I now sit at a customer's house with my 95 SR and a broken crank bolt. That's about all I can tell at this point. The bolt part that came out has about an inch of threads on it, so it looks like the other end is inside the crank snout...but I can't tell with the pulley still on the engine. My tow is on the way but they may be a while.

I had the bolt style with the long extension on the front, likely a revised part, but not the up to date one. I'll post a picture of it later as I'm on my phone at present.

Dylan, it sounds like we'll be talking in the near future. And Jinstv, I may end up doing a timing belt if I tear down the front at all. We may be speaking more in the near future.

I got lucky on a lot of counts. It's not 110 degrees. I'm in town. And my customer let me use his tools at his house, where I was able to drive. Just don't want to chance the 25 mile drive back home.

Thanks for reading this and for any suggestions you might have in the interim. Hope it never happens to you! Replace those bolts!

John B.

Damn John. That sucks. I've got all the tools for a relatively painless T-belt change, so let me know when you want to get to it. I'm always in to lend a hand, even if you don't end up tearing the front all the way down. Hopefully you can get the broken piece out, and not have to go the heli-coil route like Dylan did.

From the description, you have the update #2 bolt, instead of #3. Below pic is #2.



Trying to find you a part number for the latest and greatest bolt. IIRC, ASA lists the updated bolt.

Edit: ASA lists the part number as 1100A141, no MD in front of it. $6.43 at mitsubishiparts.net. I think I got mine from the dealer. Correct bolt shown on the left in the stolen photo below.

Yep, I had the 2nd revision, your first picture.

I got it home via flatbed, but since I don't have a garage, I won't be able to do anything else tonight. Except drink beer and plot my next move.

Look at the first picture. My bolt broke off about with almost half of the thread on the part that came out. Screwed? Yeah, pretty much. Sorry to say, but I'm glad Dylan has already done this...

John B.

Screwed? Maybe, maybe not. Might be an easy extraction if you play your cards right and a little luck. Been here. If you decide to extract yourself invest or borrow a good right angle drill. Start tearing down the front so you can get a clear shot at the crank snout. Good luck and we're here to help.

I think I remember you mentioning a right angle drill in the past, Justice. I'm certainly not against buying one.

I've never used an ez-out. Any tips would be appreciated, tools recommended, anything.

I have had a nasty oil leak at the crank since I have had it, Just got worse over time. That makes me think more about doing a timing belt service and replacing everything up front right now.

What do I need to know about replacing the front crank seal? Monte3 had it replaced twice and it still leaks. More likely to be a scratched crank or improper seating, or is it both...?

Dylan has the line on the Thread-Sert things he's run for 40+K now after having his threads all wallowed out from a loose bolt (also a '95 SR). That gives me some reassurance in case of, well, worst case, where my threads are toast, too.

So, we'll see. Luckily I don't DD the truck. But it would be nice to have ready.

John B.

Not saying this is the best or only way...But this is how I did it. Drilled a very small hole in the center of remaining bolt. Then drilled four other small holes around the first one as close to edge as possible (like the pattern on the 5 side of a dice) then drilled the center hole out again progressively larger. Once you got most of bolt material drilled out, use EZ-out to get out what should essentially be the outer shell of the bolt.

Dangnabit JB, sorry to hear that. My advice; get a right angle drill, and a LEFT hand drill bit. Often, drilling in reverse w/ said bit can remove the bolt w/o an e-z out.
I could lend a hand in a couple Friday's. Maybe next Friday, the 30th?

For the observers a quick question.
Is the crank bolt thread a right hand or left hand thread?

BF-er, the bolt is a conventional thread.

Monte3, sh!t happens. With the luck of the Irish, I hope to be past all this by the end of this weekend. We'll see. I'm already on the hunt for a right angle drill. As if I'll "ever" have another use for one, I'd like to buy one anyway.

It's kind of funny what happened. First, I noticed that I had no a/c. Thought I'd thrown/broke a belt. Then I noticed that the whine I've had since a couple of years ago from a bad belt idler pulley was gone and thought "hey, now I know which idler it was." Then I noticed my volt gauge was below ...WTF...? Then I went around a corner...ugggh, no power steering. NOW it was starting to baffle me. When I got to my customer's store and raised the hood, I could see all the belts were in place; uh-oh. The main pulley was just sort of sitting there, all loose and stuff.

It just took removing the fan shroud and reaching down to try to thread the bolt back in (a man can have hope at this point), then just pulling it back out to see it was snapped.

Who knows at this point how buggered up the snout is. I have a new bolt, washer and crank key lined up through Pa_Jero, so thanks. Hopefully the snout is a lot tougher than the Woodruff key.

John B.

Woodruff key is probably good since it does not drive the pulley only the timing belt sprocket fits over the key(unlike 12V 3.0). You'll need a new sprocket because the weak roll pin that locates the pully will be sheared off. The only thing that keeps the pully from spining on the end of the crank is the pressure from the bolt and washer. Recommend a new pulley too so you have fresh mating surfaces.When it spins like that it mars the surface.