Failed harmonic balancer

[GHendo]

Just wondering if anyone has done a harmonic balancer on their NP. Mine hasn’t gone yet, but the one on my wife’s EL Falcon that’s done 200,000km. went the other day – I’ve never had one fail in any of my vehicles before – and the Pajero’s done over 300,000km. now. Just thinking it might be a good bit of preventative maintenance.

Cheers

Geoff

[m1s3ry]

Not on a NP, but i've changed a few Triton 4m41 balancers that have failed. Biggest problem when the 2 sections separate is that the outer starts cutting into the timing case and eventually oil leaks out of the cut, that's when people notice the oil leak.

New case, new balancer and quite a bit of labour.

Is yours a petrol or diesel?

[GHendo]

That doesn't sound good – I take it you mean the outer section moved back towards the engine – in the Falcon it moved towards the radiator and luckily didn’t do any other damage – just ran the serpentine belt completely off the pulleys.

My Pajero has the 4M41 diesel motor.

Think I might investigate installing a new one – like the Irishman – to be sure to be sure.

Cheers

Geoff

[Ky1e]

My NS failed 6 months ago. Nasty nasty mess. Though didn't cut the timing case, did chop the front main to pieces badly though

[xboxice]

Oh lord balancer fail on this model as well i thought it was only the NH guess i gotta keep on eye on mine.

[BBP]

I did one on the NL at 298K, it had completely separated. Made a hell of a noise, so not easily missed. And yes it was hit the timing case. Although one place did claim it was the air-con compressor failing.
I have not read of anyone doing one on an NP. Though it would be prudent to have a look during routine maintenance such as an oil change.

[weslew]

just replaced in nm with 132k
didnt notice ant other damage until oil .
found timing case cracked

to replace timing case quoted over 2.5k in labour.
used liquid metal to repair crack and new seal fitted .
hopefully will hold. now looking to sell and upgrade

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[svill123]

Recently changed the harmonic balancer on my NS 3.2L with 300,000 kms. I was more than surprised to see cuts in the front of the timing case cover, as others have described. I was lucky to catch it in time, only because I was trying to solve a squeaky belt issue which didn't go away even after renewing all of them.

The pulley was badly worn and the two parts had started to separate, with evidence of the outer part rubbing on the timing case cover at some point. Looking at the worn pulley whilst the engine was idling, you could see the outer part tracking back and forth 1-2mm, explaining the belt squeak.

After the harmonic balancer was replaced, the belt squeak went away and the engine ran and idled much more quietly.

[oldmate]

Good pick up!

[bambam351]

Recently changed the harmonic balancer on my NS 3.2L with 300,000 kms. I was more than surprised to see cuts in the front of the timing case cover, as others have described. I was lucky to catch it in time, only because I was trying to solve a squeaky belt issue which didn't go away even after renewing all of them.

The pulley was badly worn and the two parts had started to separate, with evidence of the outer part rubbing on the timing case cover at some point. Looking at the worn pulley whilst the engine was idling, you could see the outer part tracking back and forth 1-2mm, explaining the belt squeak.

After the harmonic balancer was replaced, the belt squeak went away and the engine ran and idled much more quietly.

Great pickup....

I have also had an annoying belt squeak that I can't seem to get rid of - NP 3.2 280K.
New pair of genuine alt belts, cleaned pulleys but still squeaked. Quick spray of water and goes away but comes back not long after.
Balancer inspection coming up.

[swys42]

Recently changed the harmonic balancer on my NS 3.2L with 300,000 kms. I was more than surprised to see cuts in the front of the timing case cover, as others have described. I was lucky to catch it in time, only because I was trying to solve a squeaky belt issue which didn't go away even after renewing all of them.

The pulley was badly worn and the two parts had started to separate, with evidence of the outer part rubbing on the timing case cover at some point. Looking at the worn pulley whilst the engine was idling, you could see the outer part tracking back and forth 1-2mm, explaining the belt squeak.

After the harmonic balancer was replaced, the belt squeak went away and the engine ran and idled much more quietly.

How easy was it to replace? I had my car intake cleaned recently and they lost a bolt and i suddenly heard a bang and found bolt on ground, now there is a slight noise on cold start that sounds like a rotating squeal , . they have checked belts etc but couldn't find noise as of cause it doesn't do it when hot and driving 50km warms up the car nicely. My NS has now done 250K so may as well replace it as preventative?

[svill123]

How easy was it to replace?

All in all the job wasn’t too hard, but some parts were tricky. I had a mate give me a hand who had done the job before. When I replaced the balancer the radiator and fan were also out, giving more room to move.

The crank bolt was ridiculously tight! I used a breaker bar with a very long extension. To hold the pulley from rotating backwards, I made up my own pulley holder tool with some scrap steel and used the two dowel bolts on the OEM pulley.

You will need a new front crank seal. For good measures, I also used a new crank bolt. To tighten the bolt there was just enough room to fit an an impact gun.

I recommend looking at the service manual and watching a few videos so you have an idea of the process.

[swys42]

Thanks, Doesnt sound too hard. I had my car in for a intake clean and had a big bang when a missing bolt decided to drop at the front fan area and since then i had chirping noises that sometimes gets like load scratch noise and only seems to be when cold. Do you think a bolt that fell in between belt and pulley could have damaged harmonic balancer? I checked all AC/FAN/waterpump/idler/Altenator and crankshaft pulleys and cant really notice any wobbling. Idler was recently changed so wont be that. Uploaded a video here hopefully you can hear, its hard to get the noise over the engine when taking a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0r9gfAloog