BHJ, stock pully. Need 2 have balanced? or no?

DzNuuts

Registered User
Long story short, my harmonic balancer broke off in my 94 t-bird sc. I got the broken snout & bolt out. I got a used bhj balancer & new longer bolt for it. Here's my question. If I use my stock pulley can I just take my stock pulley, put it on the bhj & I m good? Or do I need 2 have it balanced 1st before I put it in the car? I have been reading & hearing mixed things on how I should do this.
 
The stock balancer broke on my 94 SC last year. I did exactly what you mentioned (replaced with BHJ) and used all of the stock pulleys and hardware (did the long bolt into the crank). I haven't had any problems at all and have put at least 2000 miles on the car since.
 
While waiting for new bolt & bhj I removed broken bolt with a drill bit & an easy out & broken off snout with a drill bit & two 3 1/2 drywall screws a couple of washers & a steering wheel puller. Both pretty easily I might add. I ended up not balancing stock pulleys with bhj. Thought I was going to finally get my car out of this f*cking parking lot. But now I'm not getting any spark. Crank sensor looks OK. Minus one nut for the plastic cover is missing. Not sure how to check it properly tho. I disconnected battery hoping it might reset or something. Pulled #1 plugs wire & checked spark there with no belts or pulleys on car. I am trying be able to drive my car out before it gets towed & costs me even more.. Its been stuck here since easter! Any timely advise, or a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated
 
Good morning

I would inspect the crank sensor for strike impact. I have had broken/defective balancers do this type of damage resulting in engine crank but no spark condition after installation. The strike marks are located in-between the two crank sensor's magnetic "bridge" (1989-1993). I would assume for 1994-1995 the damage marks would be a the magnetic tip of the sensor. Next open hood and check the ignition fuse located in the engine compartment. Check the negative battery cable at the radiator support. Check for corrosion at the 8 mm bolt and or damaged 16 gauge cable connector. Do you hear the fuel pump prime the injectors? If not turn key to on without starting engine. Listen for a relay "click" (in this case the EEC relay) in the ICRM. No click. Suspect the ICRM, the connector and or wiring. You might get lucky and gently tap the ICRM and get the relay to work.

Good Luck.
 
to the folks who have done the BHJ/OEM pulley swap....how many miles after the change? Its good to see it can be done...but curious of longevity.

From memory I recall that the OEM pulley/balancer were zero-balanced as a single unit and the BHJ balancer was balanced alone...which means you also need a zero-balanced pulley to keep things aligned. It may be a very small and even negligible difference with the OEM pulley but there is definitely a weight attached. Some folks even reported having the weight fall off from the pulley...me included. Looks like a penny-sized coin.
 
The weight was loose on mine so I has it balnced with the bhj. Its within a tenth of a gran if I remember correctly. A dollar bill weighs a gram I think.
 
While waiting for new bolt & bhj I removed broken bolt with a drill bit & an easy out & broken off snout with a drill bit & two 3 1/2 drywall screws a couple of washers & a steering wheel puller. Both pretty easily I might add. I ended up not balancing stock pulleys with bhj. Thought I was going to finally get my car out of this f*cking parking lot. But now I'm not getting any spark. Crank sensor looks OK. Minus one nut for the plastic cover is missing. Not sure how to check it properly tho. I disconnected battery hoping it might reset or something. Pulled #1 plugs wire & checked spark there with no belts or pulleys on car. I am trying be able to drive my car out before it gets towed & costs me even more.. Its been stuck here since easter! Any timely advise, or a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated

Did you transfer the reluctor ring from the old balancer onto the new one? Are you certain that you got it all the way on? BHJ's can be really tight sometimes. Did you use the proper installation tool?

Might also have a bad crank sensor.
 
Yes, ring is on good. I put a new crank sensor on today and I am starting to suspect that this bhj isn't the right one. The sensor and the timing mark are not even close to lining up. It's like the balancer needs to go back about 1/4 in or so, but it is on all the wayl
 
to the folks who have done the BHJ/OEM pulley swap....how many miles after the change? Its good to see it can be done...but curious of longevity.

From memory I recall that the OEM pulley/balancer were zero-balanced as a single unit and the BHJ balancer was balanced alone...which means you also need a zero-balanced pulley to keep things aligned. It may be a very small and even negligible difference with the OEM pulley but there is definitely a weight attached. Some folks even reported having the weight fall off from the pulley...me included. Looks like a penny-sized coin.



I replaced my balancer with the BHJ from supercoupeperformance.com and used my stock pulley. Bill recommended no additional balancing. My car has about 10,000 miles since the swap. I do not remember seeing any weights on the stock pulley.
 
Well I was right. The member I bought it from made a mistake & it is for 89- 93. I'm getting a refund. Anybody know where I can get a 94-95 bhj 4 a descent price? Like... yesterday!
 
Good morning

If you have the old balancer locate the 26 o After Top Dead Center (26 o ATDC) mark and "eye" match it with the current unit. Are you reconfirming the base timing prior to start? If so make sure the no#1 piston and the "half-moon" vane cam synchronizer (under the cam sensor) is in correct position. Use the forum search, Haynes or Chilton repair manual for information including pictures. Maybe Mr. Potshotscott can chime in? To my understanding BHJ company corrected the missing timing 26 o ATDC location mark discrepancy. Can you post a picture(s) of the discrepancy?

You can also remove the cam sensor and insure the synchronizer vane does rotates. Use a breaker bar/extension/socket set up or "Bump" the ignition/start. If rotating the engine has not moved the vane the synchronizer drive is bad (busted roll pin) or the timing chain is broken.


Good Luck.
 
I replaced my balancer with the BHJ from supercoupeperformance.com and used my stock pulley. Bill recommended no additional balancing. My car has about 10,000 miles since the swap. I do not remember seeing any weights on the stock pulley.
well over 35k miles ago i got the same 1. also installed the entire underdrive pulley set. 0.00 issues.
 
I'm glad to say that after my car sitting in a parking lot for about 3 weeks I finally fixed it before it got towed! I would say next time I'm getting a new bhj off the bat but there won't be a next time. Well... at least not for this car. But that's the point. Right? Bhj & stock pulley so far so good.
 
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