Failing Harmonic Balancer : What are the effects ?

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The Harmonic balancer on my inline 6 engine did look like [censored] from the first day I got the car 2 1/2 years ago. However there are no oil leaks at the time. The last check I had few months ago, no leaks too. Till last week that is. I started noticing some oil right below the front main seal, behind that harmonic balancer. The leak isnt very bad, its not dripping to the ground as of yet.
The mechanic suggested me to change another balancer in better condition. Luckily I found one, and the way they both looked are like night and day. The old balancer, the rubber part looked like some one squished silicone gasket material all around the pulley, but the other used one actually had discernible nubs as shown in the pic.

So my question is, could a bad or failing harmonic balancer caused the front seal to give ? Or perhaps caused the oil pump to leak ?
What other parts could it affect ?



IMG-20191212-WA0023.jpeg
 
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Usually leak casues the balancer to fail, but a bad balancer wont be kind to the CS nose either and cause leaks.

So Chicken or Egg.

( btw, I found the answer to this; in evolution Reptiles were before Birds, so egg first )
 
The balancer won't have any effect on the front seal. It started leaking because it's old.

A bad balancer can cause the crankshaft to break. You should have replaced it years ago.
 
I had the damper on my old Vette rebuilt and timing marks engraved at 0, 45, 90, 135 degrees.
Damper Doc, if they are still around.
 
Bad balancer doesn't cause leaks.

But, if the ring comes off, it can break the timing cover or fly into the radiator...
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
The balancer won't have any effect on the front seal. It started leaking because it's old.

A bad balancer can cause the crankshaft to break. You should have replaced it years ago.
A friend was given a car by his dad some years ago. He flew out to the Maritimes and drove it back. Halfway back the engine (GM 3.8) blew. The mechanic said the cause had been a bad harmonic balancer, and installed a used engine. In retrospect my friend remembered that his sister had hit a very bad pothole prior to him picking up the car, and that a lot of suspension damage had been done. He wondered if the balancer had been damaged at that time.
 
If the balancer is worn where the seal rides, it can cause an oil leak. I think they usually just fail because the rubber dries out & starts disintegrating, with resulting wobble or slippage of the balance ring. Seems common on anything 20 years old or older.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
If the balancer is worn where the seal rides, it can cause an oil leak. I think they usually just fail because the rubber dries out & starts disintegrating, with resulting wobble or slippage of the balance ring. Seems common on anything 20 years old or older.

This, leak is probably coming from here if the pulley wobbles , isnt this possible ?
 
Originally Posted by alcyon
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
If the balancer is worn where the seal rides, it can cause an oil leak. I think they usually just fail because the rubber dries out & starts disintegrating, with resulting wobble or slippage of the balance ring. Seems common on anything 20 years old or older.

This, leak is probably coming from here if the pulley wobbles , isnt this possible ?

No the inner ring is pressed onto the crankshaft. The outer ring is what falls off rendering the balancer useless.
 
Only had one balancer go bad. On a Ford 3.8, half of the rubber insulating ring popped out of its groove. Never had one where a groove wore in bad enough to cause the front seal to leak but can certainly see where that can cause a leak.
 
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