Hi,
I have a gasoline 88 Jetta with SOHC (8 valve). The timing belt broke.
I got the top half of the timing belt cover off, and the two V belts, and the power steering pump pulley. It appears that I need to get the crankshaft pulley off to get the bottom half of the timing belt cover, and the timing belt, off.
I can get the 4 little hex bolts off, but the big 19 mm bolt in the center of the crank pulley doesn't budge. I have tried:
-- long breaker bar, with extension going past the wheel which was turned to the right to get it out of the way, and cheaters; engine was held by putting it in 5th and setting the brake (and blocking the wheels) -- putting a long breaker bar on it and bumping the engine with the starter
-- finally gave up and spent $130 on an air powered impact wrench rated at 625 ft/lbs of torque. I can connect it up to my brother's compressor with the regulator set to the max the impact wrench is supposed to handle, and it will hammer all day without budging
Is there some trick to getting it off ? For example, is it reverse threaded or something ? (I saw no indication that was in my Haynes manual or on the car)
Supposing I give up on getting it off, is it possible to cut off the bottom half of the plastic timing belt cover, and then get the old belt off and new belt on around the crank pulley, and then mount the two halves of the bottom cover back on and maybe JB Weld them back together ?
Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. I can't believe that this one stuck bolt has basically killed my car.
--Rob