floridacruisin

I purchased a 2006 Corvette in Feb. 2016 with 16,000 miles. 9 Days later I had to have the harmonic balancer replaced. 18 months later at 27,000 miles I had to have it replaced again both times by authorized mechanics at two different dealers (2nd time the car was flat bedded to the nearest dealer). I love the car but am now considering selling it as this seems to be a recurring problem. Anybody else have suggestions or comments?

BlindSpot

Comments anyone??

vcheng

Replace it with a better after-market alternative, not the crappy stock GM part next time and your problem should stay solved.

(I opted for an ATI part.)

919cw313

Yeah, stop using the GM balancer.

Edit: beat me by a minute with the obvious answer.

drew_c6

Other guys gave you the answer. Which one to get will vary - usually between the more expensive ATI balancer and the cheaper Summit Racing alternative. There's also a few others, but in my search those seem to be the most commonly referenced.

OP, I'm right there with you. I also have a 2006, but bought it with 60,000 miles. I've had the car since March and the balancer went out about a month ago. Fortunately, this is a common problem, if not THE MOST common problem, and I browse the forum enough to have avoided the mistake of trying to reinstall a stock replacement.

My new balancer arrived yesterday. Now, I just have to overcome my trepidation of performing the DIY install.

Side note: having a general understanding of what a HB does, I probably shouldn't have been, but I was a little surprised at how heavy it was. This does lead me to the following question though: if the balancer is weighted to counter harmonic vibration from the crank, wouldn't changing it out for a underdrive pulley ie., LIGHTER PULLEY, run the risk of reintroducing harmful vibrations?

919cw313

“There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”


― George W. Bush

ruxvette

Whaaat???

morepwr

The damper is working to reduce the torsional loads on the crankshaft as the engine is running and the diameter of it isn't as big of an influence of it as is its ability to work as you might think. The damper that fails on our cars is due to the rubber that is between the two cast iron pieces letting the two pieces come out of alignment and then you can visually see the run out or hear it when the belt chirps. Obviously when this is happening the damper isn't doing its job as well but is still working.

Most of the aftermarket ones have a much better design in both the rubber quality and construction of the damper itself. I put the Summit/Trick flow one on my car and it is indeed a heavier piece than the factory one but it is a better part. You won't be hurting a thing if you want the under drive unit over the stock diameter one.

extrapilot

Not sure where I read it, but the light ones can due damage, introducing extra loads on the bearings of the crank shaft, so EOM weight or heavier could be the answer for street duty.

gameover4

get an ATI or IW balancer and be done with it.

Not So Fast

Mine is going in next week for HB replacement, using a Power Bond PB1117SS.
Shop owner looked at mine and said yes its wobbling but if we replace it with a GM unit I cannot guarantee it wont still wobble
The I told him I wanted to use the Power Bond, he said it will be fine.
Had to get it at Rock Auto as Summit inventory was damaged, after getting 2 they told me they could find none in any of their warehouses that weren't damaged
The HB called for with ATI was priced at $435 and wasn't necessary for my use, so PB it was
Good luck
NSF

Turbo6TA

Bobby ....

How the heck could a brand new / big ol' heavy steel harmonic balancer be damaged right out of the box?

Did it get run over by a locomotive while it was in the Summit warehouse?

Turbo6TA

BTW ... If my HB starts to wobble, I am also going to replace it with the Dayco PowerBond PB1117SS.

Knock on wood it don't need replacing for a long time ... car now has 17,000 miles

Not So Fast

That's what I asked. when the first one showed up the Summit box looked perfect, then I look at the Dayco box which was inside the other one, HOLY CRAP, it was beat to hell. Then when I found scratches on it plus a good sized nick on the serp belt outer track I said no way, 2nd one was worse but the inside package was now a generic cardboard box, but in good shape.
Balancer looked as if it were dropped on concrete, had really rough edges on the outer track, AGAIN.
So when they said they would ship another I said please have it looked at before shipping, next day they called and said our entire inventory at all warehouses were damaged in the same way, go figure.
Maybe they or someone dropped a pallet I don't know but that's the story Ron, believe it or not.
They did offer an ATI at 20% discount but still pretty pricey so I declined and went with R-A.
Not a good start
Bobby

Not So Fast

That's what I hoped for, it had a little wobble back then but since I checked it 6 months ago it became much worse, so keep an eye on it

jkirk1

Balancer wobble was extreme at 25,000 miles. ATI installed here...once and done.

BlindSpot

And it came out just about as clearly as I remember GB saying it...

the kid C6

I think what he meant was: fool me once, shame on you ... but you won't fool me again.

I don't know anything about harmonic balancers. Is it obvious when it fails?

BlindSpot

Yeah..it means sumpin' like dat....

On the HB, wait long enough and you'll know....trust me...you'll know...

331stroker

Mine started to squeak at about 48K, I couldn't isolate the source of the noise. kept driving, the noise went away. Kept a close eye on it and noticed one day that my belt had started to shred, even had a piece of belt stuck in the clamp for the air intake. Took it too the dealer and had the GM pulley installed, plus I had the oil pan dropped to fix an oil leak. My thought, don't wait until its too late as it could take out either the front of the motor or the radiator...