How much should harmonic balancer wobble?
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,172
Likes: 71
From: MA
How much should harmonic balancer wobble?
Mine seems to be 1/16 to 1/8 out of true. Belts seem to be fine. Rubber in balancer has a slight ridge in the center for 90* of balancer. Should I be concerned
Race Director
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 15,960
Likes: 21
From: West Norriton PA
St. Jude Donor '08
Pro
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 686
Likes: 62
From: San Jose Ca
I'm a mechanic, so I see a lot of cars and occasionally I'll run across an engine with a slightly wobbling balancer while doing some other work on the car. It doesn't seem to be an issue and is not too uncommon. Some of these cars have over 150k on them and no signs of problems relating to the wobbling. I wouldn't worry about it.
Scott
Scott
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 6,366
Likes: 249
From: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
I think it might depend on how high you run the rpm's up on your engine. That could possibly be okay on a normal passenger car street engine, but for the price of the damper as opposed to the price of damage one could inflict, I would investigate further. I'd probably replace it.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,526
Likes: 20
From: Santa Fe TX
I felt the same way about the wobble when I had it. I wanted it replaced. I talked to a family mechanic that's been in the business 55 years -- he said he's seen a lot of them do it worse than mine.
Mine only did it at idle and if I raised RPMs to 1500, it stopped.
He seemed to think that was fine.
Mine only did it at idle and if I raised RPMs to 1500, it stopped.
He seemed to think that was fine.
Pro
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 650
Likes: 4
From: Pittsburg Ca.
I'm a mechanic, so I see a lot of cars and occasionally I'll run across an engine with a slightly wobbling balancer while doing some other work on the car. It doesn't seem to be an issue and is not too uncommon. Some of these cars have over 150k on them and no signs of problems relating to the wobbling. I wouldn't worry about it.
Scott
Scott
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 1,172
Likes: 71
From: MA
My car is a '01 with 32k miles. I looked at the rubber again and it appears that what I thought was a split was actually just a circumferential mold line. The rubber looks good!.
I never thought about looking at the belt to see any belt wobble. I was looking at the front face at idle. I will check this out at idle and higher RPMs.
These things must have some manufacturing tolerances so I doubt they are always true. I wonder what the tolerances are?
I never thought about looking at the belt to see any belt wobble. I was looking at the front face at idle. I will check this out at idle and higher RPMs.
These things must have some manufacturing tolerances so I doubt they are always true. I wonder what the tolerances are?
Racer
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 447
Likes: 6
From: Dublin CA
my damper de-laminated at 95k. took it to carl chev. in SJ Ca and the new one they put on wobbled big time. the engine died at 111k, the bolts fell out of the timing gear and took out a piston. the engine was a 383 lpe, i don't know who, if anyone fd. up but it cost me an engine.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 6,774
Likes: 363
From: Midland TX
I read some posts here about this problem so I checked mine out a year ago in May and sure enough it was wobbling (no symptoms at that time). I have a 2001 and in May 2007 I took it to the Dealership at 34,000 and had the Service Manager look at it. He said this was a known issue and that I should replace it as it will only get worse and if it hits the steering rack... we'll you can imagine. So they swapped mine out for another GM balancer under GMPP - still looks smooth so far 14 months later.
One problem is that to replace it, they had to drop the Steering Rack and after that IT started leaking, therefore they have replaced the rack twice since then - this one has been working for 3 months so far
One problem is that to replace it, they had to drop the Steering Rack and after that IT started leaking, therefore they have replaced the rack twice since then - this one has been working for 3 months so far
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 22,025
Likes: 192
From: At the beach in little Rhody
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 9,369
Likes: 4
From: Zephyrhills, Florida
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08-'09-'10-'11-'12-'13
I'm a mechanic, so I see a lot of cars and occasionally I'll run across an engine with a slightly wobbling balancer while doing some other work on the car. It doesn't seem to be an issue and is not too uncommon. Some of these cars have over 150k on them and no signs of problems relating to the wobbling. I wouldn't worry about it.
Scott
Scott
Heel & Toe
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
From: Mass
Just Replaced Mine,Cost 200.00 For Parts.If It Makes Noises When You Start,Then Clears You Will Have Problems Later.Best To Get It Look At Right Away.Oh Had To Pull The Rac, That Was Time Consuming. Good Luck 1999 Touch Red Only 36000 Miles.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 25,889
Likes: 7
From: Virginia Beach
CI 3-5-6-7-8 Veteran
Just watched your video... mine did that for 69,000 miles and countless HPDEs without issue. When I put my cam in, in January 2007 I installed an ATI super damper. I have zero wobble now. I wouldnt worry about it unless it gets bad.
