65GranSport

I have a 2011 GS with 6,500 miles and the harmonic balancer has a slight wobble. Luckily I have the GM extended warranty for one more year. Understand that I can have the balancer replaced under the warranty, but the BIG QUESTION is; is the GM replacement just as bad as the original? Has anyone replaced their original with another GM balancer? AND I need a reputable dealership in Oakland County, Michigan. Thanks for the advice.

Turbo6TA

None of the GM LS harmonic balancers are any good.

And the replacement LS GM balancer sold today are no different now than they were 15 years ago when installed at the factory.

Good luck getting GM to pay for a new balancer ... the dealership will tell you that slight wobble is not a problem.

SixAddict

Trebor

MacMulikin replaced mine 4 years ago on my 2006 with the OEM HB under the used car warranty. They also threw in 2 new serpentine belts and alignment. Zero problems after 4 years.

LJD51

A wobble after 6,500 miles??? I replaced the one in my '05 at 138k miles with the OEM and it was rock solid when I traded it at 149k miles.

dondoucette

My 06 only had 35k miles and I had a wobble on a stock part.

gdmoore01

One of the most controversial subjects on this forum is the stock harmonic dampener. I would liken this issue comparable with the LS7 valve problem.

I have a 2013 GS LS3 and my buddy has a 2007 Base LS2. His damper started to wobble @ 50k miles & then progress to a belt squeak which prompted him to pay OOP for a replacement. He went to a highly respected performance shop (by local forum members) here in the DFW area (Addison) and they recommended & replaced with the stock unit. 4 years and 25k miles later, no problems.

Mine began wobbling at 30k miles. I had a 3rd-party ($0 ded/7 year/100k miles) extended warranty, purchased with the car, that was about to expire and never used. Took my car to a highly respected DFW Chevy (and Corvette) dealership to address the notorious fuel smell/leak, addressed by the Chevy special coverage. While there, I asked the shop to check the dampener wobble. They agreed that it required replacement and did so with another stock unit under my 3rd-party warranty. So cost me nothing.

I have performed some previous research on the stock dampener and GM has had their supplier update/upgrade them as the current unit is published as a 2nd design. So they must have noticed something with the original design. As a side note, these dampeners are used on thousands of LS engines installed in several of the Chevrolet models. If I had paid OOP I may have installed an after-market unit as so many of the forum members have, but using the dealership left me with no choice under the warranty, so I will see how this one performs and hopefully as successful as my buddies replacement.

The OP may be limited to his options should he use a dealership & GM extended warranty. If not, good thing there are other options available and I hope this helps to address the original question.

Good luck...GD

bravo29

Yup I have slight wobble and my extended warranty denied it. The dealer stated the warranty company said the rubber piece has to be showing or separation.

ls1121

The guy that built my motor said to go with the stock one. He said that with all the LS3's out there and the minimal problems he would suggest the stocker. Made sense to me after all nobody starts a post with hey all of these stock GM parts are Great!

65GranSport

Thanks, this is so helpful. Yes, I want to do what I can using my warranty that is about to expire as long as the replacement part has been updated. I appreciate the research you did on the update. I will go to my local Chevy dealership. thanks again!