Car vibrating heavily! - Harmonic balancer?

SN95StangMan

New Member
Jul 5, 2003
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Lynwood, CA
I started my car yesterday morning and was shocked when the car was vibrating like crazy. It was bad enough to make my seat shake. I had gone to the track the night before, drove to a friends house after, and then drove home and the car was not turned on until more than a day later.

I thought at first that it might be a miss, since I had changed the plugs the day before for a nitrous setup, but everything looked good, and this thing felt like more than a simple miss. I checked around the harmonic balancer for any rubber that might be popping out, but it seemed normal. I then cut off the spark and fuel and had my brother in law turn the car over slowly so i can take a look at the balancer, and it had what appears to have a slight wobble, at slow speed. I I'm assuming that is where my problem is coming from, but I want to rule out any other possibilities. I'm just shocked that i did not have any problems while driving home, and then the next time I started the car, it was moving like a raped ape.
 
If you see it wobbling, replace it for sure. It'll only get worse and can cause much more damage that's worth more than the $75 it takes to replace the balancer. It was the first thing I did to my car, and it was a cinch to do! The rubber on mine wasn't coming out too much, but it had a good wobble to it, and it definitely made my car shake like crazy.
 
If you haven't, do a cylinder balance test. This will let the EEC check for a miss (sometimes it's tough for us to pick up a miss if the engine idles a little lumpy).
 
My balancer come apart on my car as well. Tore a hole in the timing chain cover. I realize yours may not be that bad but Because mine did come apart I had to end up pulling the motor and getting new main bearings installed. I messed them up when it happened. I also had to get the crank turned and polished. Ended up doing alot of performance upgrades though so It worked out good.I would definately replace the balancer at the very least.
 
I just replaced mine yesterday. The car was shaking slightly at idle and I could feel a slight vibration in the driveline upon take-off. My HB looked normal from the front but when I felt it, part of the outer ring had moved 2mm forwards. A new HB cured it.