Been spending much of the past two weeks going over my mother's 92 Mustang 5.0 convertible, for delivery to my friends that live south of Austin.

This afternoon, I was running it at idle to warm it up, so I could run the EEC-IV system thru the different tests to resolve why the CEL keeps flashing on and off while accelerating or going uphill after it's warmed up.

I'd just recently installed a new Hayden fan clutch and fan blade, plus changed out the serpentine belt. I was looking down at these, to make sure everything was running correctly, when something else caught my eye...

I could visibly see the harmonic balancer (or vibration damper) behind the crank pulley wobbling, both radially and axially, with the engine just running at idle speed.

From what I've heard over the years, harmonic balancers where the rubber insert is still in good shape are NOT supposed to behave in this manner - and behavior of this type is supposedly a dead giveaway that it's well on it's way to failure.

Car is 20 years old with 90K miles on it - my mother has owned it for the past 15 years and 40K miles of that - and this is the original factory balancer on it, unless it was changed somewhere in the first 50K miles.

Original balancer with 90K miles and 20 year old rubber insert.... doesn't give me a warm fuzzy... especially when wobbling like a cheap toy gyroscope...

Local mechanic I called said "well, how much wobble is it, 1/16", 1/8", 1/4"? If it isn't that much, I wouldn't worry about it". But he did offer to look at it first hand come Monday.

My initial instinct is to call BS - no rotating part attached to the external output of an engine crankshaft should be making THAT kind of motion unless something is getting ready to head south.

New replacement balancer is only about $60. My gut feel is to simply cut thru the crap and just get the balancer replaced straight out - not that difficult a job on this vehicle - especially since the vehicle is going to a new owner who is also a close friend.

Never dealt with this type of problem on a vehicle before. Is my assessment correct, that this is something that needs to be addressed ASAP?

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club