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Harmonic balancer/pulley separation (the more you know)
Happened on my 1999 gs300, 266k miles, no idea if it’s the original one but I think it’s already been changed before (don’t think this one’s OEM).
So I guess this isn’t that uncommon but I figured I’d post it here in case anyone else can learn from it. The HB/pulley are two pieces pressed together with a rubber strip in between. Eventually the rubber degrades and the two pieces separate. If you catch it early, good. If you don’t, you’ll be slightly more inconvenienced at the least.
If you hear any type of belt screeching sound or smell burnt rubber then give this a check. Happened when I turned on the AC. Thought my compressor had seized up. It was just the extra load that busted the rubber and was giving the pulley resistance.
It didn't fall off completely with the engine running, did it?
I thought it would fall off and jam the belt and spin the pulley to the radiator, hoses and other parts around with catastrophic damage.
That’s good that it didn’t fall off and damage a bunch of stuff. The same thing happened to my SC300 a few years ago but mine fell off completely and went under the car.
Are you going with an OEM crank pulley to replace the old one?
Definitely OEM. Fluidampr was recommended but I’m not dropping $500 on a beater that I put a couple thousand miles a year on. Found an OEM on ebay for $300.
Definitely OEM. Fluidampr was recommended but I’m not dropping $500 on a beater that I put a couple thousand miles a year on. Found an OEM on ebay for $300.
OEM is a good choice. I thought about that other one but the price was too high, like you said.
Harmonic balancer/pulley separation (the more you know)
