oil from balancer bolt?!?!?!?!
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Austria
oil from balancer bolt?!?!?!?! hey folks
i´m actually restoring my 69 camaro to a pro-touring car and i am replacing my bbc with an LQ4 engine. the engine is built with lots of aftermarket parts and i wired everything up (msd and ez-efi) and had it test-running for just 20-30 seconds yet and today we removed the engine to mate the tko to it when i saw that theres oil leaking at the balancer. first thought was the front seal but it´s all dry so i checked the balancer bolt and i had forgot to torque it down cause i had no clutch or something to stop the engine from turning. when i installed the balancer i heated it up and it was a p.i.t.a to get it on till i reached the distance between the crank and balancer face. so now it started leaking right between the balancer and crank which i never seen before on any engines. did i mess something up?
i´m actually restoring my 69 camaro to a pro-touring car and i am replacing my bbc with an LQ4 engine. the engine is built with lots of aftermarket parts and i wired everything up (msd and ez-efi) and had it test-running for just 20-30 seconds yet and today we removed the engine to mate the tko to it when i saw that theres oil leaking at the balancer. first thought was the front seal but it´s all dry so i checked the balancer bolt and i had forgot to torque it down cause i had no clutch or something to stop the engine from turning. when i installed the balancer i heated it up and it was a p.i.t.a to get it on till i reached the distance between the crank and balancer face. so now it started leaking right between the balancer and crank which i never seen before on any engines. did i mess something up?
if the balancer is not pressed on all the way there is a potential for a leak.
edit: just re-read your post real fast, did you heat the balancer up enough to potentially compromise the integrity of the crank seal? If you heat the balancer up to much it could melt the seal and cause a leak. Also heating the balancer up is 100% not necessary. buy the correct installation tool, either the kent moore tool or the HAWK LS1 HARMONIC BALANCER INSTALLATION TOOL. Here is a link:
http://www.coloradospeed.com/hawk-ls...3-p-10976.html
you use the tool to seat the balancer then drive it home with your factory or ARP bolt.
edit: just re-read your post real fast, did you heat the balancer up enough to potentially compromise the integrity of the crank seal? If you heat the balancer up to much it could melt the seal and cause a leak. Also heating the balancer up is 100% not necessary. buy the correct installation tool, either the kent moore tool or the HAWK LS1 HARMONIC BALANCER INSTALLATION TOOL. Here is a link:
http://www.coloradospeed.com/hawk-ls...3-p-10976.html
you use the tool to seat the balancer then drive it home with your factory or ARP bolt.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Austria
thanks for the fast reply. i just heated it to around 90°C which equals to engine running temperature so it shouldn´t have hurt the seal. but btw. it´s a powerbond underdrive balancer and a aftermarket crank so both have round and square key´s could the leaking happened there? and i measured that the crankshaft was recessed around 4mm into the bore which would be ok looking at GM recommendation, just on the high side. should the balancer go right onto the oil pump gear cause otherwise i can´t imagine how to torque the bolt down without slipping of the balancer further in
Last edited by camaro427-69; Sep 11, 2013 at 04:21 PM.
The balancer should butt right up to the oil-pump drive. And yes, it can leak from those pins and key ways. Just goop it up good with RTV. I'd goop the big bolt washer as well.
Should be good to go after the bolt is torqued.
Someone really wanted that baby pinned!
Ron
Should be good to go after the bolt is torqued.
Someone really wanted that baby pinned!
Ron
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Austria
i have an ARP Bolt so no sealer on it and i just worked on Big Chevys before so i had no clue what to do. thanks guys but it was pretty funny cause i told my buddys (who all own muscles of all brands) that i´ll switch to LS to get dependable power and no more leaking engines. guess who was laughing yesterday with me standing next to an engine that hasn´t even seen a mile 
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My guess is that the balancer is not on all the way which coincides with you
saying it was hard as hell to get on even heated. Every time I run an after-
market balancer and especially if it's on an aftermarket crankshaft the inside
of the balancer needs to be honed for proper interference. They usually come
with .002"-.0025" press which is too much. I set it at .0013"-.0017". A shop
can do this or if you're on the cheap some emory cloth and elbow grease can
work but is not prefered.
saying it was hard as hell to get on even heated. Every time I run an after-
market balancer and especially if it's on an aftermarket crankshaft the inside
of the balancer needs to be honed for proper interference. They usually come
with .002"-.0025" press which is too much. I set it at .0013"-.0017". A shop
can do this or if you're on the cheap some emory cloth and elbow grease can
work but is not prefered.
The balancer is a press fit, it def should not leak. Ate you using an aftermarket balancer with an open key way?
I agree, with the proper tools there is no reason to heat anything. Summit racing sells all the proper tools
I agree, with the proper tools there is no reason to heat anything. Summit racing sells all the proper tools
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
From: Austria
hmmmm one of the problems was definitely that the engine was already in the car with the tranny hooked up but no clutch, just to check fitment, when i installed the balancer. i had no real chance to keep it from spinning but it went so far that it was in the GM specs but probably not enough cause of all those key holes drilled. installed the clutch 2 days ago and had a real stop with the tires and it went a little further and stopped there still in the GM specs. i used some rtv sealer this time and i will just give it a try. need to get the engine off the bay anyways to continue body work, so if it starts to leak again i probably disassemble the whole engine.
