Wondering how to tell if my crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer is really bad?

The pulley/balancer moves freely when i push on it and pull, also when the car is idling, you can see this pulley/balancer wobbling violently. Also there is a huge gouge/dent on the lip too. Friend started car while engine was leaned upwards while the pulley/balancer was on the chassis.

Took the bolt off tho and it is perfectly straight so Im sure the shaft didnt bend.

Also can someone tell me what size bolt goes to the crank pulley threads so I can pull it off with my puller? Thanks

 

Since its a two peice balancer, i could actually see the rubber seperating into two pieces. Since mine was bad, it made the belt tensioner go too and it leaked all over my engine bay. I put a 2% alta straight pulley and replaced the tensioner and put a tensioner cable lock on there so that if anything does go, my belt wont tear up my engine bay. If you are comfortable doing the work yourself it will only cost you roughly $200-250 and its a good 4-5 hour job with normal jack stands and no specialized tools. Just follow the s/c pulley removal and its just removing the tensioner and h/b which are easily accessable.


on a side note-
If you do it yourself also check the engine mounts b/c the extra vibration on my engine cause my mounts to come apart also. all of these things can be replaced at the same time if you plan it, otherwise you will have to take apart your engine 3-4 times. And im sorry i cant remember the crank pulley bolt size. If you do the whole job like i did it cost about $350 for all the parts.
-J

 

ya, im going to be doing it myself. I will buy a alta 0% because getting one from the dealer with the discount is going to cost me 280. I found one for 100$ shipped

 

why 0% do you have a pulley on the s/c?

 

Yeah, he's got a pulley. MiniS, I'm glad you found that one in the marketplace, I was going to post a couple days ago to let you know about it but forgot. Good luck with the install. Hopefully, it isn't as eventful as your pulley job.

 

get the haynes manual . it will give all the inexpensive ways to do stuff .

 

haha, nah im sure it wont give me troubles because this pulley puller I got it SPECIFICLY for the crank pulley also can someone tell me what size the bolts are that I need to put into the crank pulley puller to thread into the crank pulley? Thanks

 

I had both M7 pulleys (16% and +2%) installed recently. I've got 1000 miles on the mod and all I can say is "DANG!!!!!". Anyway, I had purchased them both and then decided I would only change the SC pulley and send the CP back to M7 (they were WAY cool with it, as expected). After my mechanic got my car apart, looking around, etc he noticed a LOT of play in the stock crank pulley/balancer and recommended replacing it. He and I went back and forth until it was finally decided that the new M7 CP was goin' in. He's worked on a lot of cool cars over the years; Porsches, Mercedes, Lamborghinis, etc etc and owns a couple of Ferraris, a Formula Ford and some other crazy rarities. I really, really value him and his experience. Basically, instead of buying the Stock crank pulley, I replaced it with a lighter, slightly larger one for a third of the price I hope this isn't going to be one of my mechanic's rare mistakes. Wish me luck!!

 

Same mod i recently did too mine. I have about 5 k on the pulleys and have had no problems...except the tensioner which failed (most likely a result of my harmonic balancer being in 2 pieces).

 

Yeah, that's what I'm kind of afraid is going to happen to me as well. How much of a PITA was it to change just the Tensioner? I'm assuming that it's just about as big of a pain as it is to replace the pulleys. Oh well. Back on topic: with both pulleys replaced, it's a LOT more fun to drive now, don't you think? I mean, it sure gets the Revs up quick...even with the AC running, it's still much quicker than before the Mod. Now, it's on to Brakes: Stainless lines (not sure. Goodridge or Technafit) and Hawk Pads is where I'm headed. Power is great, Brake-Fade...not so much.

 

Ive got drilled rotors, braided lines, and those green something pads. Love the stopping power but i hate the wine that the brakes make when you slow down slowly, makes my car sound like it has bad brakes. changing the tensioner is def a PITA but it is the same process as the pulleys. there is supposed to be a way where you can do it all without going through the whole pulley process, but i couldnt figure out how to get to the bolts with the engine mount not being in the way. Idk though, i can get my engine all apart and jacked up/detensioned in less than an hour by myself now...So.
I didnt think it was that hard. o btw now that i have those pulleys, solid engine mounts, spec clutch, and fidanza flywheel, my car really hates ideling. I really need a re-map and to get rid of my crappy shark injector reprogrammer!