Hey all,
So I am on doing an oil change on my car and I hear the squeak that i have been hearing for a few weeks now. It is an on again off again squeak, mainly going away after warm up. Ok so I warm up the car and look around to see if I can see any wobble in the belt... and I do. So then I look around and see if I can see where the wobble might be from, and i see that the main engine pulley looks to have some wobble in it.
Is this common? Is there something I should try to do or look for?
I have heard that these can shred.
So I am wondering what people would suggest
Right now it is my daily, and it still runs fine.... just the squeak

 

8Vette7
I got underneathe it and it doesnt have any play in it by hand, but I am sure it wouldnt until it was too late, or just because the belt is on there tight enough.

So i assume that this pulley shuldnt show any sign of wobble?

Also how much would it cost you think to have this repaired?

 

You won't feel any play in it. If you did it would most likely be eating the rack or timing cover by then. Nope, it should be spinning completely true.

My local shop quoted me $650 replacing it with the stock balancer. I spend $450 on the ATI balancer and did it myself. The job cost WAY more than that when the smoke cleared because I changed everything on the front of the engine including the timing cover. All idlers, tensioners, water pump, hoses, chain, gears, oil pump...i.e. everything. Figured if I was in there might as well change it all. Not a job for the guy that has only changed his own oil but not difficult either.

 

Ok, here is the latest.
So I finish the oil change (btw, I can do more then oil... was just mentioned it to setup why I had the hood open) and while I had the hood up I sprayed down the belt with white lithium grease. I figure that it could help with the squeak. Ok so I crank the engine to make sure of no leak and proper pressure from the oil change, and now I can hear the squeaking again... this time it is more intermittent and not as loud. So I go grab the WLG and spray it down again and the squeak disappears. I leave it running for a while and it doesnt come back. So good new there.
Then, as the engine is running, I double check the pulley again. I figure if it is the pulley the WLG wouldnt have made the squeak go away. So I inspect the pulley a little closer and it really doesnt look like it is wobbling. So i check it from different angles and still no wobble. What I think threw me off we there is some dirt or something on it to make it wobbly. Kind of like when you get dirt on a tire and even though it is balanced and fine, while it is rotating it looks like it is wobbling really bad.

Anyways, I appreciate the info on the replacement.
I am curious reath1... was the quote you gave from a stealership or a performance shop or road side garage?

thanks

 

Actually when I was underneath doing the oil change and looked at it and tried to move it by hand, I didnt notice the black rubber looking bad. It actually looked pretty solid. In fact, so much so that I thought it was one piece at first. I mean the car doesnt even have 68k on it yet, not that that means anything I know.... but still...

And I agree with the stealerships. I brought my car in once when I was going on vacation. It was just an over all check and do an oil change and stuff like that. Came back expecting maybe a 200 dollar bill, but got a 1200 dollar bill for brakes I didnt need and all kinds of other stuff. And they didnt get the go ahead from me, but figured since I am a bit of a fanatic with the car that I would say yes. I was pissed to say the least.

This is true. I was think the same thing with the belt, especially since it disappeared after spraying WLG on it. Since WLG wouldnt be getting into the bearings or correcting a wobble, I figured it couldnt be a mechanic issue. And since the WLG tends to be a little sticky (not as much as motorcycle chain lube... but still) I figured it would be similar to the candle wax trick, and again if it was an issue the squeaking would have kept on

 

What you really want to look at in the pulley grooves on the damper while it's running. Watch for any wobble in the grooves. If you watch the front face it might look like it's wobbling but it's really not.

 

Yes, the $650 was a quote from the ONLY mechanic that I will let touch any of my vehicles besides myself. He builds $100K customs from the frame up as well as having an every day mechanic shop. That was for a stock balancer though which is like $100 but I wouldn't ever replace one piece of junk with another. Mine had a REALLY bad wobble. Probably close to separating and taking out the rack or the timing cover. Car only had 55K on it. So basically mileage means nothing. Read threads on this where the original balancer was trash at 12K miles.

 

dont pay attention to mileage. My stock damper just failed on me at 76k. I replace it with an ATI damper and had it pinned to the crank for $740. Minus 100ish for the pinning and thats an average cost for the job.

 

ok so what is pinning to the crank mean or do?

 

You put a pin in the side of the crank that works like a key to keep the damper from rotating on the crank snout. You need an aftermarket damper with a keyway to do that. Otherwise, you can pin from the front where you drill a hole from the front at the crank to damper fit and put a pin into that hole.

 

Yep, this is important to do on high horse power applications where you run the risk of putting so much power down that the damper literally turns on the crank snout. If you plan to do forced induction or a big cam, its good security.

 

What do you guys think of this aftermarket harmonic balancer?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PowerBond-SF...040bf5&vxp=mtr

 

I dont think its a bad choice at all. I considered Powerbond quite a bit as a replacement damper. They make a really good product. I went with ATI for my power goals and the hope that I will never need another damper. Summit currently sells the stock size ATI for around 450. The price has really come down and thats the top of the line damper. Be sure to do the research.

 

This wobble... are we talking about wobble as though the pulley is not on straight/at a slight angle (wobbling towards the front and back of the car) or wobble like it's not properly balanced? (wobbling left right up down?)

Sorry I noticed a wobble and now I'm thinking everyone is talking about a wobble front and back - the wobble I saw (or thought i did) is a wobble left right up down, which is probably perceived or optical in nature....

 

look at the grooves on the pulley with a flash light o strobe light. If the grooves are not straight you have a failing balancer.

The chirping can come from any and all pulleys. A common failure.

 

I would rev the engine a bit. When I look at mine at idle, it seems to appear to wobble the slightest bit. When revved slightly, you can notice how true it runs. And mine was checked out by my mechanic and found to be fine. 76,000 miles. Sometimes the eye plays tricks...

 

If i hold my finger stead against the balancer edge while running (unsafe yah yah probably) i can feel it touching - not touching - touching - not touching. I think ti's a true wobble

 

How do you know your hands not moving?

 

Hahahhahaha nice. Took a very close look and the rubber between the parts is coming out a little def needs replaced no doubt. Power bond stock size good?