Crank pulley - is it knackered? (to all who have done their timing)

[Skred]

Hi all,

I've been rebuilding my N plate 1995 Mk3 GTI 16v lately. I bought it as a non-runner and I discovered the valves were bent etc so I replaced the head and started fitting the timing belt. I was following the guides on here but one of them said never remove the crank bolt and pulley but I had to as the alternator pulley and the timing pulley are fixed as one (seems to differ from the guide). However that said when bolting the crank pulley on the car the woodruff key wasn't present at all, yet I think it used to be, and so its impossible to set the crank where its supposed to be.

I am right in thinking that all crank pulleys have woodruff keys which are essential to the operation of the crankshaft turning the cam and that having a pulley without one makes it useless aren't I?

Thanks all

[Wayne]

Yes it should have a woodruff key.

[rubjonny]

you never need to remove that bolt to get the crank pullies off, they are NOT held on by it. your pullies were just corroded on, should have used a puller to remove them. the crank sprocket has a key cast into it a notch on the crank. if the valves got bent its possible the keyway sheared and that was why it all went wrong, and in your case it was actually good that you removed the bolt to find this out
If keyway is damaged you need a new crank sprocket, which means you still need to split the pullies off the old one

check the keyway on the crank as well, if its damaged then you might have more problems down the line even with a new sprocket. ive seen them repaired with holes drilled in the crank and sprocket then secured with strengthened pins

[Skred]

hmm, interesting. I got a new pulley coming from down south this weekend so I'll see how it sits in the keyway. The funniest thing was that when I removed the crank pulley the woodruff didnt fall out so I got a sneaky suspicion that this happened twice to the previous owner. First time when it broke, and the second time when it wasn't repaired .  
But its good to know that they can be secured.

Back to the earlier point. Are you sure that there is not different kinds of pulleys on different golfs? The guide showed a pulley which split from the alternator and the power steering pulley (i.e. 3 pulleys). However mine only split where the power steering pulley meets the alternator pulley using 4 allen bolts. After removing the crank pulley I examined it and I am 99% sure the alternator one doesn't split off. Even the boy at the breakers is sending me a dual unit as one.

Im not particularly bothered which way but I am intrigued if I hoodwinked myself.

Anyway, good man with the info!   

[rubjonny]

I am 100% sure the pulley will split from the sprocket. it may look like it wont, but trust me it will! they like to corrode together so some taps with a hammer or a puller is required.

the woodruff key isnt seperate on the crank sprocket, its cast into it

[Skred]

Rightio.

Well now its gooshed i'll have another lash at cracking it open. Start up the digger!

Yeah I presumed the key was cast into the inside of the sprocket but surely I would have expected it to fall out when I removed it the pulley. Where else could it go? Thats why I thought it had been off before.

Seems the woodruff failing is a common enough fault too. Wonder why...

[rubjonny]

oh i see what you mean! yeah id expect chunks of metal to fall out if it sheared off...