4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

[dsmmace]

I just had my motor rebuild, replaced the timing cover as you can only use them once. Everything has gone fine and dandy until I fired it up and I have a TERRIBLE high pitch squeal with the motor running.

I took off the belt and the noise was still present. I took off the dampner and it went away. Now I have a 98+ block and during the rebuild I had the balance shaft removed and the internals balanced.

During testing I as soon as the snout for the balancer touched the front oil seal it would howl like a SOB. So I guess I need help finding the right combination of parts to get rid of the interference. I hope I can just switch to another balancer instead of replacing the timing cover or seal!

 

[Don S]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

Can we assume you didn't use the original balancer? If not, why not, did you measure the OD of the sealing surface on the orignal balancer?
IS this a Merc or Volvo?

 

[dsmmace]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

Don, I reused the original balancer. This is a 2000 Merc Alpha Gen II.

OD of the pulley is 45mm or 1.77in.

The ID of the seal is 45.9 mm or 1.8 in

 

[dsmmace]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

To update this post I am going to buy a new balancer and install a new oil seal and see if that fixes my issue.

 

[picklenjim]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

If your measurements are correct it wouldn't even be touching the seal.

 

[dsmmace]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

My squeal turned out to be an improperly hooked up crankcase vents. I had them hooked up to the edelbrock carb front barb, creating heavy vacumn pulling the seals in. I moved the vents to the flame arrestor instead. Hopefully on the small amount of time I had on the lake I didn't hurt anything.

 

[Bondo]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

My squeal turned out to be an improperly hooked up crankcase vents. I had them hooked up to the edelbrock carb front barb, creating heavy vacumn pulling the seals in. I moved the vents to the flame arrestor instead. Hopefully on the small amount of time I had on the lake I didn't hurt anything.

Ayuh,.... Hopefully it didn't run too Dry,+ burn up the seal....

 

[dsmmace]

Re: 4.3 V6 vortec harmonic balancer squeal

I replaced the seal and dampner anyway. It only cost $75 and took up a total of 27 hours to figure it out.