What is a woodruff key?

Presumably this was locating the cambelt drive pulley onto the
crankshaft ?

Which agrees with the above.

Why does the posession of a piece of shyster's toilet-roll make you
think this ?  All such warranties are entirely worthless.

That is their function in life, to prevent claims against their tawdry
little document.  Your role now is to call their weaselly little
bluffs.

It's clearly mechanical. It is a rotating component playing a crucial
role in a major drive path within the engine. It has no scheduled
maintenance, and is rarely removed (or may not even be accessible)
without removing the engine for major rebuild.

They can perfectly well call it upholstery, should they want to, but
that doesn't change its function.

I'm a laser physicist by qualification, and a software geek by trade,
but any competent engineer could argue this for you perfectly
adequately.

They very rarely break.  What usually happens is that the nut clamping
the pulley stack onto the end of the crankshaft comes loose, then the
pulleys can fret back and forth. What happens next is a lottery -
either the cambelt can fail (it doesn't enjoy misalignment), or the
woodruff key can wear sufficiently to let the pulleys slide forward
and off.

Personally I've had it happen to me just once. A Fiat Argenta with
about 50K on it decided to dump its fanbelt pulley, but fortunately
not the timing belt cog behind.  I needed to weld the groove in the
pulley and file it back to shape, but nothing too expensive.

I'd suggest re-posting to uk.rec.engines.stationary, for they'd
certainly appreciate this farce. You might even tempt out a few
certified aircraft engineers from therein, for I think there are a
few.
--
Die Gotterspammerung - Junkmail of the Gods

I work for a co. that makes decisions based on simple criteria - 'Is it
hardware or software?'

I know precisely what a woodruffe key is and needs to be - it sure ain't
software!!

Adam H

Simple steel bits and bobs, like "Woodruff keys" don't "fail".

The securing fastener wasn't torqued properly and that's what caused the
failure.

Simple as that.

Hi Mark,
It sure is, when it is tight fit to a crankshaft [and will be supplied
with the new crankshaft], it is part of the crankshaft.
If it fails the crankshaft cannot turn other pullys so it cannot do
it's job.
Who is to say it is not the slot in the crankshaft that has worn or
has been damaged at the factory when fitting, allowing the woodruff
key to come out, damaging other parts in the process.
And as someone pointed out All these warranties are the same and don't
like paying out, they just like taking money off you. If you read the
small print you will find I'm sure that, if a part NOT covered by the
warranty breaks, then other parts that break which were covered, are
no longer covered. Therefore your warranty is useless.  John.