[xj40] Harmonic Balancer Failure

[quote=“Joe77, post:50, topic:285796, full:true”]
Larry, the puller has to be a shallow design so you can use it comfortably. As long as it fits you can use it. I checked both sockets and they are 1/2" drive.[/quote]

Joe, went to the bolt store today to get the small bolts for the 2 holes in the balancer (for puller) and bought the M8 1.25 x 65mm in the video.
I found they were really hard to thread and started to chew up the balancer threads :astonished:…checking on another site a poster with an X300 suggested those holes are SAE and tapped 5/16"-18?

Is that what you ended up using?

That is really fast shipping, no doubt. I found both the 60mm and the 65 mm bolts but honestly I don’t remember which one I used. It’s been almost 2 years since I did this job. If I don’t know what size bolt I need, I buy 3-4 different sizes and return the others I didn’t use.

Ok, thanks, no worries, will go to the shop and take the balancer with me next time.

edit: I just came back from the store, the holes in the balancer are 5/16"-18, not metric.

Makes sense as that iron casting on the front was used first on a 1975 XJS and was still in production until at least 1997, if not longer!

Made up a tool to (hopefully!) lock up the balancer …maybe I’ll even try undoing the bolt using it …:astonished:

Have a nice fat 3/4" drive 1-5/16 socket and a borrowed a 3/4" breaker bar as thick as my big toe …plus pipe accompaniment …just in case …:slightly_smiling_face:

This is what I made, I hope it works!

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Just rest the breaker bar against the chassis rail and, with the plugs out, give the starter a crank, this will break the bolt tension.

Right, thanks - I was aware of the “bump” method and I might use that …this tool is more for reassembling (tightening the bolt back up)

Bump went very smoothly, so did my locking tool - worst part of the job was removing and replacing the ribbed belt …on a Canadian 94 we have an air pump which sits directly above the alternator making the adjuster a bit inaccessible - had to remove the adjuster completely to get the belt to slacken off.
Real PIA to reinstall that adjuster! Made the mistake of backing off the outer nut, (almost to the end) so I could give a little more scope to the sliding block. When I did reinstall it and set the tension with the bottom nut, I found I couldn’t move the outer nut down the threaded rod because it was blocked by the air pump adjustment block …:rage:

After much dicking around, I finally managed to set the belt tension by prying the two adjusters apart slightly - enough to allow the upper nut to thread down to lock the block.

So don’t back off the outer rod nut too much if you have to do any alternator work …if I’d left it as it was, or just backed it off a bit, the day would have gone by without filling up the swear jar to overflowing.

The actual replacement of the balancer went very smoothly, although I did have to cut a couple of inches of thread off my puller, not enough room to use it full-length.

The balancer I took off was REALLY fried, the rubber was missing chunks and I could turn both pulleys in opposite directions by hand - and I have a hard time opening pasta sauce jars by hand!

Anyway, a long but eventually productive day and best of all no more super glue purchases or clang clang crunch noises. She sounds sweet as can be.

BTW - I pulled the o2 sensor heater relay to stop the car starting when I bumped the starter. I gave her a few cranks to make sure she wouldn’t start before putting the breaker bar in place. After I finished the job and fired her up again, I was greeted with an immediate FF22 - must have flagged when I pulled the relay … I’ll clear it tomorrow morning, enough is enough for one day!

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Great to hear that you have had a result.

Glad to hear you’re back on the road. It took me a week because of the rebuilding time and shipping and I also filled up the swear jar quite a few times since I own my car. Part of the Jag experience I guess.

Well done, don’t the hours fly by when having fun working on a car, the satisfaction of completion, yourself. :grin: and $ saved.

Ah yes, Joy indeed - and lets not forget the rejuvenation effects of engine oil and grease in the hair.

Thanks Joe, your video got me inspired to have a go at it myself!

call me a masochist, but when I change a harmonic balancer, I also thoroughly degrease and clean the front of the engine

with these old cars, a spotless engine underside is startling to the MOT inspector

Ok,

You’re a masochist!

What is an MOT and what on earth do they inspect??

That is the British (and old-fashioned Oz) term for an annual registration inspection, by an authorised mechanic

The intention is to prevent unroadworthy vehicles

They can be extremely strict…technically ANY oil leak is a fail

this makes older vehicles difficult, especially with rear main oil seal etc

If your vehicles is presented in tip-top shape, sometimes they will overlook something like that

On another forum with vehicles in the USA, I cannot believe the rusted out POS that are allowed to drive, spring hangers & chassis rusted etc

I was just joshin you - I know what they are, was around when they were first introduced as the 10 year test - blue triangles an’ all …

So glad we don’t have anything like that in Canada, just another govt revenue stream IMHO …

I’m a far better judge of the roadworthiness of my vehicle than some dick with a clipboard, plus I don’t really see a lot of wrecks tooling around, most people drive new cars; I feel like an exception with a 25 year old daily.

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I was talking to my tyre guy yesterday while the XJR was getting the wheels aligned and he related some horror stories from when cars that have been imported into NZ get checked (certified) to be allowed on the roads. One, a V8 Audi was hard to start and eventually they burnt the starter out. This meant it had to go to a sparkle to get fixed. They rebuilt/replaced the starter and was amazed that it didn’t fire up when they took a spark plug out oil shot out of the cylinder.
The compliance ‘officer’ had apparently pour 18.5 litres of oil into the engine, thinking that it would find it’s own level and any excess would flow into the gearbox. Not sure where they got the guy from but he wasn’t an NZ native (of either colour)

Larry, let’s hope your “new” HB is going to last a long time or better yet, you’ll never have to deal with it again. I’m so confident that I cut up that flat steel bar to make adapters for my new subframe bushing installation.

Inspection on 25 year old cars and older in Texas … Horn … Brakes … headlights. $7 inspection … shaweet !

I can relate to that.