I'd like to give my opinion on the whole turning the crank via the power steering pulley thing.

Please note - I'm not jumping up and down saying it should never never ever be done! We're all free men here (I hope) we can all do what we want. But I do think it is bad practice for the following reasons

1) The power steering pump and pulley is designed to be driven rather than designed to be the "driver" - turning the crank this way applies unnecessary force to the system.

2) Over tightening utility belts can / might / could damage bearings even if it is done for a short time.

3) OM617s have a pretty well known achilles heel - that crank pulley system and crankshaft balancer is known to fall off. I think that that is a good place to visit during routine maintenance. Hopefully with frequent visits to that area a mechanic would notice that something was loose / wrong in time to avoid a costly repair. If you don't go there you don't know!

So I say use a 27mm socket on the crank in preference to any other method.

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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!