skulptr Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 any one ever heard of it happening? i have had alot of problems with my pulleys lately, alternator idler was the first to go, so i jsut replaced both idlers and belts, then started hearing a sound like the power steering running low on fluid, turned out to be my a/c clutch is shot. so i took that belt off, shouldnt be a problem right? first drive out with just he alternator belt and v belt on, and the 2 ribbed sections of the harmonic balancer slid off. i noticed a problem when the a/t temp light, brake light, and battery light started flashing at the same time, then my temp sky rocketed. i tapped the whole thing back together hoping it would hold long enough to get home. wrong, it came apart again before i got even half a mile. any idea if really only having one belt was enough to upset this whole thing, or was my balancer probably already bad and this just made the problem extremely obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Haven't ever heard of that happening but I guess anything's possible. Get a new one and you should be good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alkorahil Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 I have seen this before on the D22U Frontier with the V6 when they have been allowed to rust away. I dont recall ever seeing it on an R50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoPathyGo Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 Hmm... It's possible but usually happens after a lot of wear and tear. You should be able to hear and feel it; balancers that are falling apart will allow vibration and noise. The belt sliding off may or may not be linked. Was the belt properly tensioned ? Were the pulleys tight ? How many miles and how worn are the other components ? Here's a video of a bad balancer. I put the link because the first two comments are just priceless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulptr Posted January 5, 2010 Author Share Posted January 5, 2010 (edited) i noticed it wobbling a little bit a few months back, thought nothing of it. but what i'm saying happened is, the vbelt and sleeve stayed, but the serp belt part slid forward and off. thats why the belt came off. i figured the belt would help it stay on more than pull it off even faster. i ordered a new balancer last ngiht, when i tear into it, i'll post pics. snows flying, no point in starting it now. heres a pic related to what i'm talking about out of curiousity, has anyone here eliminated their fan and fan clutch on an r50 and put in an electric fan? i had to replace my fan clutch last month as well. Edited January 5, 2010 by skulptr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted January 5, 2010 Share Posted January 5, 2010 ...out of curiousity, has anyone here eliminated their fan and fan clutch on an r50 and put in an electric fan? i had to replace my fan clutch last month as well. Yeah, I'm sure someone on here has done this upgrade. I'm planning on this but not sure when for multiple reasons. AC sells an electric fan for the VG33E but I'm pretty sure there are several options out there. The OEM fan is quite a cumbersome annoyance, if you ask me. Back to the thread topic, though. I replaced my harmonic balancer last spring because it was pretty worn out. I'm not sure why or how a belt would come off due to it being worn out but I'd say replace it and you should be fine. Also, make sure to check the tension of your belts after installing new ones, and then again after starting up the engine. It never hurts to be double-check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180sx Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Hmm... It's possible but usually happens after a lot of wear and tear. You should be able to hear and feel it; balancers that are falling apart will allow vibration and noise. The belt sliding off may or may not be linked. Was the belt properly tensioned ? Were the pulleys tight ? How many miles and how worn are the other components ? Here's a video of a bad balancer. I put the link because the first two comments are just priceless. That video os of an old DSM (Eclipse/Talon/Laser) and those cars are stupid with the balancers! It's a dumb neon motor in it (420A). But about your R50. This is quite rare as far as I know. If you took off the inner belt and left only the outer belt (I can't remember which is which and its cold and dark outside) then the tension from the belt pulling only the outside and not being counteracted by the inside could have slipped the outer pulley from the isolator a little. I've seen this happen a lot on Eagle Talons. That could be your problem. Jose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Yes it could come apart. When my dad first bought his r50, not long after he picked it up at the dealer it was making a funny noise under the hood. He brought it back a couple times and they finally found the harmonic balancer rubber insert was worn. The mechanic said he's seen it happen once and it came off, something punctured the rad, snapped almost every blade off the fan, a nasty mess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87pathy Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 seen it on jeeps alot. never on a pathfinder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted January 6, 2010 Share Posted January 6, 2010 Yes it could come apart. When my dad first bought his r50, not long after he picked it up at the dealer it was making a funny noise under the hood. He brought it back a couple times and they finally found the harmonic balancer rubber insert was worn. The mechanic said he's seen it happen once and it came off, something punctured the rad, snapped almost every blade off the fan, a nasty mess! My R50 had the same issue with its harmonic balancer. The rubber insert was severely deteriorated. It may be rare but it is possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
