hi guys


so i had my TLS for almost 6 months now there is this weird clacking by the pullys but i cant figure out what it is, after months of research it looks like it could be the Harmonic balancer AKA Crank Pully that needs replacing? i check the Alternator, AC compressor, idle pully/tensioner and brand new drive belt all is good.

anyone experiencing similar issues or know what this is?

video is at above link

thanks.

 

i guess no one else has this issue or no one really knows what it is?........any leads or advice/confirmation would be greatly appreciated thanks.

 

I'd remove the belt and then spin each accessory/pulley you can by hand to see if one of them has play or "growls" a bit.

You could even run the car for a short period without the belt to see if the noise is gone. BUT - Having not done this myself with a 3GTL I don't know if you will throw a code or not. If you did a battery disconnect, wait, reconnect would probably clear it.

 

I would pull the drive belt, and inspect anything that spins. That will probably check out just fine, so the next step is pull the timing cover and take a look at the tensioner with the engine running.

 

I had the same issue and it was the tensioner pulley bearing going out. I took the drive belt off, and hand spun all of the pulleys I could so feel/listen for any kind of hard resistance. If you look from directly on top of the pulleys, you would normally be able to see if the harmonic balancer is out of alignment. Just eyeball a hardspot on the ground, and line it up with the balancer and see if its out of wack. Just a thought.

Edit: car has to be running for the checking of the harmonic balancer.

 

so i went to a shot that used a scope to listen to all the parts and they advised that it was the alternator, i just changed out the alternator clacking still there........damn it. i dont know what else to do at this point.

 

^ I had the same exact issue, once the tensioner was replaced the sound was gone for almost 30K miles! I've had it come back so I'm going to replace it again when I do the TB/Waterpump service.

 

was it the tensioner pully for the accessory belt or the timing belt?

thanks!

 

it was for the accessory belt

 

csmeance did you replace the whole thing item # 2 below?

 

I believe so according to the dealership paperwork.

An easy way to see if it is the tensioner is to remove the accessory belt and turn the car on for a short time. If you don't hear it then it's the tensioner! If you do hear it, it might be the timing belt tensioner.

 

so i took off the belt this weekend and checked it it looks like it is the accessory belt tensioner, but the funny thing is when i bought the car last year supposely they had already done that before i picked up the car. i will replace even the old bolts this time and see what happens. thanks for everyones help.

 

so i change the belt tensioner and used all new bolts, put the new belt on, and the clacking is still there. i dont get it. at this point i think its either there is a loose piece of metal somewhere or its the harmonic balancer, i even swapped out all of the spark park plugs just to get that out of the way and make sure its not a loose sparks

after taking the belt off again and run the car the sound is gone, put the belt back on the sound is there again

with the belt off i did observe the harmonic balancer or AKA crank pulley wobble just slightly, but nothing that should cause the clacking.

i guess replace the harmonic balancer and see how that goes.......

 

not sure if anyone knows or still follow this thread but....

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...ppened-927072/

 

Yup totally sucks

 

I had a similar clack noise, came on at cold engine start-up, went away at higher rpm over idle, sounded like hydraulic lifts. Took belt off, made no difference. Put long screw driver to the timing belt tensioner and listened- exact source of noise. Changed timing belt, timing belt tensioner & idler pulleys, noise gone. Try the screwdriver-stethoscope method on your moving parts?