Can a harmonic balancer cause ..

Rapid · Mar 3, 2007

Problems with out actually losing its alignment? I had a vibration at about 1800 that was there before my recent T5 swap. It is still there but more noticable now. The balancer looks as if it is showing TDC at the proper point. Can the elastomer "dry out" and kill the efectivness of the balancer?

I went a few steps richer which helped but there is still some vibration there. It is evident with the car out of gear just reving the engine, clutch in or out. I have eliminated the drivetrain by coasting down the highway then reving to that RPM.

The cap and rotor look good, the mixture was, but is no longer lean, wires check out on an ohm meter, and plugs are fresh. The firing order is correct and I have seperated 7 and 8 to eliminate cross fire.

I have done a search but most folks don't report the final repair that works.

Thanks

66forfun · Mar 3, 2007

check your motor & trans mounts. if the balancer is bad you should see it when its running. could be anything that is rotating, wheels, ujoints, pilot bearing for the trans input shaft...a "mechanic" once changed the bearing retainer on my t5 to a steel one but didnt know how to use feeler gauges when he put it together and it lunched the tranny in ~ 1000mi/my new cable was melted on the header, he didnt change the pilot bearing either, hack. convinced me to do everything in my power to do everything i can myself (expensive lesson). if the motor was built before w/o balancing a fluid damper or tci rattler could be used as a bandaid.

gjz30075 · Mar 3, 2007

Rapid said:
Can the elastomer "dry out" and kill the efectivness of the balancer?
Thanks

Absolutely. The outer ring can slip a bit and make the timing look out of whack. Although the balancing piece of the harmonic balancer is usually cast in the piece that is keyed to the crank snout, there's enough weight in the outer ring to cause imbalance.

Rapid · Mar 3, 2007

66forfun said:
check your motor & trans mounts. if the balancer is bad you should see it when its running. could be anything that is rotating, wheels, ujoints, pilot bearing for the trans input shaft...a "mechanic" once changed the bearing retainer on my t5 to a steel one but didnt know how to use feeler gauges when he put it together and it lunched the tranny in ~ 1000mi/my new cable was melted on the header, he didnt change the pilot bearing either, hack. convinced me to do everything in my power to do everything i can myself (expensive lesson). if the motor was built before w/o balancing a fluid damper or tci rattler could be used as a bandaid.

What do I look for and how? Are you talking about seeing a vibration while looking at the balancer? All the rest is new, T5 Z, flywheel, bearings, clutch, and installed/inspected by me. The vibration was there before the change but I think the torque converter smoothed some of it out.

GT1966 · Mar 3, 2007

flywheel phase?

Rapid - Could the flywheel have been installed out-of-phase? I mean, there are 6 choices for the flywheel to be attached (ie: 6 bolt holes) to the crank. I understand the flywheel and harmonic balancer work in concert with eachother and typically when I have removed a flywheel for machining, etc., I have marked the flywheel's orientation relative to the crank. I can't help you as to how you figure what location is correct, but this might be a clue. GT1966

Max Power · Mar 3, 2007

GT1966 said:
Rapid - Could the flywheel have been installed out-of-phase? I mean, there are 6 choices for the flywheel to be attached (ie: 6 bolt holes) to the crank. I understand the flywheel and harmonic balancer work in concert with eachother and typically when I have removed a flywheel for machining, etc., I have marked the flywheel's orientation relative to the crank. I can't help you as to how you figure what location is correct, but this might be a clue. GT1966

Most flywheels and flexplates have a bolt pattern that will only let you install them one way.

GT1966 · Mar 3, 2007

well, I'll be damned....

....you're right, and I've been marking-off flywheels for the last 35 years! I guess old dogs learning is what a forum is all about.
GT1966

Rapid · Mar 3, 2007

GT1966 said:
....you're right, and I've been marking-off flywheels for the last 35 years! I guess old dogs learning is what a forum is all about.
GT1966

Yes, it would only go one way and in my limited workspace it was tough!

Thanks

ForceFed70 · Mar 3, 2007

Like mentioned, you can't bolt up the flywheel out of phase.

BUT, could it be that the wrong inbalance flywheel was used?
Did you use a 50oz or 28oz inbalance flywheel? If you used 50oz, you need to change your dampener to match.

jcode68 · Mar 3, 2007

What brand flywheel did you use? I am working through a similar problem, but the cold weather has slowed my progress. I suspected it was caused by my cheap $90 flywheel I picked up on fleabay, so I purchased a Ford Racing FW and am in the process of swapping it out.

Rapid · Mar 3, 2007

jcode68 said:
What brand flywheel did you use? I am working through a similar problem, but the cold weather has slowed my progress. I suspected it was caused by my cheap $90 flywheel I picked up on fleabay, so I purchased a Ford Racing FW and am in the process of swapping it out.

Dynamic racing. I would go there except that I had this problem before my swap. I had hoped that new stuff would eliminate the problem. I got mine on ebay as well. I think it is a quality part.

I had seen your thread and hoped that you would solve your problem. If the flywheel is the cause, there is one for sale in the classifieds I can go after. It is a Hays that I did not get in the first place to stay in budget.

jcode68 · Mar 3, 2007

I guess the race is on to see who fixes first! My money is on you

Rapid · Mar 3, 2007

jcode68 said:
I guess the race is on to see who fixes first! My money is on you

A worthy challange!

Rapid · Mar 8, 2007

jcode68 said:
I guess the race is on to see who fixes first! My money is on you

Still workng on this. I had some inprovement running a littl richer mixture. I then swapped the vaccume advance from ported to direct a got a very noticable improvement there. I am now going to fiddle with the amopunt of advance with vaccume and the springs. I have the most aggressive or lightest springs now and about 16 degrees of advance at the vaccume.

So far some major improvement w/o throwing any money at it!

Can a harmonic balancer cause ..

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That's why they call it "dope"

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