Quicksilver98 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Dang! Been noticing a couple drops of oil in my parking space lately. Looks like its coming from front main seal behind the harmonic balancer. I thought I saw one of our forum members selling a balancer recently but can't find the thread doing a search. Anyone have any recomendations as to what type to get? I read the 10% under drive by powerbond is a good choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOTV8 Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Hmm...I think Sean (Bigfoot) replaced his harmonic balancer on his 99, he might be able to offer some info. Has there been any work done there before? I know that the cover has to line up just so to prevent leakage when its put back together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver98 Posted November 6, 2009 Author Share Posted November 6, 2009 Nope...no work done in that area. The balancer has a little wobble to it but not much...im not sure what would be considered abnormal. I am going to take it over to a friends garage this weekend that has a lift so I can get it in the air and take a closer look. Its got about 102K miles on it now so I suppose its time for seals to go to hell and other stuff. We shall see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfoot Posted November 6, 2009 Share Posted November 6, 2009 Dean is right, I had a 1 to 2 mm wobble on mine. I went with the Powerbond 10% underdrive like you're looking at. You can get the SLP or others, thier all pretty much made by the same company then put out to vendors who stick their own name on them. I didn't wind up with leaks on mine though, just had to replace all of the tensioner and idler pulleys too. The bearings got thrashed in those. If you plan to do it yourself it's a heck of a job, but doable. A lift would be best but if you can get her in the air you can do it in your garage. You will need a couple special tools though. If you decide to do it yourself let me know and I'll get you more info and even lend a hand if I'm free when you do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertdawg Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I replaced mine on the 98 earlier this year when it threw the balancer off and into the steering stabilizer. I went with the SLP version and it worked just fine... I didn't have the time to wrench on it and I really didn't want to drop the steering stuff myself, so I had Joe at classic gold do it for a decent price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver98 Posted November 7, 2009 Author Share Posted November 7, 2009 Thanks Sean, Yea..thats about what mine is doing...i would say no more then 1 or 2 mm. I wasnt too concerned until the oil leak started so now I think I better do something about it. Last year i replaced all the tensioner and idler pulleys for makin noise so they should be good to go. I will take a look in the service manuals and see whats involved. Droppin the steering rack down and gettin a wheel puller on it shouldn't be impossible. I found a low milage stock one over on the corvette forum....debating on using that one. Looks like I won't be looking at it this weekend. My friend called last night and came down with the FLU. I dont need that so i am staying away for another week. Gives me more time to decide what to do with it. 11/7/09 edit...just got another message from member on corvette forum. He has brand new stock balancer off a LS6 crate motor that he will send to me for 75 dollars shipped. What would you guys do? Dean is right, I had a 1 to 2 mm wobble on mine. I went with the Powerbond 10% underdrive like you're looking at. You can get the SLP or others, thier all pretty much made by the same company then put out to vendors who stick their own name on them. I didn't wind up with leaks on mine though, just had to replace all of the tensioner and idler pulleys too. The bearings got thrashed in those. If you plan to do it yourself it's a heck of a job, but doable. A lift would be best but if you can get her in the air you can do it in your garage. You will need a couple special tools though. If you decide to do it yourself let me know and I'll get you more info and even lend a hand if I'm free when you do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigfoot Posted November 7, 2009 Share Posted November 7, 2009 I can't say anything about the oil leak without looking at it. To access it you have to remove the steering rack, not just drop it down. In order to do that you have to unbolt it and pull it out the side. If I remember right I pulled mine out the left side, which also requires loosening the undercarriage in order to move it town about an inch or less to let the rack slide out. An impact gun it best to remove the bolt on the balancer. You MIGHT be able to do it with a HEAVY duty strap wrench, but there's a ton of lock tight on that bolt. Of course the puller, but you'll need a special tool to reinstall. Chevy, in its infinite wisdom, did not start the threads soon enough inside the crank. So when you put the old bolt in to use as an install tool the threads won't reach in order to grab and start pulling the new balancer on. Also, most install tools won't reach either. There is a special one made with a longer bolt that reaches in that far (no, I don't have one) in order to start pulling it on. You'll still need that strap wrench to tighten the NEW bolt as well and the lock tight. That's all I can think of for now. "11/7/09 edit...just got another message from member on corvette forum. He has brand new stock balancer off a LS6 crate motor that he will send to me for 75 dollars shipped. What would you guys do?" Personally I'd go with an aftermarket. The GM kind uses a 2 pieces of metal pressed together with a rubber ring inbetween them. It will eventually fail again. That is if you plan to keep it for an extended period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver98 Posted November 8, 2009 Author Share Posted November 8, 2009 Ok....lets see if this works. I made a couple small videos with my digital camera trying to show the movement of both the harmonic balancer and the tensioner pulley. I admit not the best in the world but none the less. Let me know if this looks normal to what you guys see on your cars. Hopefully this link works. http://s950.photobucket.com/albums/ad345/c...ancer%20videos/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevyguy1969 Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 That is not good you need to get that balancer off the car ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desertdawg Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 I agree! and your steering stabilizer is dirty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevyguy1969 Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 any updates?¿ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver98 Posted November 14, 2009 Author Share Posted November 14, 2009 Things got delayed till this coming Sunday. My friend got ill last week so now we are going to have it up on the lift on Sunday. I now have a spare stock Harmonic Balancer from a low mileage 2004 on standby and a new Balancer bolt courtesy of my local Chevy dealer. I also have 2 or 3 other things I want to do while it's on the lift so it will be time well spent. Got a low rpm rattle thats been driving me nuts for months. I hope to find and correct that too. Will update post when all is complete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quicksilver98 Posted November 17, 2009 Author Share Posted November 17, 2009 Well I had a list of about 6 things I wanted to get done on Sunday but didn't get them all done. I fixed a couple of rattles and a leaky oil drain plug with a new one. Replaced my front O2 sensors and cleaned out a pound of crap from my radiator but didnt get to the balancer yet. Maybe next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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