Harmonic Balancer gone bad...happen to anyone else? [MERGE]

[StaticXMtrsprts]

The cheapest one I could find was at the dealer. For a 7bolt I would only go OEM for a Harmonic Balancer.

 

[TooFarPast]

My dad tried taking off the harmonic balancer in the beginning of my trials using a 2 prong gripped on the outside and broke the outer edge of the balancer like so:



Now the threads weren't messed up, just now there's a cracked side like shown, is it still useable, kinda short on cash since I just busted a load of cash for all the parts for the timing job among other things (tools etc). I was thinking of filing down the sharp edges?

Getting a used one the best bet? New ones are no where worth it..


Eagle Power.


Edit: Sorry Wret - Sorry board.

 

[gsxboost20g]

I would recommend stock. OEM baby! Mine was pretty cracked with like 58k on my 89 gsx. Not something you wanna let go bad, or go Chinese.

 

[Shane2GSX]

There are some parts you should keep stock, this is one...

 

[travislaw]

There are some parts you should keep stock, this is one...

I have no problem with keeping it stock. I was just checking to see if there was something better than stock out there.

 

[wret]

I have filed down some cracked edges on an NT balancer with no ill effects. Keep a close eye on the belt for the first few days to make sure it's riding okay and not fraying at the edges.

 

[ereckerdeet]

I'll second that. Ran about 10k on one that was cracked, engine blew but when i was taking everything apart those belts were fine. File it down and keep an eye on it.

~Eric

 

[TooFarPast]

Sounds like the approach I was leaning to, definately will keep an eye, don't feel like replacing the belts after I just bought new ones. (even if they are cheap)

 

[Steve_P]

this is technically called a vibration damper. What makes it a damper is the rubber ring between the hub and the outer ring. If you eliminate this rubber ring and have a one piece steel unit it is no longer a damper but just a steel hub like a flywheel. My stock damper lasted well over 150k miles and I changed it out as preventive maint.

 

[vintagemuscle]

i believe buschur is the only one who sells an aftermarket crank pulley with a harmonic balancer built in.

 

[wret]

Don't add new information in a post edit. Make a new post please.

 

[slowmotiongeniu]

Looks like I have a cracked A/C / Power Steering belt.

Hopefully that's the source of my humming....but do you all think that could be my loud pitched squeaking? Would a cracked belt do that?

 

[slowmotiongeniu]

well, I replaced the bad belt, tensioned it correctly and I have a squeak for sure now.

Must be a pulley or a pulley bearing? Anyone have tips here?

More investigation to come...

 

[lAsErfWd]

im not too familiar with you car but maybe if you check the tensioner and make sure it is staying tight thats what went on my 1g turbo. but ive also seen alot of bad pulley bearing i would definatly check those out

 

[johnwohl]

Hey, my car has developed a loud, long squeel at startup.. The first thing I did was remove the p/s and a/c belts to eliminate that possibility. Still the same sound at startup with only the timing and alternator belts. The alternator belt looks fine and is pretty new and slack is adjusted correctly. The timing belt is new as of early winter but I did not do it myself so I don't know exactly, but I think the slack is good, and the timing marks line up properly. The squeel just sounds like a loud belt squeel but goes away after 10-20 seconds. It does the squeel if its cold or warm, but seems worse in the warm. It only does it once, when I first start the car and then will not do it again until the car sits for a while. Any ideas about what I could look for? What else would it be if not the belt, some bearing somewhere? I'm going to read about the possibilities more, but any help is appreciated.

 

[VelocitàPaola]

The timing belt has teeth, so the belt itself would be unlikely to ever squeel. The crank pulley, however, may have begun to separate, which will give you a very characteristic squeel.

If the pulley has indeed separated, your options are to either buy a solid aftermarket pulley, or replace it with a new OE one.

 

[luv2rallye]

If not crank pulley (as above) remove alt belt to make sure. If not that, check water pump bearing (turn pulley by hand to feel any siezing - If not hold, stethoscope (or long screwdriver) against pump housing and to your ear while someone starts engine and listen for any grinding).

 

[lookin4dsm]

My son's GST did the exact same thing. When we removed the timing belt cover, during the engine rebuild, we found the balance shaft belt was snapped. We got lucky that it did not get tangled up in the timing belt. I would double check your BS belt just to be safe. If it is broken, a part of it could be rubbing against something and causing your squeel.

Mike

 

[Madcow1041]

I have a mysterious squealing noise. After I let go of the accelerator (under load or not), I get a very high pitched, extremely faint squeal. It happens even before I reach a positive pressure, before boost, for less than a second.... Then it goes away. I don't know what in the world it could possibly be

 

[BaddAssGst]

I have a mysterious squealing noise. After I let go of the accelerator (under load or not), I get a very high pitched, extremely faint squeal. It happens even before I reach a positive pressure, before boost, for less than a second.... Then it goes away. I don't know what in the world it could possibly be

Is it almost a whistling sound? I have the same problem and it is the 1g BOV opening/leaking while in vacuum. Turn the car on, stand by the hood and rev the motor (via the Throttle body) and listen by the BOV.

That's what it sounds like.

 

[Madcow1041]

Yes it is almost a whistle. It could be the BOV. Obviously speaking, GReddy Type-S (which is what I have) BOVs are very leaky over all. I'd like to know where exactly it's coming from, though. It's really irritating. I might want to find a permanent fix, aside from a new BOV, that of which I can't afford at the moment >_<

 

[No_Skillz]

It could also be your PCV valve (think bad rings ). I took off my valve cover to do a gasket job and realized when air was blown through the pcv valve (don't ask why I was doing this) it makes the exact soft whistling noise I have when I let off the throttle. I'm skeered but my compression numbers are ok as of now...

 

[SRiz]

If your harmonic balancer is wobbly and makes any noise at all REPLACE IT its 100 dollors at the dear i believe... If you dont the below will happen to your car... I was driving to work 4-5 days ago when I hear my balencer ticking it used to tick before and i neglected to replace it ,but now it was ticking very loudly... I was 1 mile from my work at THUMP my harmonic balancer came off , but thats not all the crank sproket came with it ... THATS RIGHT the vibrations from the bad balancer cause the big bolt to back out and my crank kept spinning while the cams didnt... I bent ALL 16 valves !... so 2 days later I spent about 10 hours and 500 dollors to swap the head and get new( haronic balancer, timing plate, timing sproket, crank bolt and washer, headgasket, new timing belt) ... Thank god i didnt crack a piston or something this was a good leaning experience none the less and my compression is 180 across the board and runs better than ever... compared to (150,160,145,160) LEARN FROM MY MISTAKE!

 

[No_Skillz]

Ouch. Change the belts while you're at the crank pulley too.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

Ouch. Change the belts while you're at the crank pulley too.

I'm sure he did

My harmonic pulley also came apart on me. Luckily it seperated into two and the inner piece was still connected to the crank. This happened right after teh 100k mark. Replacing your harmonic balancer is quick and ensures that things like this don't happen!

I guess look at the bright side, at least you got a new head in there I hope ARP's and a new HG went on as well !