2G Is this excessive wobble on the Harmonic Balancer?

[Kryndon]

I haven't seen other harmonic balancers so I can't reference, but I believe mine may be going out. You can see from the video how much it wobbles and in comparison to the other pulleys. Does anyone know if this is somewhat normal or definitely bad?

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[NHerron]

Not sure. The way I have checked in the past is draw a line over the rubber to see if the inner and outer part of the damper is sliding. Think timing marks, if they don't line up after running, then the rubber is slipping

 

[EC17PSE]

it looks bad! mine is not like that at all, check the rubber around it from inside the wheel well area and normally you can see its cracked or splitting or not

 

[Vegas Smith]

Can't see the video (at work) but there shouldn't be any wobbling.

 

[PlanZero]

Definitely bad. If you're not going fluiampr the dorman's good. $45 from rock auto or like $65 at the parts store. You need to replace that asap.

 

[o0GuitarKid0o]

Pull the belt off and see if there is any play,
When they go they eat your timing cover.
If its bad enough it will come apart easily.

Balancer is held on by 4, 10mm bolts and you can use a 1/2 inch ratch to hold the crank steady.

In the video theres alot of movment

 

[pauleyman]

Make sure that isn't the crank. Could be either. Balancer is more likely.

 

[Kryndon]

Thank you all for the replies and ideas. I will try taking the HB off in the next few days and inspect it. Hopefully it doesn't completely separate as it will leave me stranded.

A friend of mine is offering a used one from a 1G (which I believe is lighter than a 2G?) for $46 shipped. Otherwise ordering directly from the States I'm looking at $75 for an 'ATP' balancer and that's excluding any possible import taxes. I've heard bad reviews of the 'Dorman' balancer so I'll stay away from that one. And in terms of OEM it's just out of my pocket right now.

Also in reply to Pauley, the bottom end was rebuilt 4k miles ago so I'm doubtful that it would be the crank. The Balancer itself and all the other pulleys are rusted and look old so it could just be that.

I will update this when I get some more diagnosis done.

 

[PlanZero]

^ as I stated in another thread, I've been running a dorman for two years with no problem, and that's with a vibrator engine. Plus they have a lifetime warranty. I generally wouldn't buy dorman stuff but I was forced to at the parts store and I was actually pleased with the craftsmanship. Alot of their parts look like typical chinese made chintzy crap, and i remember reading a negative review of their control arms awhile back (they claimed the quality control would improve in a response tonthe reviewer) bit theres really not much to a HB. In fact the only things I swapped from my old motor about 15 months ago were the VC and dorman HB. The HB on the "new" motor was oem but looked a little dryrotted to me. My buddy wanted to kill me because the crank bolt came loose and added a few more hours of work in our mid January freezing motor swap. Short story long, no problems with the D man.

 

[1990TSIAWDTALON]

Same thing here ^^^^ Almost 2 yrs and I went out to check mine, as it see's a lot of "use", and it is straight as can be.

 

[mrt0mjones]

Replace.

 

[o0GuitarKid0o]

ive put roughly 60,000 km on my doorman 2-3 years ago it was new , laser was at 236,000 according to my maintance log.
Im @ 299000 km atm
Its not speperated yet as i checked my timing with it on friday after my cas went on me. Lifetime warranty was the selling point to me,
It seems to look dry where the rubber is and is cracking abit if i remember correctly

On a side note the doorman control arms are still bad quality atleast there paint and ball joints are.

Bought them at 250,000 km and (all new front suspension) and the ball joints failed at like 280,000 km just crap.
Got moog joints now

 

[Kryndon]

Well guys I think I'm just going to have more faith in brand new parts and go with this one: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Harmonic-...333689?hash=item5d662007b9:g:DOcAAOSwImRYf7Au

$43 shipped and will arrive fairly quick with tracking. It also seems to be discounted greatly from $103 to just $27. I think in any case, it will still be better than mine and should last long enough before I can finance a proper fluidampr or something like that.

I'm putting this on order, wish me luck!

Edit: Well, there was a $10 import charge which was well hidden but still. Global trade my ass, when will we get rid of these stupid charges!

 

[sixfourbolt]

Imo, there's either two choices: Replace it with an oem quality, new one or upgrade to an ATI one and never look back again...

 

[PlanZero]

^ well good luck with that. Never heard of "CNS" and there's certain parts I just won't buy from unknown eBay brands and engine components are one of them. Doesn't rock auto deliver overseas? If not that truly sucks. I've saved many thousands ordering from them.

 

[Kryndon]

UPDATE: The new balancer came in but it was poorly packaged by Ebay Global Shipping so it suffered a slight dent on the outside but it's small and not that significant. I've put in a claim and hopefully I can get a refund.

Otherwise I just installed it on the car and I must say there is absolutely no wobble. It's dead-straight and in general looked okay. Unfortunately one of the 4 bolts snapped and now I'm running with three basically. I'll need to take it out again soon and get the old bolt out.

So in conclusion; success I guess. Let's hope it will last long!