morpheus Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I've seen a lot on the R50's. Usually you inspect them when you do belts, and when the rubber shows signs of cracking you want to start thinking about replacing it. Small cracks are not bad, but when they are left for a while the outter part of the pully will seperate from the inner part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
180sx Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Can I have your bumper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tekazgtr1984 Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 Can I have your bumper? I think I know the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulptr Posted January 11, 2010 Author Share Posted January 11, 2010 alright, heres the pics i promised, but i have ha problem, i got the bolt out (took a $35 strap wrench and $10 socket to do so), now i cant figure out how to get the dern thang off the shaft. i cant pry against behind the pulley, cause thats the timing belt cover, couldnt imagine bending then having to replace that too. so this is where i'm at, now i need some advice, how the F%$# do i get this off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 An impact gun would have done wonders, but I'm not sure if you can get in there without pulling the radiator. Ok, soak the shaft joint area with a penetrant oil like PB blaster or Liquid wrench or Kroil, NOT WD40 or 3in1 oil. Hit it with a metal hammer several times. Soak it again. Wait a while (day?) and hit it with a hammer again. now grab 2 180 degree opposed points on the pulley, wiggle and pull. Is there any movement?? The other option is to just go get a puller, which you may have to do anyway, but do not skip the penetrating oil or hitting it with a hammer step... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulptr Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 anybody else notice the bolt hole beside the shaft? theres one adjacent to that on the other side of the shaft, i just noticed looking at the picture again. not sure if its threaded yet, but if it is, think a harmonic balancer puller would be strong enough to pull it out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulptr Posted January 12, 2010 Author Share Posted January 12, 2010 (edited) well the final verdict, i got the whole thing changed and put back together in an hour. the balancer puller works, but you have to go buy your own bolts, the ones in a 46 piece kit didnt work. bolt threading is m6x100, and you want them at least 60mm in length, plus a decent washer or 2 per bolt. you can pull on it with the pulley bolt still threaded since it has a divet for a center on a puller, but i had a big enough center. it only took about 10 seconds and very little effort once i got the 2 bolts finally threaded, its a pain considering you have to do it fully by feel from above or below. putting it back on equally as easy, i only took the fan blade off, might be easier to take the whole clutch off, only problem i have is who ever had this before me bent the bolts the clutch attaches to. the new one hit the fan clutch, but only for abotu 1/4", and i was able to wiggle around it without breaking any fins off. used the bolt to drive the pulley the rest of the way back in, then a urethan belt wrench to hold it and tighten the bolt the rest of the way. the bolts dont thread all the way through, i dont know why, i got them that far and got complete resistance, but its plenty far enough. Edited January 12, 2010 by skulptr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Northeaster Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 Wish I would have seen this thread a bit sooner. I went through the same thing a couple of months ago. Butm, in my case, the way too small 6m holes stripped out easily when we tried to pull it off. I would have tried drilling and tapping them larger, but there isn't much room in there, and I didn't want to take the rad all the way out. I ended up using a hack saw blade to cut a couple of notches in the balancer, so I could attach a jaw puller - it just fit around the back without damaging the timing cover. My brother is a mechanic, and helped me with most of it. He said it is common for the balancer to go, (mine has 130,000 miles or so). We wanted to do the timing chain, and he said before we started that I should be prepared to buy a new balancer. Mine had completely came apart, and spun about 1/3 turn, and lodged tight again, about 1/4" towards the back of engine. It was wearing the power steering belt edge a bit. Would have came loose again eventually, so I am glad we found it while doing the timing belt. Was easy to see it had spun as the timing mark on the crank was way off, when we lined up the 2 camshaft points, before taking it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I tapped mine to 1/4-20 and used bolts provided in the kit for the puller. Didn't even have to drill out the holes any larger, and had no issues, on mine or Pezzy's trucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skulptr Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 i would have tapped them, but i did all this with the radiator in, and i dont have a tap and die kit, i had to buy and return the puller kit i used. money is too tight right now since the wife got laid off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dkpath96 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 While changing belts today, I noticed that I could slide the harmonic balancer's outer ring in towards the engine by a half inch or so. Does this mean it is shot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferrariowner123 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 DO NOT BUY the Dorman one from rockauto, mine wobbles and was a waste of $70. -Kyle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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