This is a follow-up from my post of a few months ago. Thanks to you guys who posted replies. Sadly, the growl is still there - if anything worse since it is there all the time now.

Zeek contacted me by PM, saying that he had the same noise. He recently fitted a new long motor and noted that the noise was still there. The only part re-used was the harmonic balancer pulley. He removed the timing belt covers and the noise disappeared. He noted that the covers on the old and the new engines showed signs of rubbing against the pulley. He put the covers back and the noise reappeared.

Good one Zeek - I think that you may have found it because I have seen some evidence of rubbing on the covers but I cannot recall in detail where it was. It must have been somewhere down there.

Now to the question.... How do you check a harmonic balance pulley? I expect that if they fail, you would see separation between the outer flange and the inner hub. I didn't notice any such separation on mine, but then again, I wasn't specifically looking for this.

When dismantling, I used a tyre lever to remove the pulley. It didn't take much effort to remove it and I wouldn't expect to damage the pulley by this, but I have done sillier things in my time...

When I refitted the pulley, I didn't used any grease or non-stick stuff on the crankshaft. Maybe there is some minor vibration going on between the shaft and the hub? What do other people do when reassembling the engines?

If its a growl that is at its worst when the engine is cold and at 1,200 rpm approximately, its probably the ancillary belts that are old or not tight enough. I replaced both belts yesterday with new ones and tensioned them correctly with a Gates tension gauge, and the growl has gone. Did you reuse the old belts and tighten them correctly?

No need to put anything on the crankshaft when you put the pulley back on, and if the harmonic balancer rubber is not sticking out at one side of the pulley and recessed on the other side, it is ok to use.

+1 for belt tension.


If its a growl that is at its worst when the engine is cold and at 1,200 rpm approximately, its probably the ancillary belts that are old or not tight enough. I replaced both belts yesterday with new ones and tensioned them correctly with a Gates tension gauge, and the growl has gone. Did you reuse the old belts and tighten them correctly?

No need to put anything on the crankshaft when you put the pulley back on, and if the harmonic balancer rubber is not sticking out at one side of the pulley and recessed on the other side, it is ok to use.

Even with the new properly tensioned belts there is still a growl when cold, but its not at any one particular RPM and depends on how much throttle I use, so I blame that on the exhaust system. Improves a lot when it all warms up. I can live with that, just reminds me to take it easy when the engine is cold.

Compared to my second gen, where I just can't hear the exhaust, the third gen seems a bit noisy, ie I can actually hear it. lol No holes in it anywhere and it looks standard, so Meh!