Hi all, I know this has already been discussed a few times and I've learned a ton from searching on this forum already. However, I think I might have a few things to add that might help others, and I also have a few questions.

First, I mentioned in a previous thread that my harmonic balancer looked as though it was epoxied on, maybe with bearing retainer. This scared me a little, but it looked like it was leaking very badly and since the motor is out, I decided to tackle it. I marked the position of the balancer by dimpling the shaft and the balancer with punch before removal.

I made a puller with a piece of angle iron. Drilled three holes, two clearance for the pulley mounting bolts and one in the center that was tapped. This can be seen in the first picture

I applied a bit of force with the center bolt, but the pulley still didn't want to come loose until I added quite a bit of heat with a propane torch.

What I saw was kind of what I expected after doing my research. The outer lip of the seal was half torn, and the inner lip was entirely gone, with the spring retainer spinning loosely on the crank shaft as shown in the second picture.

I cleaned it up and used the trick I found on this site which uses a plastic cup to help guide the new seal over the spacer ring. This is shown in the third picture.

I then polished the inner lip of the balancer for the sealing surface and did a test fit. I found that even with the epoxy removed, it was still a nice tight fit even though you can see the damage that had previously occured to the shaft. By hand, I couldn't get it much beyond the pins that stayed put in the balancer, but I was able to start there engagement, so I don't forsee much trouble getting the alignment and assembly correct.

Questions.
Should I use bearing retainer or another type of adhesive on the buggered up shaft to make sure I don't have problems in the future?

You might be able to make out in the pictures the crank position "pointer". It was bent over by a previous owner or mechanic. I bent it back into rough position, but how can I get this alignment back to exactly where it should be? Is there another way to find TDC without pulling the head?

Thanks,
Jay

Attached Thumbnails

       

The seal should ride on the spacer ring, not the shoulder of the balancer. (Unlike many domestic engines.) Replacing said spacer is highly recommended in my view.

Interesting, but doesn't look possible with my setup. Whunter tends to agree with his tutorial, that the "inner lip of the seal should have a proper seating on the spacer ring"
There is an inner and outer lip on the seal, the outer seems like it goes on the inner hub of the balancer, maybe more of a "dust" seal.

PeachPartsWiki: Replacing Front Crankshaft Seal with "Special Tool"

Buggered up shaft - may be it is because I'm speed reading? Or I can't read? But what buggered up shaft? What's the problem?

(You'll have to be a bit slower with me)

Errrrr I have to ask a question of my own - did you replace the spacer ring that you see in this picture?



If you didn't I'm pretty sure the seal will fail and leak again.

As for setting up your TDC pointer... you can "drop" a valve on to the top of the piston crown and find TDC quite easily that way by measuring the motion of the top of the valve with a dial gauge. You can get away with this because the valve guides in the OM617 are vertical (not at an angle).

Now before WW3 erupts SOME people say you should rotate the crank backwards and forwards ever so slightly to make sure you've got TDC. Rotating these engines in an anti-clockwise manner (orientation in the view shown in your picture above) is risky as the timing chains can snag... I'm very much of the opinion that the procedure in chapter 03-345 in the FSM is sufficient for the purposes of a DIY mechanic.

You can see what is happening in this thread

Timing marks gone from my OM617 engine

WARNING:-

Make sure your #1 piston is actually close to TDC so that you don't drop the valve into the cylinder by accident!

You can remove the glow plug and listen to the air escaping (feel it with your hand!) on the compression stroke for example...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Would do no harm to re epoxy or whatever you feel was done before on the crankshaft. Make sure to wipe the surfaces well with laquer thinner to pull any residual oil or residue of your cleaning solution out of the pores.

You want a slow drying epoxy in my opinion. Warm up the pulley to 100 degrees as well before sliding on. This will thin and make the epoxy grip better. I would use an aerospace grade of epoxy but realise it is not always easily available . You do not want a quick set or any epoxy that dries slightly rubbery.

Like the stuff that (sometimes) holds the tiles on the space shuttle?

Thanks for the hint about "dropping the valve", that's exactly what I was looking for to determine tdc. I've done this with a screwdriver down the spark plug hole before, but didn't think I could do it through an injector port.

The shaft looks as though a balancer has spun on it before, there is noticeable galling on the surface, I'm sure that is why it was epoxied. I found that McMaster offers a loctite product especially for this case. I will also use heat on installation.
McMaster-Carr

As far as the spacer ring goes, I'll see if the dealer has one on my way home tonight, but mine looks perfect, so scoring or marks of any sort. Whunter seems to think it should be fine. "It should be noted that if the spacer ring is not damaged, it does need to be replaced."

The spacer ring can be obtained from other sources as well! It isn't a dealer only bit.

I forgot to say you'll probably need to remove the valve stem oil seal when doing the "drop" trick - so whilst you are out shopping perhaps you want to pick up one? (Or even a new set?)

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

I realize that, I rarely get any parts from the dealer. I was just hoping to get it back together this weekend, that's all. Yes, I should probably do a full set of valve stem seals while I'm at it...

FYI

Have you replaced an OM615, 616 or 617 Front main seal

balancing disc installation

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