Own a C6 Corvette? Check Your Harmonic Balancer NOW (Full Guide)
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- Опубликовано: 5 май 2023
- I recently bought a C6 corvette and discovered that they suffer from a fatal flaw. The harmonic balancer is easily prone to failure and I forgot to check mine. So when I did, I was met with a broken one and looked for how to replace it. I could not find much information on which part to go with, where to take it etc. So this video covers everything I learned while replacing it to save you the trouble.
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C6 Purchase Video:
• How I Bought The BEST ... 
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ATI Super Damper was a great replacement🎉
Held up perfectly so far
I just replaced mine the other day. I'm 18 and definitely not an "extremely good mechanic" but you cant learn without trying. Picked up a brand new oem one off a crate motor on marketplace for $40. Instead of pulling the steering rack I just dropped the front of the subframe and jacked the motor up a little bit. Definitely made the job easier. I'll swap a super damper on when I build the motor.
That’s absolutely the way to do it if you’re capable and willing. Pulling this off for $40 is super impressive. Congrats and thanks for watching
I picked up the ATI balancer and the drill pinning kit, ARP bolt, new seal. when I got it I also got both belts, pully's and tensioners. that was 2 weeks ago for me! also bought my car around 2 months ago. mine was wobbling fairly bad, it had 52K miles
Those parts should definitely be solid. It seems these cars are at a great price right now but just need this one thing fixed. Good luck and enjoy the car, that’s pretty low mileage. Thanks for watching!
@smokawho - unless you are racing, and/or have a blower, you don't need to pin it. But yes the stock balancers were common warranty items.
Summit racing billet balancer, ARP bolt & pin it to the crank while you're at it. A plus with the Summit balancer is that it has extra ribs for a super charger if you are so inclined at a later date.
That's a known problem for C5's and C6's. The harmonic balancer was a two piece design with a rubber seal keeping the two pieces together. Brilliant move GM because what happens to rubber over time? Once the rubber breaks down the outer portion walks off the center portion and either walks into your timing chain cover or into your radiator. Either way sucks. Since you bought a 2005 with the LS2 I will warn you to keep an eye out for drivetrain vibration. "Some" LS2 crankshafts, over time, lose their internal balance. This causes a drivetrain vibration that will destroy torque tubes and harmonic balancers pre-maturely. When I decide to upgrade my C5 to a C6, I'm specifically looking for an 08-13 with the LS3 engine just to avoid this potential issue.
That's how every harmonic balancer has been made in factory vehicles since the beginning.
Your frustrations are justified but as always with GM it's not a design issue it's a quality issue.
I just changed mine in my '08 C6 for a piece of mind... The HB I used was the ATI Super Damper... In total, I think the cost of everything was $2,000, but at least I have the piece of mind that it's changed... BWT, the C6 has been running like a champ since I changed out my HB... I think I changed it out at 38,000ish??? Can't quite remember, but it runs just like a new car now!!!
I agree mine runs smoother now too. The peace of mind is a nice bonus. Thanks for watching!
@matthewfeatherston8982 - "peace of mind" and "BTW". Speaking of BTW, was yours done at a dealer? Because $2,000 is double what it should cost.
Cars that have not been beat do not always have issues with the balancer. I have 70,000 miles - no issue yet.
Great video 🙌🏽
Thanks I appreciate that. Welcome to the channel!
I have a 2007, bought new. My 5th and probably last Corvette. It currently only has 32,000 miles, and the HB is fine per my local Chevy dealer who specializes in Corvette sales and service. My question for them had to do with HB breakdown because of age like mine, and not high miles. Apparently I'm still good but will probably replace it along with a few other associated parts next spring. Dealer estimate a little over $2,200. I will go with the GM parts in order to get the warranty. Although this is just a weekend car, and has never given me a problem, we do take some longer trips up the coast, and would rather spend a few grand in preventive care than being stalled somewhere on Hwy 1 without a tent.
Might be a good idea to show what a worn balancer looks like running, and once removed to show the separation that causes the trouble.
Why GM didn't improve the HB as they started failing in earlier years is beyond me!
Agreed, if a part is that bad I don’t know how they allow it to continue. Thanks for watching
Another good video. You're getting better each one. One point of criticism, maybe look into a microphone you could clip onto your shirt so you're not holding your phone the entire video. It will also resolve the volume fluctuations when you turn your head towards the phone. Otherwise keep going, you're doing great.
