hey guys!

ive got a problem with my Harmonic Balancer and wanted to run it by you guys.

Driving home last night i gave it a bit of throttle overtaking another driver, and i lost powersteering and alternator power.
i got home and found my belt had popped off, no worries ill put it back on. did so and started her up and it popped straight off again.
put it on again, off it popped once more.
got my old man to kick it over for me after i put the belt on once more and saw that the balancer somewhat twisted/warped on start up, enough to throw the alt/pws belt off the pulley.
now im assuming that my balancer has karked it / or on the way out.
just wanna know if anyone else has had similar issues or answers before i go and spend $200 odd on a new one.
i got home from work today and tried the belt once more but this time it stayed on the pulley, its not as tight but its doing the job.
however im noticing that the pulley appears to be warped as it is not turning flush to itself, if that makes sense.

any help would be much appreciated!

thanx in advance!

tim :D

Do you mean the idler pulley, used to adjust belt tension?
If it "wobbles" pull it off and have a look at the bearing in it, it may be replaceable. The bolt through the centre may be loose.

Do you mean the idler pulley, used to adjust belt tension?
If it "wobbles" pull it off and have a look at the bearing in it, it may be replaceable. The bolt through the centre may be loose.

Seconded.

If your harmonic balancer was warped, your engine could be stuffed completely*

Chances are its the idler tentioner pulley, they do fail, just replace it.

*if its wobbling and not warped, its just worn. If its warped - crickey, wtfbbq?

no i mean the harmonic balancer, the crankshaft pulley. the main pulley on the timing cover. it appears to wobble, or be 'uneven'

no i mean the harmonic balancer, the crankshaft pulley. the main pulley on the timing cover. it appears to wobble, or be 'uneven'

Take it off.

Check for bearing wear, also, these can wobble due to just wear and tear after however many years being on the car.

Its not great for the car to be driving with it wobbling (or worn for that matter)

They arnt meant to wobble :P

The outer ring of the harmonic balancer is connected to the inner ring by a rubber seal.

If the alt belt has been overtightened or sometimes with age the 2 can partially or fully seperate.

It can be changed by removing the front and side engine mounts while supporting the engine on a jack, and lowering the engine enought to remove the pulley.

Loosen the pulley bolt before that by putting a socket on it with a breaker bar, turn the engine till the bar touches something solid, then hit the starter for a split second (DONT START IT) the bolt will be loosened. Take the alt and ac belts off too.

Once the engine is down and the bolt is out the pulley will just slide out.

Get another one from the wreckers and replace it. (Price a new on if ya wanna shock :shock: ):D

The outer ring of the harmonic balancer is connected to the inner ring by a rubber seal.

If the alt belt has been overtightened or sometimes with age the 2 can partially or fully seperate.

It can be changed by removing the front and side engine mounts while supporting the engine on a jack, and lowering the engine enought to remove the pulley.

Loosen the pulley bolt before that by putting a socket on it with a breaker bar, turn the engine till the bar touches something solid, then hit the starter for a split second (DONT START IT) the bolt will be loosened. Take the alt and ac belts off too.

Once the engine is down and the bolt is out the pulley will just slide out.

Get another one from the wreckers and replace it. (Price a new on if ya wanna shock :shock: ):D

Just curious but on the v6 all you do is remove the engine cover and wheel, no lowering of engine...can you do the same like this on a 4 banger?

']Just curious but on the v6 all you do is remove the engine cover and wheel, no lowering of engine...can you do the same like this on a 4 banger?

im under the same impression, the chassis does not restrict the bolt from coming out at all. unless the pulley has a long shaft?

Go to a good auto parts place and get them to get you a Precision Parts aftermarket harmonic balancer.

www.Precisionparts.com.au

Several entries under standard parts for the Magna



Good gear. I make the castings for them.
Will be much cheaper than the geniune Mits one.
Gerry

the bolt comes out but the pulley hits the frame :nuts: :rant:

At least it does on the Pookmobile. :)

Go to a good auto parts place and get them to get you a Precision Parts aftermarket harmonic balancer.

www.Precisionparts.com.au

Several entries under standard parts for the Magna



Good gear. I make the castings for them.
Will be much cheaper than the geniune Mits one.
Gerry

Sorry on a diff subject but was reading there catalog at work and the diagram for the SOHC V6 magna 2nd gen engine was completely wrong...so you know....complain to them :P

the bolt comes out but the pulley hits the frame :nuts: :rant:

At least it does on the Pookmobile. :)

yours is a 2nd gen yeah?? :doubt: thatll be megacrap if thats the case. by the looks of it on mine there should be enough room to manovoure but i dont wanna be caught out...
im assuming you've given it a go ay. grrrrr
not too keen on moving the engine up or down.....

