possible for balancer to be bad and not have a wobble??

[Foxfan88]

I always have thought my balancer was bad. But tonight i jacked her up and looked closer from under the car.....
I guess the thing plays with your eyes, but it doesnt really wobble at all. It looks fine to me. Doenst look like anything is wrong. But i dunno, my timing is set at supposedly 10 degrees according to the balancer but i still expierence spark knock some, its not like OMG, but if giving it moderate throttle you can hear it.....

 

[tjm73]

gas is garbage right now. my car is set at 12 adn used to run perfecton just 87 octane. now spark knocks like crazy.

 

[HISSIN50]

Was it on your thread before where I mentioned the 'hypnotics'? It does mess with your head.

Running the motor to TDC and checking the balancer position is about as good a way to know as any. I do agree that gas seems to kind of suck lately.

Spark knock (I assume this happens at higher RPMs) can also be from leaness - like if the fuel pressure is dropping under demand (clogged filter, weak pump), etc.

Good luck bud.

 

[SamSnyder]

You can stick a screwdriver into the #1 spark plug hole and feel the piston come up to TDC, and compare it to the marks on the balancer. Mine just jumped the crank key, and when running showed 30 BTDC with a timing light where I knew it was set to 13 BTDC. But the reason I was even looking at the balancer was because I suddenly developed a bad shake as the motor passed through 1000 rpm. If you think it' a bad balancer don't just focus on the fact you may have spark knock. Does it also shake? And if so, what does the balancer show when the #1 piston is at TDC?

 

[Foxfan88]

the motor shakes slightly at idle.
and about the screw driver...how will i know if its TDC?? if i stick it in too far the piston will hit it before TDC

 

[HISSIN50]

the motor shakes slightly at idle.
and about the screw driver...how will i know if its TDC?? if i stick it in too far the piston will hit it before TDC

You toss the rod/screwdriver down there and watch it as you rotate the motor over. When it gets to the top, you should see the screwdriver stop/slow down significantly. Then continue till it falls off the zenith. Then go back half the difference from when you saw it stop on the upsweep.

Sorry, that was very inarticulate.

Sam might have a much better way than that though (A degree wheel and dial indicator are more accurate but seemingly unnecessary).

Good luck.

 

[SamSnyder]

Nope, that's about right. Technically, the right way to degree it in is to use a piston stop, which bolts into the spark plug hole and prevents the piston from fully rising to top dead center (obviously, you don't use a lot of force, but stop turning the engine over when you feel #1 come to a stop). Then, you are supposed to mark that spot and go all the way back around until the piston hits the stop on that rotation. When you mark that you should have two marks eually distant from TDC, so you split the difference and that is true TDC on your car. But you'r have to get a piston stop and that's a lot of trouble when the fact is you can pretty much feel the piston come to TDC with a screwdriver in there. At least enough to tell you if the balancer is messed up. At least mine worked out that way.