Crankshaft Pulley Removal

Maintenance/Repairs
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1 
 I own a 200 Hyundai Sonata, GLS. The engine is a V6 2.5. I have a coolant leak that I suspect is coming from the water pump or that general area. I start the engine and can see the coolant leaking from underneath, from above the oil filter area. The leak is like a steady stream, not like a drop by drop drip. I then turn off the engine and the leak eventually stops. I then remove the radiator cap and the leak immediately begins to flow. When I replace the cap it stops. The water pump on this car is mounted to the engine behind the timing belt and belt cover. So far I have removed the serpentine belt, belt tensioner, power steering pulley and idler pulley. This allowed me to remove the upper half of the timing belt cover which is part of the proceedure to gain access to the water pump. In order to remove the lower half I have to remove the crankshaft pulley. Before I remove the pulley I will manually rotate the engine to align all the timing marks.
In the past on a previous Hyundai Excel 4 cylinder that I owned I had to remove the crankshaft pulley in order to replace the front oil seal. I believe it just came off and went back on without disturbing anything else. I need to know if when I remove the pulley on this car is there anything different that I need to do or be careful for. The Last time I did it I remember going to the rear of the engine and opening the flywheel inspection plate and placing a screwdriver in there to keep the crankshaft from turning when I applied force on the large nut that holds the pulley in place. Is this the best way to do it? A friend told me he placed a socket and breaker bar on the nut [with the breaker bar touching the floor so it wouldn't move] and cranked the engine quickly with the key not giving it a chance to start and that's how he loosened the nut. Has anybody out there done it this way? I need some suggestions on how to go about this. As far as the leak is concerned I'm hoping that when I have access to the water pump I might be able to see if it's just a bad hose connected to it that has to be replaced, since removal of the water pump requires the removal of the timing belt first.
Please help! Thanks guys.
2

I’ve taken them* off by jambing a screwdriver into the inspection hole, holding the driveplate** in place. Then put a breaker bar on the bolt and tap that with a dead blow rubber hammer.

I’ve always been too chicken to do the ‘bump’ method, using the starter. IF you do, disable starting, maybe by pulling the spark plugs or coil, just in case.

Edit: I noticed this tool the other day at HF. That’ll probably do the trick as well. http://www.harborfreight.com/pulley-spinning-tool-66385.html

  • non-hyundai
    ** assuming automatic.
3

I’ve used a breaker bar and the starter to loosen the bolt on my Honda Odyssey crankshaft pulley. It worked great. I needed a special holding tool when I put the bolt back on.

You have to make sure the engine turns the correct way when it’s running or when you try to start it, otherwise this method will either tighten it more or break something.

You may want to see if there’s a web site dedicated to these Hyundais. If so, there’ll be lots of good advice there.

What year Sonata is this?

While you’re in there, you’re going to want to change the timing belt. Get a good shop manual.