Damn M20 question... yes, i know those motors suck

[dvmotorsports]

I'll make this as short and concise as possible.

A buddy snapped a timing belt the other day and obviously bent some valves as well as a busted rocker arm. So I got into the motor today to replace the head, t.belt and water pump.

Anyhow, I am having one hell of a time pulling the front crank bolt for the vibration dampener. I have done this before on a manual tranny by locking the FW. I can't find a lock point on the auto trans. I assume this is because i'll shred the flex disc if i stuck a dowl through it. I have tried putting the car in park, reverse and drive. The torque converter isn't locking so the motor is free spinning during removal. I've tried pry bar and several other items to stop the vibration dampener/harmanic balancer from spinning with no luck.

Has anyone done this on an auto?

[1991 E30 M42]

I don't remember if I removed it or not on the last m20 I put a timing belt on but an impact wrench may be your best bet and leaving the spark plugs in the head helps.

[nicknikolovski]

I had the same problem on an old Toyota bucket of crap. It was auto and the crank bolt was very tight. I unbolted the starter motor which exposed the flywheel ring gear. I then had an assistant place a suitable sized pry bar or crow bar in the direction of rotation to counter the loosening. Then got my socket, big breaker bar, and another long metal pipe I found lying around the garage. Placed it on the breaker bar and pushed as hard as I could in the loosening direction. And finally dunk, dunk. The bolt broke free of its tension. A few more times with the big pipe and then you should be able to loosen it just with a ratchet and socket. Keep the pry bar on the ring gear.

Also be careful with this method as you can both damage the ring gear if the pry bar is not placed correctly and you can also injure yourself.

[DesktopDave]

Can't you put a breaker bar on the crank bolt & pip the starter?  Or does it spin the wrong way?

[dvmotorsports]

I don;t know which way that motor spins. This is the first M20 i've worked on.

What I was told though, there are 6 bolts around the crank bolt (just like the M42). You just can see them since the motor is so far forward. Supposedly those bolts get removed and then the pulley slides off allowing access to install the t.belt.

I had a senior moment and can't believe I didn't think about those bolts.

[Romrog318is]

I don;t know which way that motor spins. This is the first M20 i've worked on.

What I was told though, there are 6 bolts around the crank bolt (just like the M42). You just can see them since the motor is so far forward. Supposedly those bolts get removed and then the pulley slides off allowing access to install the t.belt.

I had a senior moment and can't believe I didn't think about those bolts.

lol yea those are the only bolts you have to take off!

also chek the pistons and the block
if he was travveling at a high speed all kinds of shit could be wrong!
i just took the passenger head off of an audi A4 V6 and it put to valves through the piston and cracked the block!

[RED IS 91]

There is a tool for this purpose .It bolts on the front and rest on the frame or ground while you turn the bolt.
You can also do the "bump the starter trick" while the breaker bar is on the  bolt.
Check on bimmerforums.com and do a search as it's been covered alot.

here's the tool but some guys made their own on the other forum.
http://www.pelicanparts.com/cgi-bin/smart/more_info.cgi?pn=TOL-3034-3&catalog_description=Crank%20Pulley%20Securing%20Tool%2C%20For%20BMW%20M30%20Engines%2C%20Each