How do you change the harmonic balancer on a 1989 Buick Riviera?

Answer 1

The easiest way and the best way to prevent damage is to remove the tire, splash shield and accessory belts then remove the harmonic balancer bolt using the special holding tool DenLors 648796. The balancer or crank pulley will then slide off fairly easy, then reverse this procedure to install the replacement pulley.

Ok, regardless if you are working on the 1.5 or the 1.6 it's a pain in the you know what. The bolt is on very very tight and requires a special tool for ease that is made just for Honda harmonic balancers It holds the balancer in place while you turn the bolt use a large steel pipe or breaker bar with an IMPACT SHALLOW 6 point socket and break it loose. I've only seen a few impact wrench guns that could turn this over torqued bolt. Just DONT break the bolt.. You will be upset...$$$$$

You first need to lift the car off the ground like your changing the tire(get it on a cherry picker if you can for easier access). Take the tire off, loosen the tensioner on the alternator, and get the belt off. Take a 11/16"ths shallow 1/2" socket and a 14" or larger steel pipe for torque because this bolt is very very tight and can easily break your tool. There are a few impact guns to take it off.

According to my manual you can push a large screw driver in a hole near where the speedo cable connects to the gear box to lock the flywheel. I found I had to remove a small bolt to get the hole large enough to fit the screw driver in. A small piece of casing broke and it became very easy to lock the flywheel. The bolt came undone with a socket and a 30 in bar. I don't think the missing casing is going to make any difference.

Answer 2

first jack up and support the front passengers side of the van then take the tire off then take the plastic splash guard off then you should be able to see the harmonic balancer from the wheel well opening then your going to need to take off the belt then put a harmonic balancer puller on it and crank it out harmonic balancer puller is absulutely needed to take the balancer off of you could damage the balancer or even wors the crankshaft, the pullers are really cheap compared to a crankshaft

Answer 3

Remove belts, upper motor mount, and passenger tire. Be sure to support motor with jack and block of wood. Lower the motor as low as you can get it. Remove bolt holdong it to crank. Use a 3 jaw puller to pull balancer off motor.

Good luck!

Answer 4

The harmonic balancers function is to reduce vibration between the engine and the crankshaft. To replace the harmonic balancer requires a specific tool available at an auto parts store. Loosen the crank pulley via 4 bolts to access the balancer. Using the tool remove the harmonic balancer from the crankshaft.

Answer 5

To get at the harmonic balancer, you'll need to raise the right front side of the vehicle using some sort of jack, brace it with a jack stand (safety first). remove the front passenger side tire, then take out the splash guards in behind. should be 10mm bolts and a few fasteners that look like Phillips head screws (don't let them fool you, just pry them off with a flathead driver).

once you've got those off, you'll be able to see your serpentine and alternater assemblys. You'll need to remove your belts for sake of ease, so take off the tension. with most vehicles you'd just be able to use a long handled screwdriver for this, but being a Kia they had to be difficult didn't they? find your tensioners, and loosen the center bolt on them, after doing this, you'll have to find the actual tension bolt (should run perpendicular to the tensioner). Counter Clockwise with a 14mm socket to remove the tension. It's gonna take a bit of loosening to get the slack you'll want so you can remove the belt without damaging it (unless it's time to change the belt anyway).

Ok, once you've got the belts off comes the pain in the neck part. There's a variety of ways to remove the crank pulley bolt (the bolt in the center of the balancer). If you have a high powered impact gun, get on it with that and give it a whirl. If you can't get it that way, you can try getting under the van, removing the bell housing on the back of the tranny and jamming the flywheel with a screwdriver, then get on the Bolt with a breaker bar. The method I used was a bit different. I took a breaker bar, wedged it against the frame toward the rear of the van and turned the engine on a few times quickly to use the engine's torque to loosen the bolt. A few quick taps that way, and I hit it again with an electric heavy duty impact gun (use air if you've got a compresser with 140-160 psi, just remember to adjust your gun's impact to max). 22mm Socket for all of this by the way.

Alright, once you've got the bolt out (and trust me, it can take a world of effort), get ahold of something to pry off the old one. It may just come right off, mine was jammed on though. putting the new one on is easy after that, just line up the holes, replace your bolt, and do the previous steps in reverse order. Make sure you get some good torque on that bolt though. You'll wanna get 145ft/lbs on it if you can (I just used the impact gun for it).

If you made it that far, I don't think I'll need to go on. Hope this was enough to help!

Answer 6

You will need special tools like: harmonic balancer puller, and impact wrench.