The Harmonic Balancer Experiment
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jan 2024
Posts: 75
Likes: 19
So, it's Saturday morning and I am waiting for my eggs to cool down. I'm heading to Cars and Coffee this morning afterwards. I have a few minutes so I thought I would post this. While I do believe putting the stock harmonic balancer back on was kind of a mistake, it's no big deal for my situation. I get a slight chirp/squeal when I first start the car in the morning and then it quickly goes away. At this point there is no way that I would attempt to 'fix' that. The only way this could be an issue is if I was going to sell the car and I disclosed the issue to a potential buyer. I would now point this thread more to a 'success' than failure. It wasn't perfect because I did have to bend my brake lines and I still have a slight noise on startup - but my car is totally drivable and has no real issues. My biggest fear that I was going to take it apart, put a $400 harmonic balancer on it and then when I start it up the computer is throwing all kinds of errors and I totally ruined the car.
The next step will be the transmission fluid change, oil, and probably the brake fluid. All is well.
The next step will be the transmission fluid change, oil, and probably the brake fluid. All is well.
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Jan 2024
Posts: 75
Likes: 19
This is one of the first videos I studied. Unfortunately he leaves parts out and doesn't explain why he did a few things. I think the big thing that threw me off was him jacking/supporting something at the back of the car. He never really says why he did that. I think with this procedure you need to understand everything you are doing. Guessing and assuming will lead to unexpected bad results. Another problem I have with videos like that one is they claim the whole job only took 2-4 hours. That is total bs because you still have to put things back together and everything has a torque spec, and some of them require 'using a crows foot and a wrench, tighten to 57ft lbs and then rotate 90 degrees'. By doing it by the book, it took me about 5 hours just to tighten everything to torque specs. A video like this one will have you starting at 7:00am thinking you will be test driving at noon when the reality is that you have a long road ahead of you. I also think this guy was hammering his harmonic balancer back on.
So, when I have to do mine again, I'm going to review this thread, rewatch all my videos I downloaded, and maybe I can do it in a few weekends.
So, when I have to do mine again, I'm going to review this thread, rewatch all my videos I downloaded, and maybe I can do it in a few weekends.
Racer
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 274
Likes: 52
From: Derby KS
This is one of the first videos I studied. Unfortunately he leaves parts out and doesn't explain why he did a few things. I think the big thing that threw me off was him jacking/supporting something at the back of the car. He never really says why he did that. I think with this procedure you need to understand everything you are doing. Guessing and assuming will lead to unexpected bad results. Another problem I have with videos like that one is they claim the whole job only took 2-4 hours. That is total bs because you still have to put things back together and everything has a torque spec, and some of them require 'using a crows foot and a wrench, tighten to 57ft lbs and then rotate 90 degrees'. By doing it by the book, it took me about 5 hours just to tighten everything to torque specs. A video like this one will have you starting at 7:00am thinking you will be test driving at noon when the reality is that you have a long road ahead of you. I also think this guy was hammering his harmonic balancer back on.
So, when I have to do mine again, I'm going to review this thread, rewatch all my videos I downloaded, and maybe I can do it in a few weekends.
So, when I have to do mine again, I'm going to review this thread, rewatch all my videos I downloaded, and maybe I can do it in a few weekends.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2014
Posts: 763
Likes: 215
From: Detroit
He's supporting the rear of the car so it doesn't pivot back and fall off the lift. Once you support the weight of the engine with a jack or hoist, the car becomes very rear-heavy and it's unstable if you're using just the frame rail jack points.
