Harmonic Balancer Giving Me The S%&*HITs

[holden#1]

I am pissed! my harmonic balancer is in two bits.... missus said she heard a noise in the engine as she turned into driveway!

It had a new one installed at 160,000

Now its at 230,000

WTF??? 70,000 is not good on a $140 part....

Anyone had the same experience?

 

[Boonz]

did you replace it with a genuine or cheap replacement???

all that actually holds them together is a rubber bush inside the balancer so you get what you pay for....mines worth $340 changeover

 

[holden#1]

can't seem to remember or locate the brand (which means I spose it definitely wasn't genuine) I paid around $140. shall shop around I suppose....
its a shame they don't build these balancers with a bit more durability though.

 

[Boonz]

can't seem to remember or locate the brand (which means I spose it definitely wasn't genuine) I paid around $140. shall shop around I suppose....
its a shame they don't build these balancers with a bit more durability though.

quality is important because you might think your saving money but in the long run your actually spending more

go to your local spares joint and ask them to source you a ATI performance balancer and see how you go:wave:

 

[holden#1]

ATI performance Balancer?

is this the standard unit but better quality? or does it enhance performance i.e like a lightened flywheel or something?

 

[Boonz]

ok go to your local holden dealer and ask them to order you a harmonic balancer for your VS they are still in stock(cheacked today just for u) and are genuine they retail for $180-$200 with warranty

 

[VScom]

Yeah mate i had my harmonic balancer poo itself at 190,000. Got it replaced for $340 and was told by the mechanic that it would last about 80,000k's.

 

[Don Sutton]

Yeah mate i had my harmonic balancer poo itself at 190,000. Got it replaced for $340 and was told by the mechanic that it would last about 80,000k's.

My VS has done 130000kms and has original balancer. Most important thing is to not get any oil on them as this swells the rubber and changes the rubber characteristics. The balancer is supposed to provide a steady speed to the ancillaries by smoothing out the rythmic crankshaft pulses from each power stroke. As you probably know that the crankshaft is twisting back and forth during rotation as each cyl fires it bends the crank pin forward of the the main crankshaft and the crank pins oscillate slightly at some frequency. The crankshaft can break when the natural oscillation frequency coincides with the power pulse frequency even though the crankshaft would easily withstand the speed. An example is the Chrysler Hemi engine used in the Valiants and Charger in Australia. The crankshaft would disintegrate at 14000rpm but if the engine was required to produce enough power eg the 4 barrel Pacer used at Bathurst it would cause the clutch to disintegrate at about 5000rpm. The 2 barrel could rev higher. The problem was overcome on the later Charger with the triple Webers (E39/E49 and E37) by using a 9 lb harmonic balancer. I dont know what the weight of the unit used on the 3.8 Ecotec unit used in the Commodore is but it certainly looks heavy.

 

[Harvs82]

My VS has done 130000kms and has original balancer. Most important thing is to not get any oil on them as this swells the rubber and changes the rubber characteristics. The balancer is supposed to provide a steady speed to the ancillaries by smoothing out the rythmic crankshaft pulses from each power stroke. As you probably know that the crankshaft is twisting back and forth during rotation as each cyl fires it bends the crank pin forward of the the main crankshaft and the crank pins oscillate slightly at some frequency. The crankshaft can break when the natural oscillation frequency coincides with the power pulse frequency even though the crankshaft would easily withstand the speed.

My VS has done 166,000kms, and still has the original balancer too, and it seems to be in good shape. Interesting that a couple of people have mentioned they only last 80,000kms or so....

 

[holden#1]

ok go to your local holden dealer and ask them to order you a harmonic balancer for your VS they are still in stock(cheacked today just for u) and are genuine they retail for $180-$200 with warranty

boona15, you're a legend mate...

have you or anyone else heard of a 10% or something reduction balancer???
supposed to enhance performance or something.

sounds way out, but worth asking I spose....