Took my 99 into the dealer to diagnose a squeek coming from the engine compartment. I was sure he was going to tell me it was the idler pulley, but he said it wasn't that - the squeek was coming from the crank shaft balancer. He also claimed that he had seen a couple of these, would require about 10 hrs of shop time to fix plus parts (minimal). He also said it was more of an annoyance than anything else.

I haven't noticed this one in the forum threads - has anybody had any experience with this? Can anyone explain from a technical point what this balancer is and does, and whether it's serious or just sounds bad?

Thanks for any help - it's my first time using this dealer and I want to get some advice before doing anything.

 

When does it make the noise? All the time? At startup?

Is it continuous? Does it go away when the engine warms up.

Does outside temperature affect it? Do you notice it more when it's wet and raining?

 

I just went through this myself.

It started with squeaking belts. I was looking at the belts trying to determine which one was making noise when I noticed the Crankshaft Balancer (or Harmonic Balancer) had a very very slight wobble to it. Of course I ran in the house and posted my potential problem on here. took about 10 minutes for me to get responses that explained the following.

The Harmonic Balancer is attached to the crankshaft. If it is wobbling it is putting stress on the crank which in time will most likely cause very nasty engine problems. What they are I can only guess would have to do with bad things like the cranshaft, pistons, connecting rods, valves, heads etc. All I when reading this was me parting out what was left of my car in the for sale section of the forum.

I resisted going the dealer route because I don't trust them and my Apple stock didn't shoot up the way I expected it to after the split so money was a concern. So I looked around until I found a good speed shop that did two things. First they had worked on vettes and understood the problem without me needing to explain it and second they allowed me to pretty much be attached to the mechanics shoulder while he worked on my car. All in all the parts are available from GM parts direct for about $90 and the whole project took about 4 1/2 hours.(skilled hours). I paid about $350 plus a case of beer to the mechanic who was kind enough to deal with the nutty guy asking questions for all that time.

That said, I would look under the hood and look at the balancer. See if it is wobbling. You'll be able to tell, trust me. If it is then get it fixed. If not go to Autozone and buy gatorback belts and install them yourself. Takes about 15 minutes and will solve the squeal problem. As it turned on with my car. The belts were causing the squeal but in looking to fix them I uncovered the other bigger problem.

Good luck and feel free to ask if you need more info.

 

God, NYC guy, that's exactly what I'm experiencing.

 

I have a post in here somewhere that no one answered. Glad to see this one, cause my balancer is wobbling about 1/8 inch. I have squeals once in a while, I spray some silicone on the belt and it quiets down. I know thats not such a great remedy, but it beats a squeal.

Anyway I have a 3rd party extended warrantee on my 2000 A4 and am taking it to the dealer Monday. I want the balancer replaced, AND Im shooting for new idler pully and alternator with the black extension on the pully - theres a TSB for "garage maneuver rumble" which I think I have. I get vibrations and growls at low RPM events, even when coming to a stop and the tranny goes down from 3-2 2-1 and passes 750 rpm.Once in a while when the air compressor goes on I get some noise too for a split second.

So thanks for the post, at least I see I'm not the only one with balancer issues.

 

Thanks much for the help. A couple more items,,,

The squeek is independent of temperature. It's proportional to engine RPM so the frequency increases with engine speed. Begins to occur shortly after starting the engine, after that it's almost continuous. I don't have the car out in the rain so can't tell if wet weather affects it.

Where can I look for the harmonic balancer? If anyone can point me close to where to look I'll try to find it and see if it's wobbling.

Thanks again for the help.

 

Harmonic balancer is the big round dual pulley at the bottom center of your engine. It's in the front between the engine and the steering rack. It sounds like it has seen better days.

 

I happy I could help. Here are a couple of images that might help with locating things. the first shows the balancer. From what I understand it should not wobble at all. The second photo is good for understanding the routing of both belts.

As for temperature and rain/snow it started as a symptom that went away as the weather got nicer. Rain made the noise more prominent and engine RPM also changed the volume of the squeal. I also noticed that I couldn't hear the noise once I was driving. Later I determined that this had more to do with my exhaust and traffic noise then it did with the noise going away. I also noticed that when driving to my home in Manhattan I didn't hear the squeal as much as I so when I am in Virginia, this too had more to do with surrounding noises from traffic and buses. Also with the windows closed it was harder to hear. I realized how bad the noise was when I was trying to order coffee at a Dunkin Donuts drive up window.

Anyway, I am glad this helped you folks, when it first happened to me I didn't know what to do and it was other forum members that got me on the right path. If there is anything I can do to help I am happy to.

 

I dropped mine off today when I noticed my harmonic balancer wobbling about 1/8/ inch. The dealer said "they all wobble, if we change it chances are the new one will too". They are replacing the alternator to one with a decouper pully and a newer tension pully (there was a TSB on garage maneuver rumble).

Sorry, but i never noticed a balancer that wobbled before. Somehow I don't agree with their accessment. I need opinions, please reply asap since I pick it up tomorrow.

 

Sorry I didn't see this sooner.

If I were you I would PM member Eviltwin. He was/is a GM Engineer and when this first happened to me he gave me a great explanation. I wouldn't be able to do his explanation justice.

As for all of them wobbling, well I would head over to the C6 forum and take a look at all the guys who are getting the problem fixed under warranty. I believe there were a couple of guys who wrecked their engines because of this.

It's not normal. Go take a look under the hood of another C5 and unless it has the same problem it won't be wobbling.

If I were you I would go to another dealer or if it's not under warranty a performance mechanic. It will be less expensive anyway. The dealer told me 10 book hours and it ended up taking about 4 hours. Total cost for me was $400 (with the part) vs $1000. This is a big project and involves disassembling much of the front end of the car. Steering box, ABS etc. Not to mention that if the balancer isn't installed correctly you will likely be back with bigger problems.


Good Luck.