Mine was found by the dealer not me and was replaced. The new one looks as shaky as the old one so I have not done anything. I'll be

 

Looks like its the coupling as the inside of the pulley appears to be running true. Unless there were severe trauma to the crank, like an accident that hit its nose, it could not be bent that much.

Got me thinking, so I just looked at mine....it runs absolutely true....2007 with 14,000 miles.

 

No shake to that crank. Watch the inside portion of the balancer, it is running dead straight. The outside portion which is rubber isolated is reacting to engine harmonics. Hence why they call it a harmonic balancer. That little twitch in the tensioner, seen it a million times.

I just looked at my 09 Silverado idling. Has somewhat a similar effect looking at the outer ring, maybe a hair less than yours. But a truck has much less cam overlap and a much smoother idle.

If you looked at 10 vettes with varying miles, you'ld see some like yours, some a little more, some a little less...

As that rubber ring ages, probably a little sloppier. But what your seeing is something that is rubber mounted reacting to harmonics. Which is why sometimes it looks worse and sometimes it isn't doing much.

That's not the balancer problem where it comes loose from the crank. When that happens it slides out and rubs on the steering rack. I wouldn't mess with it. Some would, maybe a new balancer would be a little less shakey. Maybe leaving the hood closed will make things like that less noticeable.

You could ask the dealer to replace it. If they won't, at least you'd have it documented and if it gets worse, address it then. I'd bet it's fine though. A new balancer isn't going to change the engine harmanics, it will be reacting also. Maybe a hair less being new/stiffer rubber.

 

Michrider,
Based on what you said and the fact the new one shakes, I'll follow your advice and leave things alone.

 

Take a look at this new footage I just took and listen closely, then you tell me if you'd leave it alone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HmMAyPdyDs

 

OIC, a 'wisenheimer'… when you get old your crank gets shaky with age, gotcha! Thanks for the bit of humor!

Now how about chiming in about my problem… I'd appreciate it if you could watch my newest video and let me know what you think. Many thanks!

 

I think it's ridiculous! That sounds like crap and I wouldn't accept it!!! NO WAY! That chirping would drive me rat traps..... Mine sure doesn't sound like that and I'd bet very very few have that sound. It's under warranty make them fix it. Let them show you a NEW vette they have that makes the same sound! Bet they don't have one either. I'd go to another dealer and then up the GM food chain if you don't get satisfaction. That's simply not acceptable at to me.... Good luck and keep us advised of your progress..

 

Thank you sir for your comments! Will definitely keep you posted, I'm taking her in Monday morning.

 

I have an 05 with 48k miles, does the same thing, probably a little worse. I thought it might have been the crankshaft bolt problem, but it isn't in the serial number range. I bought the car used and it is out of warranty. I showed the Chevy Dealership maintenance guys and they said it was the ballancer and it was not an issue right now, but should be replaced eventually. Around $800 parts and labor. I just replaced my main serp belt, no more noise, but still wobble.

 

I'd be happy to simply just get rid of the squeaky belt engine noise, but if the balancer should also be replaced, might as well get it done under warranty now rather than wait until it's a big problem and I have to pay.

 

My 07 with 29,000 is at the dealer right now getting the front seal and pulley changed.

It all started with oil film coating the front of the oil pan, so I had them check it out and they did a die test, said its coming from the front seal, so they were planning on changing the front seal, but I had noticed that the pulley was wobbling just like yours, so they took a look at it, and are replacing it as the root cause for the front seal to leak.

So in my opinion, get it fixed while your car is still under warranty.

 

I thought that was a problem for the 05s and early 06s.
The balancer in my 05 was wobbling and chirping at idle, replaced it with a racing balancer from Summit racing ( this thing is a beauty) while I was having the blower installed.

 

I have almost the same wobble as yours on my 2005 C6.
I went to GM dealer and I was told it's normal. My car only has 19K miles and it does not appear to be in the affected range of a 2005 build of a crankshaft balancer failure/loose bolt. My vin#55112745 (build date 12/04) and only cars built prior to VIN Breakpoint 55111039 are affected according to TSB#05-06-01-001D.

BTW: I have no belt-chirping at idle (yet).

This is my post from a few days ago:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...-question.html

I'm all ears .. let me know what the other Corvette specialist tells you.

I already ordered OEM harmonic balancer and bolt, but I'm not sure if the aftermarket wouldn't be a better solution.
Can any1 chime in what would be best fix for this wobbling crankshaft balancer?
Thnx!!

 

UPDATE: I brought it to my local service department and the chirp was mainly being caused by a glazed belt from a prior leak. A water pump replacement definitely stopped the leak, but the belt also needed to be replaced which they didn't do although I had mentioned from the very beginning (and several prior appointments) that the belt was slipping... but that's another story.

They flat out refused to do anything about the harmonic balancer, claiming that "All Corvettes do that!", which seems to be their answer for most everything I bring to their attention. Today, the car has very little squeaking as the main culprit was the belts. However, I believe that the overly shaky harmonic balancer was what caused the initial leak problems which in turn then glazed my belts causing the incessant squeaking. I believe if it's not rectified, more leaks will eventually happen. The car still just doesn't feel quite right to me. I can definitely feel some instability and there still are some strange noises on acceleration, although not like it was before at idle with the toasted glazed belt of course.

