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  #1  
Old 04-07-2005, 03:36 PM
STORMINORMAN STORMINORMAN is offline
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Lightbulb 120K Service addition I would recommend

When the ol' 120K timing belt changeover comes up, in addition to having the seals at the front of the engine and the water pump & hoses replaced, I would seriously recommend you go ahead and spring for a new harmonic balancer/crankshaft pully as well!

SERIOUSLY!

Mine self-destructed last Friday. The timing belt cover had a hole worn through about 270 degrees of rotation. The belts were gone, gone, gone... I'm fortunate in the fact that there was no damage to the brand new timing belt, seals, etc. If you do a search using "harmonic" on this Forum there is a beautiful picture of somebody's cover and a new one: mine looked identical to that pictiure, and it is not a pretty picture.

I've been really lucky these past dozen years: other than the damned/endemic REAR WHEEL BEARINGS this is the 1st and only MECHANICAL failure I have ever experienced outside of the original factory 5 year/60K warranty. To my knowledge the pully has only been off the car twice, at 60K and just recently @ 120K. I don't think I would now really trust one that has been on & off many times using a strap wrench, etc.
I keep my belts properly adjusted. It just detonates at some time, probably based upon mileage, heat cycles, age... If you notice a wobble or any indication that it is beginning to separate

REPLACE IT ASAP!

It has made a believer out of me. I know the balancer/pully is a little on the expen$ive side, but THIS is not an experience you want to be subjected to and can be easily avoided. I doubt if I'll ever need to buy another one, but who knows?

When I hit 240K I'll be more than happy to buy another replacement! With any luck I'll still have an intact one to use as a spare.

Cheers!
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  #2  
Old 04-07-2005, 03:42 PM
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Landshark Landshark is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by STORMINORMAN
When the ol' 120K timing belt changeover comes up, in addition to having the seals at the front of the engine and the water pump & hoses replaced, I would seriously recommend you go ahead and spring for a new harmonic balancer/crankshaft pully as well!
what if you already have a lightweight all-aluminum aftermarket one?
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  #3  
Old 04-07-2005, 03:44 PM
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  #4  
Old 04-07-2005, 04:10 PM
STORMINORMAN STORMINORMAN is offline
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Question This AIN'T rocket science, here, boys!

Seriously, the concept of the harmonic balancer is one that is widely used, GM V-8's, our Subies and EVEN hallowed Mercedes-Benz products('98-'01 V-6 & V-8's, subject of a very recent HUGE recall/maintenance campaign) have all had problems.

My personal opinion is that if the engineers didn't think the pulley needed a 2-piece rubber sleeved harmonic balancer they wouldn't have used one to begin with, non-withstanding any possible power/performance gains associated with an underdrive, one-piece or even a lighter pulley. For competition purposes, on a modified motor, who knows?

It's one thing on a 5.0 Ford Mustang, and another on an SVX (IMHO)...

It really would be nice to know (for sure, that is) if the pulleys from the other Subaru products are indeed the same as the one on the SVX. I'd be more concerned about the actual dimentions and total weight being the exact same vs. the concept that there is a different grade or thickness of rubber involved, although that well might be the case (but I doubt it).

Wonder how we could find this info out? For sure, that is?

Cheers, guys!
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' 92 SVX @ 185K
' 91 420SEL @ 223K!
' 88 420SEL I. @ 178K (what a buy!)
' 87 F250 @ 180K
' 93 ZX-11D @ 29K
' 93 SC400 @ 93K
2001 Valkyrie Interstate @ 6.6K (Brynhild)
Y2K NightHawk 250 @ 1,500 miles
' 88 420SEL II. @ 208K
'85 F150 @ 135K
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  #5  
Old 04-11-2005, 07:02 AM
dcarrb dcarrb is offline
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Alternative to $$$ replacement part?

I second the suggestion to add harmonic balancer replacement to the list of items to be serviced at the 120,000 mark. It would be interesting to know how many SVXs out there have made it to, say, 130,000 with the original pulley still intact.

This place quoted me $59 with a two-day turnaround for rebuilding an SVX harmonic balancer:

Damper Doctor

Does anybody have any experience with rebuilt harmonic balancers?

dcb
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  #6  
Old 04-11-2005, 08:10 AM
RSVX RSVX is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dcarrb
I second the suggestion to add harmonic balancer replacement to the list of items to be serviced at the 120,000 mark. It would be interesting to know how many SVXs out there have made it to, say, 130,000 with the original pulley still intact.

This place quoted me $59 with a two-day turnaround for rebuilding an SVX harmonic balancer:

Damper Doctor

Does anybody have any experience with rebuilt harmonic balancers?

dcb
I have 155k on the original...
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  #7  
Old 04-11-2005, 08:55 AM
RojoRocket RojoRocket is offline
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Quote:
This place quoted me $59 with a two-day turnaround for rebuilding an SVX harmonic balancer:

Damper Doctor

Does anybody have any experience with rebuilt harmonic balancers?
I'd love to hear any opinions/experiences as well!
Approaching 130K on the original.

Glenn
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  #8  
Old 04-11-2005, 10:23 AM
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lhopp77 lhopp77 is offline
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I have one with original with over 200K miles and two with over 150K miles, so not sure it is a very common failure.

Lee
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  #9  
Old 04-11-2005, 10:57 AM
dcarrb dcarrb is offline
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It's interesting that a part which gives-up on my car (and apparently more than a few others) at one hundred twenty-something thousand would last over 200K on another.

dcb
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