As for the HB issue, good information. When I bought mine, that was part of my inspection and found it to be failing. I bought a PowerBond Race series, new bolt and seal and had a local well known performance shop replace it for $500 labor.
Thanks a ton for the advice I really appreciate it and was wondering how to alleviate that issue. Will definitely look into that. And you seemed to do much better than me with replacement price that’s incredible and the powerbond is super solid. Thanks for watching!
I'm a certified RUclips mechanic and didn't have any issue doing this and a new cam in my C5, basically the same process. Just make sure you buy the right tools (puller, pinning kit, LS balancer installer, etc) I think I had like $1500 in parts (Texas speed cam kit, summit harmonic balancer) and another $200 for the tools.
The other issue and most expesive is the torque tube on all these cars. All torque tubes will eventually fail specially now that this cars are almost 20 year old. And that is an extreamelly expensive job. Not many vette owners know about it, or service/replace it. especially people that have never had a vette and are looking to buy there first.
how much did the harmonic balancer cost? also is this issue with all c6 corvettes or just the newer line of the c6 like 2005-2010. Great video btw.
The part itself was around 550 but was an upgraded aftermarket version. Total cost of replacement was about 1300. It’s an issue with all LS2/LS3 vettes, so 2005-2013 all base models and grand sports. Not applicable to Z06 or ZR1. Thanks for watching!
Is this just as likely to happen to a 2011 c6 grand sport as it is the other years? Just curious if its as big of an issue post 2008. Thanks!
From what I’ve heard it can still happen with the LS3 but is far less likely than the LS2 or even LS1. I believe it’s by far worst on the LS2, but in truth no one knows the numbers for sure. If you’re worried about it just put eyes on it while running every time you to an oil change and look out for the wobble, should be good with the LS3 though. Hopefully that helps, thanks for watching!
Anyone can give me answer. So tomorrow i m gonna take corvette c6 for 180k mile automatic, the owner said the car is full maintenance, should I believe him? Is that mile still okay for corvette c6 for 2005?
In my opinion these cars are highly reliable overall and I think maintenance is more important than mileage. A low mileage car that was beat is likely more worn than a well maintained higher mileage one. I would not fully trust someone telling you maintenance is good especially when trying to sell a car. Your best bet is to throughly look over the car yourself and ask for any maintenance records. Then you’ll have to make an educated decision for yourself based on that information. If it’s not well maintained you can leverage that for price as well. Good luck!
How much wobble is tolerable on the factory HB? I think I'm seeing about 1 mm on my 2000 C-5
A little like 1mm isn’t a huge deal. But the issue is that it will only get worse. Once it gets to about 5 ish mm, I would argue a major failure can happen at any moment. I replaced mine as soon as I saw a little wobble with an aftermarket one so I could just forget about it. I’m not sure if maybe the LS1 will hold up a little better compared to my LS2, but hopefully this helps
Thanks. I'll keep an eye on it. If the wobble gets to 2mm I'll install a better one. @@running2redline
I just had my harmonic balancer replaced at 48k miles. Do these fail a lot? I'd hate to do this all over again at 100k miles.
Mine had been through 3 with 35k miles (previous owner kept using stock part). I’ve heard of them failing a day after install, the factory part is abysmal. The key is to replace with aftermarket (which I did) and you’ll never have to touch it again. However if you went stock, it’s best to keep a close eye on it
@@running2redline The dealership replaced it so I'm going to guess factory part. Thanks for the info !!
Had it done at a dealer. Bout $900 for stock balancer.
That's a deal for a dealer! Mine was a bit less from a local shop.
Ls7 valves
So my advice would probably be to look at the idea of natural wear of rubber. Then I would watch some RUclips videos and see how to do it myself. I think you’re kind of hyping the issue of a harmonic balancer being poor quality when it’s just natural wear.
I agree with your approach to fix it. However, it is undoubtedly poor quality in my opinion when it’s failing on a car with 30k miles. From an engineering perspective I consider that unacceptable. The wear should mostly be from usage of which the car had very little. That’s just my thought but you might be right. Thanks for watching!
@KrisBlackAptus - you are talking out of your a** ! It's a known issue on all LS6 / LS2's. Mine went by 60,000 miles. There are many videos on this issue.