Balancer question

Katoom

Registered User
A lot of people are posting about broken crank shafts and balancers on the 3.8S/C
Is there any "early warning" signs of balancer failure and or crank breakage.
Is this mainly happening on cars with more than normal load on the front, such as S/C overdrive pullies or is it happening to stock motors.
Mine has 272,000Km on it and has only ever had the head gaskets replaced on it. I change the oil with Motorcraft every 3000Km and this motor runs like new. No smoke, no oil consumption, perfect runner. Lots of power too.
 
The balancer is the problem not the crank, when the balancer break the hub is stuck on the crank snout and is very hard to remove. The OEM balancer is very weak on this car and is known to fail on even stock SCs.


A wobbling main pulley is the best sign of impending balancer failure. Another sign is crank sensor failure with signs of contact on the old sensor.

If the crank bolt is broken, the balancer is already bad.

You posted earlier that you had broken pulley bolts on the main pulley. As a precaution, I would replace the balancer/pulley assembly with a new one from Ford (~$200). You need to replace them both as they are balanced as a set.

BHJ makes a damper for the SC but unless you are looking to do a lot of mods it is overkill and expensive.

Aaron
 
IMHO the ~$400 for a BHJ damper is well worth the money in future hassles. The factory damper is basically a 'throwaway' piece because the hub is aluminum. It gauls real bad and won't have the proper press fit if reused. Just ask anyone that's tried and had it break shortly afterward.

Although.... I may be a little biased since I was the one that originally talked BHJ into making the all steel dampers for the SC about 3 years ago. :) Too bad I don't get any kickbacks from all the units they've sold since then. :\

Later,
Steve
 
I have the BHJ damper and it is definately worth the money if you can afford it.

A lot of people here don't have the $400 for the damper and $150 for a pulley set. IMHO spending the $200 on a new stock unit is much better than not replacing a failing damper.

BTW: for what they charge for the damper I thought someone was getting a good kickback:D :D :D


Aaron

I'll let everyone know how the damper runs when March finally ships the UD pulley set from the group buy:( .
 
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