My wife and I are in Florida from Canada when the harmonic balancer rubber on my 2005 (with just under 100k miles) apparently disintegrated. Had to have it towed from Ft Myers to Naples Acura. Looks like the rubber on the pulley fell apart. The service guys said they maybe see one of this type of issue a year.

Anyone else come across this? Is this indicative of an underlying issue?

Thx.

 

news to me.

any pics?

 

Looks like you my friend now have the perfect excuse to upgrade to the unorthodox racing lightweight stock diameter pulley!

 

To my knowledge the J series engine is internally balanced. I am unaware of rubber on the stock pulley. I'm going to take alook at mine when I get to my car (its on my backseat floor)

 

As I thought theres no rubber on the crank pulley as the crank shaft is internally balanced (no harmonic dampener/balancer). So you must be talking about another pulley. Which pulley are you talking about?

 

Pics?

 

there is on mine

see pic

http://public.fotki.com/typeR/typer/picture_058.html

 

Not sure whats rubber and what's just dirt? I'll take a look at mine again or take a picture

 

im not exactly a gearhead, but im decently knowledgeable with regards to cars/engines/etc, and I thought the same thing more or less

 

im no expert either but im pretty sure that needle and thread isnt stuck in dirt and even slightly more sure its not stuck in cast iron

 

Its magnetic what car is that from?

 

J35A4 swap into my '01 CL type S see sig

 

Nice youve had that setup for years, back when I had my TLS. Glad to see its still running strong! Took another look at my crank pulley and there is a healthy bead of rubber where you have the needle sticking out of. Not sure how thatd disintergrate or what effect it'd have.

 

Sorry, was enroute back to Canada.

No pics and not a tech-head, but from my receipt:

"Technician observed harmonic balancer has separated and the accessory belt was sheared off"

 

I have a similar "scare" of mine to show you. It started out with a Knocking sound coming from around the Serpentine Belt area of my 2005 Acura TL. This knocking sound would only be there when the car was in idle or low RPM...

then a few months later, I was driving home and heard a thump noise, and suddenly the Knocking sound went away... I am/was happy... did'nt know why, but no longer the knocking sound when I started the TL or in/near idle (RPM around 1000)...

then came the squealing belt noise... and burn smell in the car. This has been happening for about a week now and finally I had the chance to pop the hood and look inside.

Wait till I upload some pictures of what I found inside the hood!!!...

 

This isnt the TL forum, but I am anxious awaiting these pics.

 

I hate teasers.

 

I did that on the Chrysler I owned before my RL. When I found one that fit, it made sense to me to give it a try when I had the timing belt done. Hard to slam a decent performance mod for only a little over $100. I can't think of any downsides other than having to keep track of odd belt sizes for future changes.

ETA: On second thought, I'd want to investigate it a little more before putting one on the RL considering how sensitive the electronics are on these cars. With my old car there was no problem, but it does reduce alternator pulley speed somewhat.

 

^if using the stock diameter pulley, you wont need to keep track of odd sized belts, as it uses the stock belt

 

Doh! Somehow I missed that it said "stock diameter". My old one was a lightweight underdrive pulley. Carry on.

 

^no worries!

 

I'm going to go ahead and say this guy is a troll...

I'll take it back when he posts these pictures.

 

been here since 2013... never know.

 

And that was his first post...

 

I have the engine out on my 05 acura RL with 53k and there is rubber on the pulley and it is pretty cracked on mine.

 

Happened to me. The pulley came unglued to the balancer and fell off. Didn't hurt anything put a new one on and good to go!

 

This is a common Honda phenomenon. NSXs, too..

The harmonic balancer should always be replaced when changing the timing belt. Along with the water pump & tensioner.

It seems they are fine until a hub puller is used on them to get them off the nose of the crank, and failure can occur rapidly thereafter.

And no, it's not a service item. Though it ought to be... if it munches its way into your timing belt through the casing, it's goodnight J. Or C...

 

Interesting post. I changed the timing belt myself (along with all other recommended parts), but did not change the pulley. This was the one that was nearly impossible to get off. I have put 15K on the car since with no problems.

 

They're on famously tight and you need a tool and a hugely-long breaker bar to crack the nut.

Like the little Dutch boy, I'd poke your finger in there now & again, just to make sure it's still OK.

 

Picture 1 of 3:



... the loud thump I heard was the outer ring jumping off the pulley... the belt moved down to the inner pulley... ... see groves on the next picture.

Picture 2 of 3:



... see the groves on the inner pulley. this is where the belt landed. I was driving the TL for another few weeks like this.

Picture 3 of 3:



both the groves on the belt and the outer side of the belt damaged. Replaced both the harmonic balancer and the belt. she now purrrs; and I am happy.

 

Pay up or get .

 

Mind you, some of the stories here about people Darwiningly ignoring serious symptoms for so long are worryingly common.

I'm sure the US must be like the silent movies, where Tin Lizzies would spontaneously collapse all over the place!

 

... just counting my blessings... it is by pure luck that the belt landed on the inner pulley, while the outer ring dislodged and was laying alongside.

Blues Legend... your point well taken. do not recommend anyone letting this type of a situation and still drive. My previous commentary is more a Root Cause Aanalysis

 

We offer our XLR8 stock diameter crank pulley now that is actually made by Unorthodox Racing for us, and is CNC machined and 0 gram balanced.

XLR8 Aluminum Pulleys - Excelerate Performance - Japanese and European Performance Specialists!!

 

No dampener on that pulley though. I wonder if the loss of the dampener could cause problems at higher rpm on the crank?