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Subject:
Bad Harmonic Balancer
Subject: Bad Harmonic Balancer
From: "Steve Horrillo" <usenet(at)stephenhorrillo.com>
Lines: 15
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 02:47:19 GMT
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I reported in earlier posts that my belts on my `98 C5 were squeaking. I
took it to a friend`s shop and he found that the rubber in the harmonic
balancer is all worn and wobbling. He said the belts are old and dry too.
The job is going to cost $679 total, new belts and all. He said it`s a 4
hour job to get the harmonic balancer changed. Does that sound about right?
What gets me is that I just had the car at the dealer and they replaced two
tensioners. They said it needed new belts to stop the squeaking. Why didn`t
they spot the bad harmonic balancer? Can I get away with not replacing it?
What happens when one fails?
--
Warmest regards,
Steve
Date: Mon, 09 Jan 2006 19:55:57 -0800
From: Crabs <IHateSpam(at)SpamSucks.com>
Subject: Re: Bad Harmonic Balancer
Lines: 38
NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.2.59.142
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Steve:
> I reported in earlier posts that my belts on my `98 C5 were squeaking. I
> took it to a friend`s shop and he found that the rubber in the harmonic
> balancer is all worn and wobbling. He said the belts are old and dry too.
> The job is going to cost $679 total, new belts and all. He said it`s a 4
> hour job to get the harmonic balancer changed. Does that sound about right?
Seems about right. It`s a rats nest of pipes, hoses, belts, and god
knows what in front of the LS1, and there`s little to no room to get at
anything. All the accessories probably have to come off of the front of
the motor to access the harmonic balancer, and maybe even the radiator
and cooling hoses, can`t really tell from the pictures I`ve found.
Regardless, there`s a lot to be moved around just to get a hand down to
the area of interest.
>
> What gets me is that I just had the car at the dealer and they replaced two
> tensioners. They said it needed new belts to stop the squeaking. Why didn`t
> they spot the bad harmonic balancer? Can I get away with not replacing it?
> What happens when one fails?
It`s kind of hard to see from the top, maybe easier from the bottom.
It`s not something that usually fails. Before I`d let them work on it
I`d check to see if there`s any TSB`s out on it.
To be quite honest, I smell a rat. I`ve owned quite a few cars over the
years (and most were GM, but not all...) and I`ve NEVER had a harmonic
balancer go bad.
Now, I`m not saying that it doesn`t happen. It seems to be a common
failure on newer Mercedes (went surfing the NG`s via Google). Didn`t see
anything on LS1 HB`s, so I doubt it a big failure item.
Get a second or third opinion.
What happens if it fails completely? As it wobbles it`ll chew up the
front of the motor including timing chain cover & seal, as well as maybe
the lower pulley and serpentine belt. It could conceivably cause timing
chain problems and maybe even early crankshaft failure.
Good luck!
TomC
`90 ZR1 #792
>
Subject: Re: Bad Harmonic Balancer
From: "Steve Horrillo" <usenet(at)stephenhorrillo.com>
Lines: 30
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 05:30:59 GMT
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On 9-Jan-2006, Crabs <IHateSpam(at)SpamSucks.com> wrote:
> > What gets me is that I just had the car at the dealer and they replaced
> > two
> > tensioners. They said it needed new belts to stop the squeaking. Why
> > didn`t
> > they spot the bad harmonic balancer? Can I get away with not replacing
> > it?
> > What happens when one fails?
> It`s kind of hard to see from the top, maybe easier from the bottom.
> It`s not something that usually fails. Before I`d let them work on it
> I`d check to see if there`s any TSB`s out on it.
> To be quite honest, I smell a rat. I`ve owned quite a few cars over the
> years (and most were GM, but not all...) and I`ve NEVER had a harmonic
> balancer go bad.
He put it up on the lift and showed me. The rubber part in the center of the
pully is all cracked and about an inch around the circumference there is no
rubber at all that I can see. When the engine is running it is slightly
wobbling. And it`s in a real tight spot. He showed me on a Taurus how easy
it is to get to it. But on the Vette it`s inches from the front of what
looks like the frame.
BTW, do you know the URL for Corvette TSB`s?
--
Warmest regards,
Steve
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