Hi Friends. Just joined, forgive me if this is redundant or in the wrong place. I purchased a mint 2009 Victory Red LT2 with only 50,600 miles on it. It has been driving great until about 2 weeks ago when a rattle started coming from what appeared to be the oil pan area. It would only start when I was stopped in gear, then disapear when I put the car in park or neutral. Then when I started using the air the rattle became much loader and pronounced happening weather idling or moving. Finally the rattle would occur weather the air was on or not. But it still drove nicely on the highway, and in town. No vibrations. I took it to my mechanic and initially after listening to it he said he would check the air compressor first, but said he thinks it something else. Next day he called and said the "Harmonic Balancer is a mess and essentially wrecked the crank among other things" and it would be best to replace the engine. We found one, 80,000 miles (damn mine only had 50,000). Everything I have been reading in my research about harmonic balancers doesn't sound like what was going on with mine. Any thoughts? Thanks

 

What does he mean it ruined the crank? Run that thing and see if it has any lower end knocking. Just start it and floor it for 1 full second. If that crank is bad you'll know it.

 

I would get a second opinion. I have not heard of such a thing. What does "a mess" mean? The only thing a Harmonic balancer could be bad is if somebody removed it and didn't torque it back on; at 50,000 miles that is kind of remote possibility. Is oil leaking out of the front of the engine? My guesses would be quickly proven by removing the serpentine belt and running the engine for a couple of minute.
Maybe he meant something else?

Things that make noise:
water pump
serpentine belt idler
alternator bearings
AC pulley

The water pump is driven by the balance shaft chain, everything else is driven by the serpentine belt.
Timing chains rattle on cold start when going bad. You can check it by taking the valve cover off, if you see any slack between the sprockets it is bad.

That might work but keep in mind there is a RPM limiter when not in gear.

 

I’m thinking that the harmonic balancer may have been loose but I don’t know how it would damage the crankshaft. The crankshaft is much harder steel than the balancer.
Can you post a photo of the balancer?

 

That's not a problem. If it is a snap throttle any kind of crank or rod bearing will knock if bad. They will HAMMER if very bad. The response puts high pressure on the turning shafts and bearings.

 

Well, the balancer is keyed into position, so even if the bolt is loose, how out of balance would it be? If it were loose enough to cause this kind of damage, wouldn't the bolt have fallen out, and the balancer fly off?

I don't know the answer, I'm asking.

 

Just my opinion, but it sounds like this mechanic doesn't really want to work on your car... Or doesn't know how to.

 

My guess is the balancer bolt got loose and it tore up the threads in the crankshaft. Saw that happen a couple times many, many years ago.(long time before the HHR's )

Fwiw. Sounds like the OP kept driving it instead of having it looked at. By doing so, he damaged the engine beyond repair.

 

Aren't these laminated? Maybe it just came apart just a bit, putting the engine out of balance. That could potentially damage the main bearings. Maybe the rod bearings as well. I'm not sure how that would get diagnosed.

If you watch the balancer while the engine is running, you would see it wobble? But how would you know that it's not just the balancer that's thrashed? What would cause one to say that the crankshaft "among other things" is thrashed?

I would ask him to show you what he saw that brought him to this diagnosis.

Perhaps he measured runout on the end of the crankshaft with the balancer removed.

 

Thanks everyone for your responses. I don't have the car take pictures of, its at his shop. This mechanic has always been fair to me, and has been working on my cars for about 13 years now, and always fair, so I want to trust him.
I am going there Monday, and I'll ask him to show me why we need to replace the engine. I know he said the cost of repairing it will be the same as replacing it, So I wonder if that is what motivated him. I'll find out Monday, and let you know. Thanks again.