CVCC crankshaft

[s2man]

My son bought a nice '77 Accord recently, with a 1600cc CVCC. The seller told him it needed a crankshaft seal. He's got it torn down and I was helping him pull the seal today. The end of the crankshaft is wobbly, and the pully has been rubbing against the plastic timing belt cover

I suspect a broken crankshaft. But not being familiar with them, I wanted to run this past you Honda guys. I"m hoping you'll say something like "It's two pieces. Just drop the oil pan and replace a coupling". I won't hold my breath, though. Quite depressing.

[hondaworkshop]

It could be bent on the snout, meaning it needs to be replaced.

[Whoops]

Not a good sign. If the car was running, which I presume, the crankshaft isn't broken. If it has that much wobble to it, the crankshaft is probably scored and the bearings are on the far side of worn out. In either case, effectively, to pull the crankshaft, the transmission has to come out and if you do that, it is easier to just pull the whole engine.

You can pull the oil pan, pull the front main cap and check it, but if the crankshaft has any play in it, that you can feel, the engine is really probably shot.

[metroschultz]

Don't be negative.
It just needs some TLC
Perhaps just the gear itself has become worn and needs to be replaced.
The CVCC were had some awesome technology,(for their time)
IIRC they turned off the alternator to get better FE
Vacuum Nightmare under the hood though.
I have seen several Hondas that had a loose pulley on the end of the crank.
Sometimes you can just replace the pulley.
Sometimes you gotta replace the crank.
Sometimes you can weld a new key-way into the crank and replace the pulley, if you are handy with a Dremel Tool. And not afraid of falling fire. And don't scratch the seal surface. and remember to use a new seal.
All I am saying is,
Don't condemn the car until you find out what the problem is.
Then decide how best to fix said problem.
S.

[s2man]

Thanks guys. We'll drop the oil pan, and I'll let you know what we find.

He paid $800, and the body and interior are in great shape. The odo says 80k. But supposedly, a lot of those miles were being towed behind an RV. I told him when he got it, "even it you need to rebuild the engine, it will still be worth iit". Looks like I may have been prescient.

[rbhollabaugh]

I've repaired and rebuilt many of those Honda engines in the past. I'd do a compression and leak down test first to see if you have any leaky valves, rings or other problems. If all is OK then I'd investigate the loose pulley. As another writer mentioned it may be just the pulley. And worst case you may be able to find a good usable crank.
Each journal on the crank has a color code. The bearings are color coded and they should match. So when you get replacement crank and rod bearings get the proper color coded ones. If you get a replacement crank then the mid-range replacement bearings will probably do fine.
A leaking seal can also be signs of bad crank thrust washers. Push and pull on the crank to see what kind of play it has. If it moves enough that you can see it move then pull the pan and check the washers. Is the car a manual trans? If yes then the thrust washers wear out when someone rides the clutch and put pressure on the crank and thrust washers all the time.
I bought an old piece of farm machinery a few years ago and it turned out to have the same problem. A loose pulley on the crankshaft. It turned out to be a worn crankshaft and pulley. They had worn out together. The shaft was splined. I bought some shim stock and then carefully cut out pieces to "shim up" the crank and the pulley. The pieces were glued in with crazy glue. The pulley was test fit probably a couple hundred times until the fit was quite good and ran true. It was re-assembled and has has been running fine for several years now.

[s2man]

Good info, rb. Thanks. All my books are on building Small Block Chevy's