Can anyone confirm if the crank pulley/damper assembly is neutral balanced on its own? I remember reading this someplace on the forum, but can't seem to find it now.

In my haste while replacing the water pump housing gasket (leak) this past weekend, I took out the pulley/damper and didn't mark their position.

Now, I've put it all back together, but I'm second guessing my judgment. I wish I'd just market its original position as I'm now paranoid. I'm waiting on a few more things from Phil, so I haven't started it up yet.

I just checked Haynes manual today and it says to mark position, so I'm stressed about it now...

Thanks!

There's not that much you can do really is there.

The metal part with the timing marks can only go on two ways.

If you have lost the position of this bit and you haven't changed the timing chain position then you can find TDC by looking at the cam lobes on #1 cylinder or by using the little mark (notch) on the camshaft as a guide to where TDC should be - there's not fine adjustment at the crank - just two dowels so you'll be fine there.

Another simple check for TDC is to remove a glow plug(s) and turn the crank by hand and feel for when air is expelled from the cylinder. You'll get to a good approximate position for the dowel pins...

If you are worried about the metal and rubber disc part then I reckon you'll probably be OK fitting that to any of the bolt holes. However, if you are paranoid (like me) you can quite easily check for static balance in the following way =>

Obtain a pipe / round bit of wood (rolling pin from the kitchen?) that will fit through the disc. Use grease if necessary to get it to spin freely.

Spin the disc - put a mark on the bottom of the disc where it stops.

Spin the disc again - put a mark on the bottom of the disc where it stops.

Repeat until you get bored!




If the disc keeps stopping at the same point then it is safe to say that it is not neutrally / independantly balanced.

Ideally you should find that the disc stops at random positions - this means that there is no out of balance "weight" causing it to stop in a particular position - the disc will then be deemed to be statically balanced.

In my opinion this check is more than good enough for your problem.

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

That's correct. Only the balancing disc is balanced to the crankshaft. The vibration damper and pulley are neutral.

Thank you both for the responses. I think I'm fine then, since I didn't mess with the harmonic balancer. I only took off the crank pulley & damper to get access to the lower w/p housing bolt, but didn't mark their position at TDC. I finally found my FSM CD and it seems to confim this also.


This entire episode was essentially the result of a frustrating battle with several frozen bolts, not to mention two rounded bolts on the fan which the PO somehow decided to put back on, resulting in my having to hack them off, turing this into an almost 8hr ordeal for a would be otherwise simple procedure.

Yep I think we've all been there and deserve the T shirts. I had great fun drilling out the hex head bolts that hold the pulley on my crank...

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Wow...that takes the cake! I can't even imagine having to drill out the hex heads on that crank pulley, in those tight confines.

Thanks again folks!