Another Bad Harmonic Balancer
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
Likes: 190
From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
Another Bad Harmonic Balancer
Hello all,
I have a wobbly harmonic balancer. I went through this on my 2005, now I get to have my HB replaced at 4700 miles on my 2012.
Here are a couple of videos, sorry I wasn't thinking when I recorded them vertically. Watch them in 720p or 1080p at full screen to actually see the wobble.
What prompted me to take a look is a burning rubber smell that I've been smelling for the past couple of days after I shut the car down coming from the engine bay. It definitely isn't the clutch or tires that I'm smelling, but the serpentine belt isn't frayed either so I'm not 100% positive that's what I'm smelling. The interesting this is that I can't hear the slight chirping that I hear in the videos when checking it out myself.
I'm making a service appointment, but I just wanted to make yet another (possible) occurance of this known. I wish GM would let us put a good balancer on and retain warranty. I'm more than just a little disappointed to have to get this fixed on my brand new car.
I have a wobbly harmonic balancer. I went through this on my 2005, now I get to have my HB replaced at 4700 miles on my 2012.
Here are a couple of videos, sorry I wasn't thinking when I recorded them vertically. Watch them in 720p or 1080p at full screen to actually see the wobble.
What prompted me to take a look is a burning rubber smell that I've been smelling for the past couple of days after I shut the car down coming from the engine bay. It definitely isn't the clutch or tires that I'm smelling, but the serpentine belt isn't frayed either so I'm not 100% positive that's what I'm smelling. The interesting this is that I can't hear the slight chirping that I hear in the videos when checking it out myself.
I'm making a service appointment, but I just wanted to make yet another (possible) occurance of this known. I wish GM would let us put a good balancer on and retain warranty. I'm more than just a little disappointed to have to get this fixed on my brand new car.
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 14,475
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From: Las Vegas NV
I don't see much of a wobble at all. In fact I don't think I see any. If it was really bad your tensioner would be bouncing/vibrating too. I don't think your HB needs attention from what I see. I think the rubber smell your getting is coming from something else.
Last edited by EVRose; Feb 27, 2013 at 01:12 PM.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
Likes: 190
From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
Anyhow, too late now I guess as I dropped it off with the service advisor already at a local dealership here (Ross Downing Chevrolet, a forum sponsor) and he saw the wobble as well.
Worst case scenario I get a couple of other issues that I needed to bring the car in for regardless of whether or not the balancer needs to be replaced.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,694
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That HB is perfectly fine man. Remember they'll never (or rarely) be perfectly balanced. But that's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. You have a different issue. You can start by getting under the car with a flashlight and make sure you didn't drive over a plastic bag. If not, drive the car over ramps (or lift it) and check everything carefully; something must be touching the exhaust. Good luck.
Last edited by JCtx; Feb 27, 2013 at 03:02 PM.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
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From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
That HB is perfectly fine man. Remember they'll never (or rarely) be perfectly balanced. But that's absolutely nothing to be concerned about. You have a different issue. You can start by getting under the car and make sure you didn't drive over a plastic bag. If not, wait until you can smell it, drive the car over ramps, and you should be able to tell where it's coming from. Good luck.
Also, my 2005 didn't look much different from this before it started chirping. I've read about a few 2012's with HB issues so I took it in just to be safe, and so that (my concern at least) would be documented in case I do have trouble in the future.
While it's in the shop I'm having them look at my rocking/creaking driver's seat, rough 1-2 shift (I already tried aligning my shifter and it didn't change the behavior at all) and diff whine I'm hearing so it won't be a wasted trip regardless. Better safe than sorry sometimes I guess.
Last edited by sevinn; Feb 27, 2013 at 03:40 PM.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 3,807
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From: Oshawa, Ontario
Thanks for the tip. I did already look underneath for debris and didn't see a thing, so I took a look at my HB and saw it wobbling when it didn't before in the least. If it's fine it just means I'll have the car back sooner.
Also, my 2005 didn't look much different from this before it started chirping. I've read about a few 2012's with HB issues so I took it in just to be safe, and so that (my concern at least) would be documented in case I do have trouble in the future.
While it's in the shop I'm having them look at my rocking/creaking driver's seat, rough 1-2 shift (I already tried aligning my shifter and it didn't change the behavior at all) and diff whine I'm hearing so it won't be a wasted trip regardless. Better safe than sorry sometimes I guess.
Also, my 2005 didn't look much different from this before it started chirping. I've read about a few 2012's with HB issues so I took it in just to be safe, and so that (my concern at least) would be documented in case I do have trouble in the future.
While it's in the shop I'm having them look at my rocking/creaking driver's seat, rough 1-2 shift (I already tried aligning my shifter and it didn't change the behavior at all) and diff whine I'm hearing so it won't be a wasted trip regardless. Better safe than sorry sometimes I guess.
Last edited by irok; Feb 27, 2013 at 04:13 PM.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
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From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
there is a simple cure for your belt squeal and harmonic balancer problems that only needs done once.look on page 117,118 or 119 of the 2012 GMPP catalog.check the COPC Camaro engines on pages 4 and 5 in the 2013 GMPP catalog. what do they all have on them? ATI super damper! when GM goes racing they dont go to lose and wont put up with these failures on there own equipment.ALMS corvettes run 24 hour endurance races at 7,000 rpm. they all run ATI super dampers. trouble is you will have to pay for it yourself once
.
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Verdad Gallardo
Team Owner
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From: Far NW 'burbs of Chicago
St. Jude Donor '13
IIRC, the GM bulletin about balancers says the only way to really check it is to remove the belt and use a dial indicator in the pulley groove. Any measurements taken from the face of the balancer, or "inside" the center, are not accurate because they don't try to make those surfaces perfect.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 3,807
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From: Oshawa, Ontario
dont know if they could void your warranty for using a genuine GM alternate part that they themselves use on the same engine.the hb is rebadged GM performance parts. you would have to check with them. kind of crazy to void your warranty for using genuine GM parts dont you think?
Last edited by irok; Feb 27, 2013 at 04:33 PM.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
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From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
I agree, but seeing as how you can't buy the part with the GM part number yet, I don't see myself getting it done at this time. Also, I don't see any specs on the copo damper. It could be an overdrive damper (seeing as how the copo camaro has a blower) which would be no good for a stock application.
Safety Car
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 3,807
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From: Oshawa, Ontario
I agree, but seeing as how you can't buy the part with the GM part number yet, I don't see myself getting it done at this time. Also, I don't see any specs on the copo damper. It could be an overdrive damper (seeing as how the copo camaro has a blower) which would be no good for a stock application.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 3,755
Likes: 190
From: Baton Rouge LA
St. Jude Donor '14, '16
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 2006
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From: Van Buren Arkansas
Wounded Warrior Escort '11
I too had the harmonic balancer issue on my '07 a few months ago and I had it replaced. My concern is that GM is aware of the issues with balancers failing on all of the C-5's, so now there are issues with the C-6's too...what's going on with this? I would think they would have come up with a better design rather than sticking us with these failures that they know are going to happen.