Dear All,

I had a state inspection as well as a multi point inspection at the dealership for my 2006 MC S auto. A day after i picked up the car it just stalled and eventually towed it to dealership. They say harmonic balancer is in need of replacement. Does it make sense that they could not detect this type of failure the day before i picked it up from dealership? They say it will cost 1100. Any suggestions or input? Thank you.

 

Go aftermatket on tge replacement....the oem will fail again in the same way.
Two aftermarkert ones wre around, the ati, and for about $100 less, the liquid/gel ome.
Boty functionly similar, and superior to the rubber oem one.
Both are also cheaper than the oem, and fit well.
other option that i do not like is an ubdampeded pulley...not a good option imo.
unless you looked at the damper, it would be easy to miss....pretty rare failure on a non mini. And the state inspections are almost always only safety/emissions, not mechanical.....

 

hasn't the oem been updated though? I guess i'll have to get it fixed at dealership since it's there anyways and it is not moveable. right?

 

OEM update still fails.

Go With ATI have a local shop install it. $800 or less. Might a swell do a supercharger pulley while your at it. Also i would have the o-ring gasket changed in the timing chain housing. It sits right behined the harmonic balancer.

 

You will be paying 2x the price...for a part that WILL fail, and paying 3x the labour. Your $$.
Maybe you can get them to cover it if you just got the car....said one day?
They usually fail slightly more gracefully....a few lights, a stop from getting hot....then usually ok for a bit after cool....and slips again when pushed...
Just a "stall"....
Getting stuck on the side of the road is not good, but warping a mini head from overheating is a big $$...so not driving it might be best. But dealers are what they are...$$$.
aftermarket part from waymotorworks is about $300, plus labor to install, then a $30 belt.

 

Updated part....
The 2005+ parts are the updated part...was a bit lighter...but still seems to fail...as you found out,

 

What do you mean by supercharger pulley and o ring gasket? Sorry, I want to learn more. THanks.

 

But it should still last maybe at least 60,000 more miles right? Shouldn't fail often since this is not an oil leak rite?

 

Go with the ATI damper it is a superior part, I've installed at least 50 of them, it fits perfect, and I've noticed cars idle smoother with it, and at cruise speed seem smoother.

 

ATI is the way to go for sure, as for your question on the supercharger pulley and o-ring... you have much to learn grasshopper

 

Yes, go with the ATI Super Damper and an independant repair facility, should be about $500.00 + lobor, as far as the O-Ring, it's an item to just do because it sits behind the balancer and is one of those "might as well do it while we have it apart" things, very minimal extra expense. Don't worry about the pulley for now, untill you gain a little more knowledge about your car and what you may or may not, want to do with it, it's not that much of an extra expense to do it from scratch.

Good Luck

 

whooaaa 1100!! thats so expensive! if you live near dc ill do it for you for 100 bucks. the o ring is good to replace because its one of those things on our cars that eventually starts to leak oil. the supercharger pulley is simply put the cheapest thing you can modify on our cars that will give you the most power gain in return. would be a great first mod that you will definitely feel and probably get you more excited about changing other things on your car

 

Mine was failing so bad it would chirp when i shifted.
I bought a PRW one from RMW, love it and could not be happy.
did the labor myself. Its not terribly easy and will require some special tools.
If you have a bunch of miles, its not a bad idea to change the belt tensioner also while you are there because changing it then makes it a bunch easier. and they do wear out...

 

its not too difficult so long as you have a harmonic balancer removal tool, which you can rent from auto zone for free