To add insult to injury, I brought it all the way back to Kerbeck (Atlanticy City, NJ) where I bought it, a 3 hour drive from my house in NY. They basically said that unfortunately there was nothing they could do because my local service department opened the initial case and some technician or manager ruled not to do anything about it. I was under the impression from advice here that I could just keep bringing it around to service departments until I found one that would do something about it, but now it looks like I'm stuck? At least they were kind and sympathetic, and told me that at least it was documented now and if something does happen down the road after my warranty expires (which is soon), that then I should be covered because I brought it to their attention and nothing was done.

I'm thinking if it's not too much money, perhaps I should just go with something like a Summit "Racing" HB, but I have a feeling the parts/labor won't be cheap. I don't want to spend a fortune fixing this, but I can feel a catastrophe is waiting for me if nothing is done. I know my car very well, the Vette is my daily driver and I've come very attuned to it's characteristics/nuisances... I can definitely tell that when I first took ownership that it wasn't like this... after 14,000 miles the feel shouldn't have changed this much. I KNOW that something is wrong, if not the HB or crank, then something else. I'm not a mechanic of any sorts, but as a driver, I can tell when something isn't right in my own car. It's just too bad these dealerships don't want to do anything about it. I've had some tough times getting my 2 previous leaks fixed; it was like pulling teeth! One was a gasket (not the oil pan), and like I said before the other had to do with the water pump as coolant was leaking all over my belts. To get them to do anything was quite difficult, but eventually they gave in. I can definitely relate as to why so many people on here aren't too fond of the GM service departments. So the battle goes on, Chuck from "Corvettes of Westchester" has commented on the videos and believes it's a problem but he said that he'd like to see it in person so I think the next step will be to go visit him. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

After I read your post there is no other way than change it ... the sooner the better. It's not that expensive, so I'll cover it ... take it as another mode/upgrade.

Guys I need advise, I went to Summit Racing page and there are a few options for HB for our C6. Which package should I get? Please help, so I can order this asap.

Or do you think oem is equal quality (which I already ordered from Gene, but figured I will return it in case Summit is better choice)?

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsea...839044&NeXID=5

 

Dealing with service departments seems to always be a hassle. But the reality is, they are not going to change a part unless there is an absolute need to do so. I seriously doubt that your pulley wobble caused your water pump to fail. What I don't understand is why they didn't change your belt during the water pump repair. I'd replace the belt and live with it. If the wobble gets excessive the belt will chirp at idle. Then they will replace the pulley under warranty. If out of warranty the job is ~ $900.

 

I brought the squeaky/screechy belt to their attention many many months before I was actually able to get them to do anything about it. Like I mentioned earlier, they just blew me off and told me "All Corvettes sound like this, it's normal" I was like what!?!?! You have to be kidding!

It basically came down to returning to the service department a second time, where I then reported actual leaks on my garage floor. They replaced some sort of gasket and sent me on my way with my chirpy belts and wibble-wobble HB untouched.

When I came back soon after a THIRD time, this time I had come highly prepared with several blown up photographs of my leaks along with a closeup photo of a leak actually hitting my belt/frame near the crank! Shazaam! They finally admitted they needed to replace the belt and then told me that my water pump was to blame for the leak and gladly replaced it. It definitely fixed my second leak problem because there was no more chirping at idle and my garage floor is now bone dry.

I still thought that there were issues with my excessive HB wobble so I insisted that it be looked in to further as a possible root of the problem being that they didn't catch my previous issues that I basically brought to their attention when they kept feeding me BS like, "All Corvettes do that/sound like that". When I spoke with the service manager about several other issues I had with the service department over the past year like the fact that they put too much oil in my car even after I contested with the tech that it didn't sound right from my recollection of the user manual, and several other ridiculous problems that I will get into another time, he then took me aside and told me outright that my water pump SHOULDN'T have been replaced, that it wasn't going to be covered by GM and the shop wasn't going to be reimbursed for the part/labor. I chalked this up as total BS because obviously the part stopped the leak, and that was all they did so what else am I to deduce but that the part was bad, right? UGH! There's so much more to tell about this dealership, I will post the full story soon, it's a doosey and all Corvette owners (and probably non-corvette) owners should avoid this particular dealership like the plague.

Belt has been replaced last (and final, never to return) trip to my local service department. However, I'm thinking if I can't get another service department to replace the HB/pulley, I'm thinking of just going with the aftermarket (Summit?) racing parts. I'm confident most anything has to be better than how my car drives now. I just don't want it to turn into a catastrophe as I plan on tracking my car soon with some sweet HPDE action as I did a couple times last summer. Fun stuff!

 

SWEETBLUEZ51,

I'm confident most anything has to be better than how my car drives now.

I guess I'm missing something here. Except for the pulley that is wobbling more than you like, what is the problem?

The worst that can happen is that the belt starts chirping and if you ignored that, after a while it might throw the belt. That's it, nothing catastrophic. So why not live with it for a while and see what happens.

 

It's changing the dynamics of the car. It's hard to say exactly, I just know something is very different. When you get very familiar with your particular car, you just know when something isn't right. I believe much of my past leaky/squeaky problems have been a result of the wobbley gyrations at the crank. If that's not the case then it has to be something else wrong because the car is VERY different from when it was new.

Nothing catastrophic you say? That's not what a very reputable "Chuck from CoW" (Corvettes of Westchester) has to say:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...t-now-cow.html