. They know better than anyone that time is money. I've had many teachers that were all A techs at all sorts of dealerships with no less than 25 years of experience tell me stories of unorthodox ways they would get a car going again that the service repair manual doesn't contain. So, please, try to be a little open minded and not so sarcastic of other people's genious ;)

I just leave mine in gear in 5th and have someone apply the brakes to the floor. Works everytime...

This was an auto, the engine still rotates because of the torque converter. If it was a stick, Definitely!

Hi (this is to update this old thread) I have been looking at using hydrolock or a rope trick to immobilize the crank. In that Wiki article mentioned, if you read further it says damage should occur when the engine is at speed. At idle or other low pressure situations there should be no damge. With engine off there should follow that no damage should occur. I like the water instead of oil cause it's not so messy. Same with using a rope to stuff in there. These tips sure beat breaking a tooth of your flywheel or deforming the pulley. Now I have not tried water or rope yet but I plan on doing my timing belt soon. 85 22re. Using water is good because it evaporates easily.

I know this is old, but we actually heard the water boiling in the combustion chambers. Kind of reminded me of a chemistry experiment, lol.

It did seem that way to be perfectly honest... Another thing I noticed was you said you tried "locking the cam" and then "the belt broke"...

No offence, but this is why I do my own work on motors...

You may find these interesting Link & Link

No offense taken brother, I was not as proffesional as I am now (Having all of the right tools and such), but I don't think I would ever try anything like this again anyway, lol. Wouldn't have to. Years of working on many different types of vehicles, and having all of the right tools surely helps, lol. And like the links describe, there are plenty of other legitimate ways of doing things. I just think people forget how strong these metal components are and what kinds of pressure they see on a normal basis. Most of you have NO idea.