Manually Turning Engine

[cammmy]

Something I should have investigated before tearing the car apart. Is there a way to manually turn the engine? I need to make sure the valves are closed before I do the walnut blasting. Maybe an inspection hole in the bell housing that lets me get to the ring gear? Or a pulley somewhere?

The injectors will all be out, so working against compression won't be an issue.

Ta

[welwynnick]

I usually put a 1/2" socket and ratchet wrench on the pulley bolt.

Nick

[cammmy]

Ah cool, thanks. I'd seen a comment about it not being accessible. Do you have to move anything out of the way to get access?

[welwynnick]

Hardly anything's accessible on this engine. You may need to cut a deep socket down to length.

[Jim Haseltine]

Ah cool, thanks. I'd seen a comment about it not being accessible. Do you have to move anything out of the way to get access?

Yes. The front bumper and the radiators. I doubt that there's any way to get a tool into the pulley with them in place.
I may be thinking about the wrong car but I'm sure that I read something about a special tool that fits in the pulley so the crank bolt doesn't have to be used.

[cammmy]

Ah crap. So there's no inspection hole in the bell housing that I could use to get to the flex plate?

[welwynnick]

Ah crap. So there's no inspection hole in the bell housing that I could use to get to the flex plate?

You'll find the answer in this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=129515

There's a small grommet covering an access hole near the bottom, but it might not help you very much.

[cammmy]

Cool, thanks. Was hoping for something I could get into and turn from the ring gear. I'll give it a go.

If only it was a manual :-/

[cammmy]

So I have an idea, might not be a great one but I'll give it a go.

The crank pulley has little protrusions on it and there's a big boss underneath it. I can get a pry bar in there and slowly lever it around clockwise. I gave it a test and it doesn't take much to move as there's no compression with the injectors out, so I don't think I will damage anything.