Ford Fiesta 1250 Crankshaft Vibration Damper Bolt

I have welded on many vehicles countless times and as long as you don't actually burn through a wire and send the welder power right through the electrical system your fine.

I suspect it's a left hand thread and not even cam-locks will help if not turning the right way...

I had my suspicions that the bolt may have a left hand thread but having purchased a new bolt from Ford and there confirmation the bolt has always been right handed.

Another interesting point about the wretched bolt is the fact that there are two bolt lengths available. (Both are right handed and the thread size is the same.) Untill the bolt is removed the bolt length can then be chosen! It is mandatory to change the bolt if it is ever removed due to the torquing up operation when fitting.

Behind the damper inside the cam belt cover is the crankshaft pulley for the cam belt. This pulley is not keyed to the crank. A timing pin is employed to obtain top dead centre. The pin is screwed through the block to engage on a machined face on crankshaft lobe. The damper is then fitted onto the taper on the crank (no keyway again) and the new bolt is torqued to 30 ft lb. After setting camshaft timing the bolt is ten tightened by a furter 90 degrees. The damper basically traps the cam belt pulley on the crankshaft. All very neat but sometimes removal of the bolt can be very troublesome as I am experiencing.

You may realize drilling the bolt out is the best and easiest route to success. You can use a chipping hammer to shear the bolt head off, counter sink a hole, use puller to remove pulley and proceed from there to remove the bolt, you could then use the blue wrench assist

I have always used Snap-on rounded nut sockets to grip badly damaged bolts and nuts. A good impact gun is desirable too! As for welding I would be careful to make sure my ground was attached to the nut I was going to attach to the bolt and that will prevent any damage from happening due to the massive current flowing through things.

Thanks for all your advice. When Ford first started using this engine in the nineties the cam belt renewal interval was specified as 100,000 miles or ten years. I believe the engine was designed and developed for Ford by Yamaha. According to the Haynes manual Ford then modified the camshaft pulleys and made them out of plastic rather than the original metal ones. The actual cam belt is the same part number for all engines. Ford now specify cam belt renewal at 50,000 miles.

On the troublesome engine the camshaft pulleys are made of metal and from memory the engine is exactly the same as our old 1997 Fiesta. This gives me a bit of time to mull things over as the car has done 45,000 miles and I anticipate the cam belt will be ok for at least 80,000 miles. The engine has a good history for cam belt durability. Original engine Ford named Zetec.

I have contacted Grip Tite and they inform me that currently their sockets are available in 3/8" drive andobtaining them in the UK is unlikely at the moment. Grip Tite plan to introduce 1/2" drive sockets in the new year and these will offer a larger size and higher torque specs.

I have put the car back together again and for the moment is running fine.

Hopefully in the new year I may be able to report how this frustrating problem has been solved.

I have used a pipe wrench with good success on similar crank pulley bolts. Instead of killing yourself to unscrew the bolt, try bumping the starter with an extension on the pipe wrench to wedge the wrench still. Good luck & good night, the theater is about to start...

I have worked in the motor industry for 33 years. Under no circumstances should any welding be carried out without disconnecting the battery, alternator and the ECU's. Peaks do fry ECU's - I know, we have experienced this . One alternative it to "borrow" from a friendly dealer a spike protector device which bridges over the battery and protects the electronics from harm.

Good advice.

Another possibility which can be done quickly, while sacrificing a socket: grind (2) 1/8 wide slits through the sides of an impact socket, then weld the socket to the bolt head remains, thought these slits. With steady hands the ground clamp can go on the socket itself. Any extension used absorbs the impact, so the impact wrench should be applied directly to the socket.

Of course ordinarily, you can't get an impact wrench on the bolt with the engine in the car, so making your own slugging wrench can help by welding a piece of bar stock to the socket above. The bar can be welded directly to the bolt head too. Planning is, of course, in order -- you need full 360 rotation room.

If all this fails, then cut the whole mess off: cutting torch, angle grinder, etc, using wet rags to keep the pulley cool. The pulley itself will probably be hard to remove too after the bolt is removed.

There are Sockets called Metrinch In the UK which are universal and grip the flats of a bolt and not the corners these are good at getting rounded bolts out. the other alternative I've used before is to Grind / Drill the head off then you can remove the damper and then the rest of the stud can be removed easy as there is no pressure on it

I would try a damaged nut socket like Grey Pneumatic 2300K this is a 1/2 drive set with

left hand threads. Its designed for Impact wrenches.

Don't take this the wrong way, but you ARE using a 6 point and not a twelve point socket aren't you? By the way, all those answers about destroying bearings with welding current are correct. I know it sounds wrong, but I've successfully removed a lot of frozen bolts by applying heat from a torch directly to the bolt head and then wrenching on it. Even the rubber near it should not be a problem if you're brief on the heating time. This is technique is almost always successful if the bolt has a long nonthreaded shoulder on it. If the head is too badly damaged to perhaps whittle down with a tool like a die grinder, I wouldn't think twice about drilling it out as long as you can get to it with a drill. Good luck.

Thanks again for everyones sugestions and advice. Initially a forged sixpoint impact socket was used. Air gun never moved it. Then resorted to extension bar to bring leverage out of wheelarch (transverse engine) and used a 5 foot bar to exert torque.

Three people involved in this and I would estimate at least 400 ft lb of torque has been applied. Not surprising points of bolt head are rounded. Have tried Metrinch crv sockets that are normally very good ( I have a complete set).

We then purchased a set of Irwin Bolt Grip sockets and tried them. Under normal circumstances I think they would work but the torque required to get this bolt turning is ridiculous. Bolt head is now well out of shape.

Fortunately existing cam belt appears to have a lot of service life in it so have abandoned trying to remove the bolt and have put car back together and am using it again.