another harmonic balancer bites the dust

[mikekavan]

ok this is reallllllllly grinding my nerves. this is the fourth freaking harmonic to bite the big one on this car. am i just getting bad parts or what is up with all this noise. does anyone know if this is common on this engine or am i just stuck with a pile. i have owned the car for about two years. i have had problems with it but i still like the car(still rides great and has the power that my former cavy didnt.) but this is ridiculous i can not phathom the fact that i am getting that many bad parts. does anyone know where i can get an after market or is there another engine that shares the same harmonic balancer? trying to see what options i have of avoiding this in the future i have. thanks for all the help here guys i am just completely stumped and havent found anything difinitive online.

[Matt95GT]

How is it failing? Sounds like there may be a reason behind it... bad tensioner (too tight), etc.

[mikekavan]

no i thought of that after the first one went and replaced that. anything else that could cause this? or any interchangable from other motors? anything please

[GrandAmMN]

That is kooky to go through that many harmonic balancers - it is a pretty stable component! There has to be something else causing it - anything else going on?

[mikekavan]

not that i can see. however if anyone has any ideas please let me know. the only thing we can come up with is that the timing is slightly off. but it wouldn't run right then and besides the only way to adjust timing on that engine is either with the computer and a scanner. which i do not have. or the timing chain is off however the timing chain would have to be a tooth off and if that was the case it would be all but blatantly obvious. and on the topic of computer scanners anyone know where there is an older one that could be had for less than a new one? not the trouble code scanner but the scanner reader that actually tells you what that computer is being told by the sensors, and shows what the computer is telling the motor to do because of that info. that little toy would be not only useful in this situation but could come in handy alot.

[pokesmot]

only thing I could think of is maybe the crank or "key" that locks the harmonic in place is messed up damaged / slightly bent, making the balancer sit on the crank slightly off center... eventually the imbalance will cause the rubber to seperate from the pulley and the balancer will fail.


your engine mounts are good? there is no visible damage on the balancers from hitting the bottom frame rail?

all pulleys spin freely, the tensioner doesnt bounce alot, the belt appears to be moving straight?

are you replacing it with an afermarket balancer or ACDelco?

[ENGGUY]

So what is happening to the balancer?
Is this a manual transmission car?

[Djpac]

haha, my Harmonic Balancer just went the other day... looking to get a new performance one (cheaper then buying a new one from dealership)

[goredsox]

i am having a noise from the area of the balancer, it is a rattling sound. I took off my pass. front tire and the splash gaurds and the noise is in that area. The rubber is good and it doesnt vibrate bad. But then again the noise could be from any of the components the belt drives... I still have the original waterpump with 158,000 miles on it.... I dont really feel like taking off the serp. belt to test all of the components either...