Don't think my car would go there!!!

 

Agree with QCKTVR. Why were they removing the harmonic balancer on the crank if the head gasket is bad? That seems like replacing tires when you wash your car! Head gasket replacement is generally fairly straight forward. Many times it can be accomplished with the engine intact, though I'm not sure with this particular model. As long as dirt is not introduced into the mating surfaces and head bolts are replaced and torqed in the correct order, it should have been a no brainer.

It really does sound like they may have twisted right when they may have needed to go left though. Though at this point I don't know how one would determine fault.

That bolt, like all critical bolts on the engine, is not just torqued but stretched to a specific elastic range which makes them somewhat hard to break loose. So yes, an impact tool is best to remove them vs a breaker bar.

My vote is the shop is at fault on more than one level here.

 

YOU HAVE TO REMOVE THE FRONT TIMING COVER TO REMOVE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY CHAINS AND THEN HEADS. THEREFOR THE BALANCER DOES HAVE TO COME OFF. ALTHOUGH IM SURE SOMEONE WILL SAY THAT YOU KNOW IF YOU USE TIE STRAPS, SCOTCH TAPE YOU CAN REMOVE THE HEADS WITHOUT PULLING THE TIMING COVER...... oops cap lock

 

Duct Tape Brutal....duck tape and bailing wire. Geez, thought you were a tech. Joking of course. Gorilla glue is the new bailing wire. Times change...

 

Yup, makes sense. Plus kind of hard to do that with engine in its bay.
Caps lock makes my eyes hurt. lol

 

Just to be sure....we are not talking about the bolt that is attached to the water pump pulley are we? I'm going to assume we are not.. Thanks all.

 

Did you use a standard torch to heat the bolt? How long and to what temp should it be heated? Is the pulley/balancer safe from the heating? Sooo many questions? Thanks.