From: John De Armond
Subject: Re: Crankshaft pulley bolt Help!
Date: Tue, 14 Sep 1999 03:59:50 EDT
Newsgroups: rec.autos.tech

Pat Fruth wrote:
> 
> This one's too easy.  A technique I've successfully used a couple of
> times.....  hydraulics.....
> First remove one of the spark plugs, then turn the crank until that cylinder
> is a the bottom of it's stroke about to come up on the compression stroke
> (i.e. all valves closed), then fill the cylinder with water and replace the
> spark plug.  Now you can torque on that nut all you want.  Chances are
> pretty good you'll snap the breaker bar, or twist the head off the bolt,
> before that crank turns.  Once your done, just remove the spark plug again
> and then turn the crank until all the water is force out of the cylinder.
> 

yeah, and with the kind of torque involved on some of these engines
with the bolt thread-locked in, you can also push a nice round hole
through the top of the piston and/or collapse the ring lands. 
Especially serious if the piston isn't frozen at 90 deg BTDC (or it
leaks down) because the leverage increases as the piston approaches
TDC.  Have seen the aftermath of this so it's not hypothetical.

John