for seal replacement?
2008 2.2lt HHR
I have had a cycle of front seal leak...crankshaft sensormalfunction….belt malfunction...for about a year now. I was told the seal overtime makes a groove on harmonic balancer pully and needs a sleeve to fix this groove and stop repeated leak???
I find nothing mentioning or showing how to do this

 

HUH?
More complete question please.
Include year, engine size and mileage.

 

260,000 miles

 

Front seal replacement is very easy, first jack up the passenger side front tire, place a jack stand under the frame near the rear of the lower control arm, then remove the passenger side front tire, now remove the plastic splash shield, then you can see the harmonic balancer, you need to place a pry bar or large flat blade screwdriver in the harmonic balancer to stop it from turning, using a 21 mm socket and a 12 to 18 inch extension with a 25” breaker bar loosen the crankshaft bolt.
Now you have to relax the serpentine belt tensioner and remove that belt , once the belt is out of the way, simply wiggle and gentle pull on the harmonic balancer, it will slide off the crankshaft pretty easy.
Now you can see the front cover seal, take a flat blade screwdriver and pry it gently out of the cover, give the opening a wipe .
Install the new seal , it should push in with your thumbs, gently tap it into the front cover using the green plastic the seal comes with.
now slide the harmonic balancer back into place and reassemble in the reverse order .
It is recommended to replace the balancer bolt, but you can reuse it, torque it to 74 ft lbs, then turn it another 125 degrees.

see post #3 for a how to video
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/gene...-advice-61278/

 

Crankshaft sensors rarely malfunction; however, crankshaft sensor / camshaft sensor correlation codes mean the timing chain is bad.

In the last 12 years I can recall just 1 instance of a crankshaft sensor actually disintegrating, leaving a few yards of wire windings behind.

Never heard of a piece of rubber causing a groove in a high grade iron crankshaft.

 

The harmonic balancer is in contact with the seal, not the crankshaft, if the seal did damage or groove the harmonic balancer, it can be replaced easily, and not to expensive about $60.00

 

Yes the seal over time collects fine dirt that becomes a sandpaper and wears a groove in the dampener.
You can buy a saver sleeve that is put over your damper snout.
Install a new seal and the sleeve to do the job.
Here is Timken catalog, it's called a redi-sleeve.
Contact them and I'm sure they would have it.
https://www.timken.com/wp-content/up...talog_7707.pdf

 

As we see here, the seal surface isn’t all that much, I have found that some seals are inferior and don’t stand up for very long, my last seal that leaked was from FelPro, lasted 40,000 miles and started leaking, I replaced it with an AC Delco seal it’s still going strong, no leaks after approximately 62,000 miles