I just had my harmonic balancer, crank gear, timing belt, water pump, tensioner, oil seals etc. replaced on my '96 V6 4Runner. The truck has 207,000 miles on it. It had started running poorly, getting bad gas mileage and making tapping noises. I had the same issue about 100,000 miles ago, and basically the same job was done, minus the water pump, tensioner and seals.

The job was done a couple of days ago. The truck runs fine now, but I noticed when I looked under the hood that the the bottom pulley has a little bit of wobble now. It's not a large amount, but it's definitely wobbling. There is no noise that I can detect. The wobbling appears to stop when I rev the engine, although that may be an optical illusion.

Is any amount of wobble "normal" and acceptable, or should I take it back to the shop?

 

Three things come to mind: 1) was it wobbling before the work?; 2) crank bolt not be properly torqued to 217 ft-lbs; 3) the rubber layer holding the two pulley pieces in the harmonic balancer may be compromised causing the wobble. Yes, I'd take it back to the shop and have them look at it.

 

I don't know if it wobbled beforehand; I didn't look as closely before the repair as I did after. I left a note on the steering wheel telling them the service manual says 217 ft-lbs, but I don't know if they torqued it properly or not. I think I'll at least have them look at it.

 

Hopefully, they did not pry on the balancer when removing it. That could definitely move the outer ring a bit.
Check it for pry bar marks

 

well balancers do wear out over time. They could have damaged it or it could have already been I bad shape. I think I would ask them what they can do for you.
It would be nice if they would at least install another one if you provide it.




good luck
piglett

 

I already paid them to install a brand new one.

 

Poor quality Machining in the new part !!

China Strikes again!!

If it is just poor quality and is not really loose on the crank it might be fine!!!

You paid for the part !!

You paid to have it installed !!

Take it back have it made correct or get enough of a refund to cover getting it fixed correct.

One of those things that could be easy to miss once every thing else was in place .

No leaks No codes no strange noises

The fact you drove it home and it did not throw the belts off is a good sign.

 

There's a way to install the HB incorrectly which will cause the slight wobble. Don't ask me how I know.

Oh...and any amount of wobble = bad news.

 

I am sure there is a good lesson here ??

How much did it cost$$$$ to learn??

 

Mine wobbled for several thousand before I figured out why my truck had been running bad and wouldn't rev out over 3500ish. I put a torque wrench on it and cranked it down to 200lb/ft and the wobble went away completely. Probably just need to tighten it down.

 

The lesson: Be 100% sure the woodruff key is being guided directly into the slot on the HB...BEFORE attemtping to put ~200 ft.lbs. torque on the crank bolt.

The cost of not doing so: 1 ~$2 woodruff key(smashed to oblivion) + 1 ~$50 crankshaft timing gear/pulley(had to be cut off, since there was no easier way to remove it at that point, to replace the smashed woodruff key that was keeping it locked solidly to the shaft) = ~$52

Luckily...the HB was/is still useable. And so was/is that washer/TB guide just behind it(after I beat it back into shape ).

 

So I took my truck back to the shop today and showed the owner the wobble. He said the crankshaft itself was worn from the gear "walking," and when they were working on it they were unsure if they would be able to salvage it . The mechanic who did the job walked up and said he had to do a lot of filing and cleaning up the shaft. He said if it gets sloppy again that another repair won't be possible, and it's as good as it's going to get with the crankshaft worn like it is. He assured me it's torqued to 217 ft-lbs and there's Loctite on the crank bolt. So, I guess I can drive it and hope for the best or get rid of it.

 

Kind of strange (at least to me) that was only brought to your attention after you took it back.

Just why was your gear moving ??

The keyway on the crank and the gear worn so bad it moved .

What was done to fix this problem ??

 

They simply called and told me it's ready and they volunteered no more information when I picked it up. The mechanic who worked on it wasn't there at the time. I don't know exactly why the gear was moving. As far as what was done to fix it, they replaced the keyway, crank gear, harmonic balancer, and the crank bolt. They tell me they made it as good as it can be with the damaged/worn crankshaft.

 

horse#*@% the end of a crank has a hell of a lot of meat on it & it's hard as can be

clearly they screwed it up, now they don't wish to pay up.

maybe take it to the nearest Toyota dealer & have them take a look at it???

you maybe have some money coming your way from these clowns

only one way to find out


good luck

 

I can't imagine a good reason to be filing on the crankshaft.

 

I'm no mechanic, so I don't know about that. I'll be talking to them again today. I'm not exactly happy that they didn't bring any of this up until I brought it back to complain about the wobble.

 

Pray tell the name of the shop and location, for reference...

 

OK, it gets even better. I took a look under the hood tonight and saw this:



See the shiny strip on the edge of my brand new harmonic balancer? That would be a missing chunk of metal. Grrr.....

 

That's sucks but it won't hurt anything.