Harmonic Balancer / Pulley Wobbling ???

[gchild1853]

After fixing all of my problems, i had a couple of days of it running perfect... well after a few minutes of driving one day, i parked it in the driveway and i heard a tick/chirp noise... so i opened the hood and a i saw that the crankshaft pulley, and harmonic balancer were wobbling ... i dont know if the pulley or balancer is bad... or if i have bearings going out in the motor... the car runs good, and everything... although my alternator doesnt seem to be charging anymore (easily could be a seperate problem) ... but i am stumped at what could be wrong, ive seen a lot of people say that there is a rubber piece inbetween the balancer and pulley that could be ruined, and some people say that the bearings are gone in the motor.. and that it might be the end....the car has a new timing chain, and gears and all that... any help would be great... Thanks!

83 T-Type Regal (stock 3.8 turbo)

 

[chasmat2316]

check the balancer bolt, see if its tight

 

[whitehot1]

Did this problem start right after replacing the timing chain / gears?

The harmonic balancer bolt needs to be torqued to 219 lb.ft.

 

[Sleeper-6]

Hopefully it's just the balancer bolt. If not you've got issues with too much thrust clearence. After checking the balancer bolt, grab the balance and try to move the crank forward and back. I believe the prober clearence is in the ballpark of .006, nearly nothing by eye. If it mover a significant amount it's time to check on the thrust surface of your crank bearings.

 

[Nick Micale]

First of all, if this is a stock engine, you do not have a harmonic balancer but a cast POS pulley.

Have had many of these crack, and also had some take out the nose of the crank.

It is highly advisable to remove the "balancer" and check the bore and keyway as well as the crank nose for damage. If the pulley is damaged and you just tighten the bolt, it will eventually take out the crank.

 

[whitehot1]

Well in the engine description manual they refer to the lower part that bolts to the crankshaft as the "balancer" so i guess it is ok to call it that.

You can go to this site and see all the proper terms if anyone feels the need in order to locate a specific name or part.

Vortex Turbo Buick Performance

The one for the "balancer" is in the Engine Description Manual, section 6B-13 thru 6B-14.

:smile:

 

[Nick Micale]

Well in the engine description manual they refer to the lower part that bolts to the crankshaft as the "balancer" so i guess it is ok to call it that. :smile:

You can certainly call it whatever you like, but it is not a true harmonic balancer as it is a solid piece. :smile:

The stock piece will not cancel engine harmonics over a wide RPM range, especially at higher RPM's.

This same "balancer" was used on the non-turbo V-6's for years and did the job well. With the higher RPM's of the turbo cars, especially ones that have been modified, they can and do cause problems including bearing wear and worse.

 

[Blown&Injected]

Yeah, everybody calls it a balancer and even the "real" ones are not a "balancer" but Harmonic Dampeners.

For simplicity, balancer is good, as we all know what is meant. However, in this case Nick made the distinction for a good reason. The rubber ring in a real dampener could make the balancer look like it is wobbling even if the center part is firmly bolted to the crank. So the fact that the factory balancer does not have the rubber rings (not a real balancer), it is not possible for the balancer to exhibit that type of particular fault.

Either way, it had better be checked out directly; you might be able to save the crank and sensor, and if lucky, the hub and key too.

 

[bison]

It may balance but it doesnt dampen anything. The balancer needs to be pulled and magged for cracks. The crank snout needs to be checked for wear. If there is wobble the balancer will crank and fail eventually and scatter chunks of iron everywhere puncturing whatever it hits. Not a good thing. If the crank is worn too much it will need to be nickel plated and reground on the snout to be used.

 

[turbocam]

i was lucky

i noticed my crank wobbling last saturday. i pulled the oil plug to check for metal and found what i would say to be a coulple thousand dollars worth of gold flakes in my oil filter. by the way,mine made no noise.good luck.........:biggrin: