Crankshaft seal

[Jaspernicus]

Does anyone know how difficult it is to replace the front crankshaft seal on a 2010 kizashi sls?

[old tech]

It is as easy as it gets really. You should get it somewhere near top dead center which will land key way upper side of crank so it can’t fall out while sliding off crank pulley. The belt didn’t get sucked into it did it ? You may want to replace belt and tensioner .


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[Jaspernicus]

Man do I wish I saw this sooner! Here's my problem and if I'm understanding properly, it could be a BIG problem. I was dumb and put belt conditioner on my serpentine belt and didn't do a very good job. So I started the car and the belt squealed and flew off. My boyfriend bought me a new belt and put it on for me. It felt normal again thank goodness! 3 days later and about 130 miles, the serpentine belt was shredded. We put the old belt back on and took it home till we could get it checked out by a real mechanic. My boyfriend did pretty good, but he is not a mechanic, and now i had a HUGE puddle of oil on my boyfriend's driveway and my parking space in the garage. So i had a friend check it out and was told the the crankshaft seal needed to be changed. A family member referred me to a certified master mechanic and he told me he would do the seal for $245 parts and labor. I authorized the repair and he asked me to confirm I wanted him to order the parts. Then tells me that he can overnight the part for an extra $30. I live on social security and explained that because I live on a fixed income, I would have to wait for it to arrive with free shipping. I had priced the seal myself and could buy it online for around $20, but he would not install customer purchased parts, so I had him order it and paid $40 for it. Labor he charged $100/hour and he said he charged book hours and said it came out to 2 hours labor. I dropped the car off with him on a Saturday afternoon and picked it up a few hours later, paid him and left. When I dropped it off, he sent me a video inspection of my vehicle. 1st thing he recommended was a headlight restore, then said my tires were getting low and needed to be replaced for my safety. My passenger sway bar end link is snapped in half and he said my struts are beginning to fail. The last thing he mentioned was that the crankshaft seal would not completely fix my oil leak. He said that I needed to replace my valve cover gasket as well and sent me a written estimate on just the valve cover gasket, struts and sway bar and the crankshaft seal for $1476. I again explained that I could not do all of that at this time due to budget restrictions, but if we fixed the most pressing issue now I would like the other issues broke down by job and we could work on those at a future date. He sent me a picture of the new seal installed and said he was just about done, but as he was checking my tires, he noticed I had a cracked valve stem and for $20 he could breakdown the tire and replace it for me. I explained that when I bought my tires at the beginning of May, I bought the road Hazzard coverage and they would replace it for free. He said my tire was completely flat and he would take care of it for me. Now after he wanted $30 for shipping, i was concerned he might be trying to pad the bill, but my mom said let it go. Then all the other extras he tried to push through, and my guard was up, but he was the master mechanic, and I was the idiot that started all this drama with too much belt conditioner! Right at 150 miles after I left his shop, I was on a very busy road and the dang serpentine belt broke AGAIN. But this was different from the last time and I had a really hard time getting over one lane and into a parking lot. I had no steering and no acceleration. Once parked safely I texted my mechanic and explained that my serpentine belt broke and asked if he had any idea what could have caused it. He said he "forgot to mention that it was so oil drenched that it needed to be replaced." That's would have been nice to know before I left his shop thinking that I paid a professional and that my car would now function adequately until I could move on to the next issue. I asked him what he would charge me to come replace that belt and find out what's causing it to shred my belts and was told $160 plus depending on which component was bad, an additional $200-$600 to fix that as well. I asked him if I was safe to assume the the better quality seal he purchased would not be covered under the warranty and was told that it would not because it was not a manufacturer defect or an installation error but a mechanical failure of another part that damaged it. At that point I lost it. I had just left a local car parts store where I took in about 1/4 of a shredded belt that had no identifying marks on it and gave them my boyfriends phone number and they gave me a brand new belt no questions asked and I told him that. I also requested he give me the information for the vendor he purchased the part from and since I paid for the part, I would deal with them directly or he could give Me my money back. He sent it within 10 minutes via venmo. Shocked me at how easily he gave me a refund, but I was happy. Till now. I had another mobile Mechanic go work on it and he put in the brand new seal, checked all of the components to try to identify the one causing me to get stranded. He did not find an issue with any of them, so he reassembled it and attempted to start the engine..unfortunately, I believe he said it cranks, but will not turn over and there is no compression. Could he have missed something? Or is it all bad and I need a new engine?

[Jaspernicus]

And I know that was a REALLY DETAILED story and a BUNCH of drama, but I am really frustrated. I love my Kizashi. I have had it for just over 2 years and it has always been an amazing car. I really couldn't believe how lucky I was to find it. And for it to go from running ok to being ruined just breaks my heart. I also believe that with as thorough as the 1st real mechanic was with his inspection video, that forgetting to mention the condition of the serpentine belt was gross negligence. I am also about 95% sure that while he checked my valve stems, he did not check my oil in spite of the fact that he replaced that seal. He tried to make more money every chance he found yet he did not mention to me that my oil dipstick is stuck in the tube where you check it cuz the piece that holds it in the tube broke off. I think that both of those things are things that any other mechanic doing the same job would not miss.

[old tech]

Your original problem with the belt coming off is the belt tensioner is completely worn out needs to be changed with a good quality one. The no compression problem is now you have bent valves because the timing jumped due to the belt getting sucked into the engine through the crank seal a second time. The cylinder head can be removed in the vehicle but it is involved job and may be cheaper to replace engine.


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[Jaspernicus]

Am I mistaken to believe that this was 100% preventable?

[KuroNekko]

Am I mistaken to believe that this was 100% preventable?

Old Tech is a pro mechanic so he will have the best answers, but as he stated, the root of your issue was likely the belt tensioner; which appears that no one replaced. The Kizashi is known to have a belt tensioner that should be replaced every 100K miles or so. Early models were actually recalled for a defective tensioner.

I have about 127,000 miles on my 2011 Kizashi Sport and in the recent months, I hear unusual noises that appear to sound like a worn belt pulley bearing. I inspected my belt and though it's not damaged, it's starting to show uneven wear on the smooth side towards the engine. Given this observation and the noise, I ordered a new OE belt tensioner and idler pulleys from megazip.net.

Unfortunately for you, it appears your belt issue resulted in valve damage. As Old Tech stated, it spells engine replacement. Sorry.