'93 Camry - Help! Why could the pulleys possibly misalign??
 

Hello all,

I'm trying to diagnose a problem with my friend's '93 Camry and thought I'd check here first.

The AC/Alternator and crank pulleys do not seem aligned!!! Crank pulley appears to be closer to the block, while the AC/alternator pulleys are perfectly aligned with each other, but further away from the block than the crank pulley. Obviously, the belt has been slipping off, due to this misalignment. The pulleys are misaligned by approximately 3 ribs.

We're not sure of the maintenance history, or which mechanic may have made a mistake in the past. I'm wondering if there is enough knowledge here on the various year cars, to predict this result when using the wrong year pulleys, or if there issomething suggestingeither the crank pulley moved, or the AC and alternator pulleys moved together in the opposite direction - but how likely is that ?? What could be behind the crank pulley causing it to move closer to the block?

The car runs perfect otherwise, despite the high mileage. I'm leaning towards believing someone used the wrong pulleys when performing maintenance, but thought I'd check with the experts here first. I also don't have a parts catalog for this car...yet, so please feel free to suggest a source

Thank you in advance!!!
Tarek

The crank pulley is two pieces an inner attached to the front of the crankshaft, and the outer attached to the inner with rubber molded between the two. the rubber acts as a damper for vibrations. over years the rubber breaks down and can actually seperate and allow the two halves to misalign from each other. i replaced a crank pulley on a friends 2003 buick century with 165000 miles on it this spring. the outer half was sliding outward causing the belt to squeek. if left much longer it would have caused the belt to come off most likely. hope that helps