I'm putting new valve stem seals on my 1998 SL1. Its turning out to be a lot more difficult than I anticipated. The first major problem was removing the crankshaft bolt. After wrestling with it by hand, I read about the starter trick. That didn't work either. Then I found a post somewhere that said the best thing to do is cut the flange off the bolt. The flange on the SL1 is not very large, but the washer is huge. I cut into the washer with a Dremel tool, but not completely cutting it off, so the pulley wasn't damaged. I guess that was enough to relieve most of the torque and it came off fairly easy after that using the breaker bar.
I've now got the top motor mount, belt tensioner and idle pulley removed. But, I can't figure out how to take the power steering pump off. I've taken off two of the bolts on the pump's bracket that go into the timing chain cover. The third bolt is not accessible because the pulley on the PS pump is blocking it. Removing the pulley would allow access to that bolt. But, I don't see any obvious way to take off the pulley. The repair book I have doesn't give much help on this removal.
Can someone explain to me how to remove the PS pump?
Thanks.