Yeah, been there did that, Pookys separated completely.

I assume you have a/c and the same pulley as Pooky's 2.6.

I just put a block of wood under the sump on top of a trolley jack, took out the front 3 mounts and lowered it enuff to get the mofo out.

Took about 40 minutes but I got air tools and **** :)

You can try it without lowering the donk, the worse thing that can happen is it doesnt come out all the way and you hafta push it back in and put the bolt back. :D

you better fit a new harmonic balancer

the old one has spun on its rubber part

would explain the timing problems :doh:

we better paint the timing mark white before we fit the new one

like old fart said :stoopid: how to do
pm sent

The outer ring of the harmonic balancer is connected to the inner ring by a rubber seal.

If the alt belt has been overtightened or sometimes with age the 2 can partially or fully seperate.

It can be changed by removing the front and side engine mounts while supporting the engine on a jack, and lowering the engine enought to remove the pulley.

Loosen the pulley bolt before that by putting a socket on it with a breaker bar, turn the engine till the bar touches something solid, then hit the starter for a split second (DONT START IT) the bolt will be loosened. Take the alt and ac belts off too.

Once the engine is down and the bolt is out the pulley will just slide out.

Get another one from the wreckers and replace it. (Price a new on if ya wanna shock :shock: ):D

Finally someone who knows what they are talking about, was wondering when he would be told to also change his read diff oil as well.

The balancer is common on all cars which have the 2 piece ones, bonded by rubber, to come apart after a few years.

Will not damage your motor in any way so long as the parts do not fall off and fly into something

Also another thing, on say a ford, it is a balancer as there is one on each end of the engine, one throws the motor out of balance and the other end counters this. Is for harmonics etc In a Magna, you could if you wanted to run a solid pulley and would only cause a slight vibration from the belts etc

Grab one from a wrecker that looks ok or better still get a newbie as you will not have the issue again provided your belts are not too tight

On a third gen they can wobble if loose as they do not slip very far over the crank, in a second it will only wobble if the rubber bonding is no longer holding together

Oh and 4 banger, engine has to lower, you can usually get it down far enough by dropping the LH mount and the lower cross brace )from front to rear) where the other mount sits, there should be enough give in the rear mount for the engine to drop far enough

V6, undo the little sucker and slide him straigh off

Finally someone who knows what they are talking about, was wondering when he would be told to also change his read diff oil as well.

The balancer is common on all cars which have the 2 piece ones, bonded by rubber, to come apart after a few years.

Will not damage your motor in any way so long as the parts do not fall off and fly into something

Also another thing, on say a ford, it is a balancer as there is one on each end of the engine, one throws the motor out of balance and the other end counters this. Is for harmonics etc In a Magna, you could if you wanted to run a solid pulley and would only cause a slight vibration from the belts etc

Grab one from a wrecker that looks ok or better still get a newbie as you will not have the issue again provided your belts are not too tight

On a third gen they can wobble if loose as they do not slip very far over the crank, in a second it will only wobble if the rubber bonding is no longer holding together

Oh and 4 banger, engine has to lower, you can usually get it down far enough by dropping the LH mount and the lower cross brace )from front to rear) where the other mount sits, there should be enough give in the rear mount for the engine to drop far enough

V6, undo the little sucker and slide him straigh off


so i can change my diff oil through the balancer??? hahah jks.
yeah gettin me a new one soon, heavily discounted too, the benefits of working in the industry :)
SO lookin forward to changing this buggar...... not :doubt:
at least the problem will be fixed, ive got it running atm, ive jst loosened the belts a bit so theres a bit of play so i can still get to and from work but she'll be done soon!
thanx mal!

for the TS 4 cyl motor

a new balancer will cost over $ 200.oo new

(less than 2 hours)

support the engine with a trolly jack
undo the drive belts
undo the pully bolt (22 mm)
put the car on car stands
take both front wheels off
you remove the passengerside engine mount (14, 17 mm bolts/nuts)

you undo the driverside engine mount 4 bolts(14 mm) inside the mudguard
you may gave to undo the struts two 17 mm bolts to gain access to the upper 14mm bolt

undo and remove the front engine mount

this gives you the lowered engine so the pully can be removed

it wasnt a hard job as such, just very time consuming and annoying that we had to play around so much for a about 10mm of clearance...
job well done however, as you can see the in previous image, that is NOT how a balancer should look lol!