Balance Shaft Belt Useless?

[moonstation2000]

I changed my timing belt last weekend, and to my surprise the old bs belt was torn in two and mangled all to hell. I guess i got really lucky it didn't kill my timing belt.
The funny thing is that i felt no engine vibration from having only 1 balance shaft spinning (no more than usual anyway). I don't have time to do the balance shaft removal yet, but was wondering if anyone has ever run there car with the shafts in but no bs belt?

 

[djpast]

many members including myself just leave the balance shaft belt off and leave the the balance shafts in with no negative effects... engine revs a lil faster and a lil hp gained tho... my timing got jumped when that stupid thing broke...

 

[Enraged78]

many members including myself just leave the balance shaft belt off and leave the the balance shafts in with no negative effects... engine revs a lil faster and a lil hp gained tho... my timing got jumped when that stupid thing broke...

This exact thing just happened to me last week. Balance belt snapped, took out crank angle sensor (already checked for endplay, no crankwalk!) and the sprocket backing plate. Also helped knock the timing out by two teeth on the crank. That was fun. Anway, I had Victor Research reset the timing and put some used parts on (Thanks, Aaron!) and oddly enough, the car runs SMOOTHER without the balance belt. A little more vibration on idle, but everywhere else, it's noticably smoother, and the engine revs a little easier. It feels a little stronger too. I like it much better without the belt.

Matt.

 

[mitsugsx95]

So your saying that its ok to take the belt off without removing the actual balace shafts? I would like to hear more on this.

 

[philipkrotch]

u do what you want..but my bs belt broke, luckily not fking nething else up, so i just replaced the timing belt and left the bs belt out. BAD IDEA. i was under the impression that it was ok. wrong. what happened is all the excess vibrations due to it being unbalanced caused the balance shaft to actually walk out and protrude into the oil pump. it lasted about a week. not to mention it ran like shit and hesitated at 5500 rpm. timing was dead on and base timing was set at 5 degrees so it wasnt that. now i am rebuilding and removing the f-in balance shafts for good. do yourself a favor, get a new tensioner and belt and leav em in. the reason mine broke was brcause i used a screwdriver to pry up on the tensioner to tighten the belt, and it left a small gouge in the pulley which caused the belt to wear and snap after a few thousand miles, or just eliminate them. i suggest pulling the motor tho because i did a set with the motor still in..and DAMN. it was the biggest bi*** in the universe. u could just remove the back one and leave the front one in because it wont spin without a belt. but do what u want, maybe my cars just ### but i cant see having balance shafts in w/ no belt do anything but harm.

 

[moonstation2000]

i ended up putting the new bs belt on. i didn't want to risk any problems. my car will now pull itself along in gear with no throttle input, which is something it would never do before. It would always start to buck and kick. I wonder if that bs belt has been broken since i've owned the car and caused that problem - anyone else notice this with their cars?

 

[djpast]

there sounds like there was something wrong with your engine besides the bs belt being removed... the vibrations you can "feel" when removing the belt are neglible... no one in my car has ever mentioned them to me... sounds like a bad bearing or seal to begin with if your balance shaft "walked" into the oil pump. none of the dsms i have come across have had any hesitation or negative effects from doing it...

 

[djpast]

i ended up putting the new bs belt on. i didn't want to risk any problems. my car will now pull itself along in gear with no throttle input, which is something it would never do before. It would always start to buck and kick. I wonder if that bs belt has been broken since i've owned the car and caused that problem - anyone else notice this with their cars?

that sounds like a throwout bearing problem... or your clutch is not properly adjusted...

 

[philipkrotch]

there sounds like there was something wrong with your engine besides the bs belt being removed... the vibrations you can "feel" when removing the belt are neglible... no one in my car has ever mentioned them to me... sounds like a bad bearing or seal to begin with if your balance shaft "walked" into the oil pump. none of the dsms i have come across have had any hesitation or negative effects from doing it...

i never heard of anyone having problems either. the vibration wasnt all that bad, but it noticably ran like shit and made some funny noises. it was fine before the balance shaft belt broke. o well, at least i have a reason to eliminate the bitches.

 

[djpast]

i am willing to bet you jumped your timing, maybe by 1 tooth somewhere... the extra vibration would do nothing to the running condition of the motor....

 

[dthquazi1]

mine practically disintergrate and it was noticeable at idle. I had a new rattle somewhere in the dash and couldn't figure out why. but other than that iwas was fine. This was before i was at all car smart.

 

[philipkrotch]

i am willing to bet you jumped your timing, maybe by 1 tooth somewhere... the extra vibration would do nothing to the running condition of the motor....

nope, checked everything and it was dead on.

 

[djpast]

done a compression test lately

 

[G9S1X]

so taking off the balance shaft belt will be fine? i plan on buying the bs eliminater kit down the road anyways. but if i can gain power now by taking the belt off should i do it?

also i read a thread here once that someone took out the shafts and his engine seized because he did not balance his crank. but vfaq says you dont have to, so im not sure what to do.

 

[TwoLiterV8Eater]

I had my balance shaft belt disconnected for awhile. It didnt seem any worse than before when it was attached. I say go for it. I have never heard of anyones engine seizing from removing balance shafts or anything else of that nature. I suppose anything is possible but the odds are in your favor that it will be fine. A friend of mine had his BS belt removed for months and his car routinely trapped 123+mph in the 1/4.

I have my motor out now, so the BS are coming out the right way, but removing the belt is a much easier solution if you can't get them out.

 

[CYCLONE]

u do what you want..but my bs belt broke, luckily not fking nething else up, so i just replaced the timing belt and left the bs belt out. BAD IDEA. i was under the impression that it was ok. wrong. what happened is all the excess vibrations due to it being unbalanced caused the balance shaft to actually walk out and protrude into the oil pump. it lasted about a week. not to mention it ran like shit and hesitated at 5500 rpm. timing was dead on and base timing was set at 5 degrees so it wasnt that. now i am rebuilding and removing the f-in balance shafts for good. do yourself a favor, get a new tensioner and belt and leav em in. the reason mine broke was brcause i used a screwdriver to pry up on the tensioner to tighten the belt, and it left a small gouge in the pulley which caused the belt to wear and snap after a few thousand miles, or just eliminate them. i suggest pulling the motor tho because i did a set with the motor still in..and DAMN. it was the biggest bi*** in the universe. u could just remove the back one and leave the front one in because it wont spin without a belt. but do what u want, maybe my cars just ### but i cant see having balance shafts in w/ no belt do anything but harm.

What do you mean about protrude into the oil pump? My rear balance shaft spun
a bearing and locked up my oil pump a while back, but I don't see how it would
protrude into the pump. The reason that you had excessive vibrations was because
you probably didn't time the rear shaft properly.

I eliminated my rear shaft and left the belt off the front one and the only time I feel any vibrations is at idle, and that's because of the prothane mounts.