After I changed the water pump, I got the whine again and since I knew how to remedy it this time I went to take the chain cover off but the harmonic banancer wouldn't budge.. Last time I reinstalled the balancer I didn't have it on right and only realized when trying to tighten it down. I took it off and repositioned it to line up with the key and slid it on and tightened it down. I didn't notice anything off or wonky. I was going to get a puller but thought I'd ask here first if anyone has any tips or ideas. Hope I didn't damage the crankshaft in some way but with my luck I did something wrong.

 

So the keyway wasn't lined up and you tried to tighten it the first time?

If so, then it might have put a small burr or deformation somewhere on the balancer. The edge of the key hit the edge of the balancer, preventing one side from going in, while the other side was free to try and go on. This is a designed tight fit, so it would only take a few thousandths of an inch of deformation to affect it.

After you realized it was wrong and realigned it, did it go off and then back on easily by hand before tightening it?

I doubt you caused any real damage, besides making it hard to remove. I would use a puller and visually inspect the balancer and crank snout.

Also, you did line up the oil pump drive flats with the balancer flats?

Steve

 

X2^^^^^, when you get the balance off you might be able to file the burr off the key. Inspect the oil pump very closely for damage, it can crack pretty easily if it’s not lined up correctly.

 

Won't be able to get around to it for a few days but I will get a puller and inspect. I don't think I know what the oil pump looks like tho

 

The oil pump is built into the timing chain cover in the area where the crankshaft is:


If you look at the hole where the crankshaft is, the oil seal is on the outside, and just inside the seal is the oil pump. There are two tabs sticking out into the hole. These two tabs line up with the two flats on the harmonic balancer snout:


If you attempt to force the harmonic balancer onto the crankshaft without aligning the flats, you could bend or break the tabs that drive the oil pump.

You can't see the actual oil pump, it's sandwiched between layers of metal in the front cover. You can look inside the front cover and see if something looks bent or broken in the oil pump area.

The way you install the harmonic balancer is:

1) visually align the tabs on the oil pump with the flats on the harmonic balancer
2) push the balancer onto the crankshaft until the tabs are engaged, but not all the way to the key
3) rotate the balancer (which will now turn the oil pump with it) until the key on the crankshaft is aligned with the balancer keyway
4) install the crank bolt and tighten

Steve

 

Okay sweet.. I did non of that! D'oh! Sigh.. well it's running fine as is so hopefully I didn't do anything too bad

 

The key also lines up the crankshaft sprockets for the balance shaft chain and timing chain, if they were out of time, you would have bent valves , probably code P0016 for sure and possibly damaged pistons .

 

I got the balancer off but I wasn't smart enough to rotate the crankshaft so that the puller would fit nicely without bumping the fender wall so I ended up tightening down the screws to the puller attached to the balancer to more to make room and think I warped the balancer in the process.. after getting it off I tried to put it back on to make sure I knew how to do it correctly lining everything up and I can't get it to go on at all. I'ma order a new one and see if it goes on well or not. Everything else looked fine tho, didn't see any obvious damage, marks, or grooves on the crank or oil pump flats.

 

Good, and order a new bolt.

 

Harmonic balancers are about $50 at rock auto, minus the 5% discount code.

Steve