jodyjo

So, yesterday morning we had a pretty heavy rain here. I was at work (in the vette) and took it home at lunch time. On the way home, I noticed what could best be described as a "chirping" sound. I popped the hood yesterday evening and when I was trying to diagnose where this sound was coming from, I noticed my harmonic balancer pulley has quite ALOT of play in it. Is this normal? I'm going to WD-40 the pulleys after work, hopefully that fixes my chirping problem, but the play in the pulley really worries me.

LoneStarFRC

Replace it ASAP! AAMOF, I wouldn't even drive the car until it is.

NO.

jodyjo

I'm just glad it's super easy to change (sarcasm). I wonder what caused it to become so loose all of a sudden? I think I would have noticed the play before.

Curt B

By "play" do you mean wobble? I did mine recently and found the timing cover seal had worn a groove in the balancer hub allowing oil to seep past and saturate the rubber ring which is likely what did it in.

jodyjo

Yeah, I would definitely call it a wobble. With it being my daily is it okay to drive until fixed? I definitely don't want to hurt it. I'm a little timid to take on the project with everything involved and may just take it to a local shop. Just not sure if I want to pay the Corvette tax.

radracr

I have the same issue going on. My "chirp" will go away however once the car is warmed up all the way. My balancer pulley has a wobble if you look at the belt ridges, but if you look at the pulley just past where the rubber is between the layers it doesn't appear to have any wobble. Is mine on its way out?

RockyMtC5

Personally I would make sure it's torqued to spec first & monitor it (I've heard of LS balancer bolts backing out on their own so check that it isn't loose). My other LS engine had a pretty good wobble and eventually it started leaking oil out of the front seal. Replaced with new seal and balancer and it's good, but still a very slight wobble.

My C5 balancer has no wobble at all….. currently.

SG Lou

Not if want to cause more harm and cost more $$$$$$$ in the long run !

So to answer your question, No Not OK to Drive ! DD or not, I'd park it until it's repaired or your asking for trouble

Lt. Dan M.

Seems that the OEM ballancer is prone to gong bad. Had the one in my 99 changed with around 50K miles, I'm guessing. It was at the dealer so I had them fix it. It was around $750 as I recall. If I were to have to do it over, I would put a good aftermarket ballancer in. Didn't make any noise though. The same car did have a belt squeel/cherp just a few months back, Gatorback belts cured that.

kabluie

If your harmonic balance pulley wiggles enough it will throw the belt. When it does that you will be done driving the car nearly immediately. If you try to go any further, i.e. the next exit, you'll likely be replacing the water pump too.

jodyjo

Apparently chirping goes away when car is warm... Maybe something just got wet. What's really crazy is that when the engine is revved, the balancer/pulley appears to be as smooth and as true as the day it rolled off the line.