Harmonic Balancer Vibration Damper 4.8is, no pics but easy

[SlickGT1]

Replaced harmonic balancer, aka vibration damper, aka the big ass pulley with the jesus bolt through it, aka crank pulley.

So first thing to note. The 4.8is is the best car ever to work on.

1. we don't have that annoying ass mechanical fan.
2. the only fan we have is electric, it has 2 wire connections, and is held in place by 2 clips to the radiator on top. Pop the two clips.
Number 4 in this pic.


3. Unplug those two connections, one on top, one on right hand side by the power steering reservoir. Look down into engine bay, unhook 3 hoses from fan. Pull the fan up, just wiggle it a bit, it comes out in 2 min.

4. Now you have enough space to do whatever you need in the engine bay.

5. 8 T50 bolts, and the pulley is loose.

6. T60 wrench into the tensioners and both belts are off. Take off damper, replace damper, align with pin, replace washer, screws, and revers of the above.

Entire job took an hour, and only that long because I only realized later how quick the fan comes out.

[Roadkill]

Slick, what were your symptoms that preceded this repair?

[SlickGT1]

Originally Posted by dinan e39

Slick, what were your symptoms that preceded this repair?

Like a constant low resonance vibration. I did plugs, cleaned tb, Maf, still had this annoying ass vibration. It wasn't rough, just not smooth as a german machine should be. Couldn't figure it out for shit. Even after mounts were changed.

Then when I was doing my thermostat, I had the car in the air running, while I put the splash shield back on, I saw it from the bottom. The damper was out of round. You can't see it from the top because all the belts are in the way, but from the bottom, it was clear as day. My buddy said holy shit as well.

So with the old one off, you can see that the outer ring is pressed over the inner ring with a rubber layer in between. That layer pushed out on one side, and caused the outer ring to be out of round. Once off the car, I was able to inspect that rubber, and yup, deteriorated a lot.

And yes, vibration gone.

by the way. Febi. Autohausaz has is for $140. Fraction of the price from ecstunning.com or dealer.

[Roadkill]

Dude, you may have found the vibration issue I've been chasing since ownership. Thanks for the write up. I'll check it this weekend.

[SlickGT1]

Tell me about it. Steering felt vibration is much more pleasant now, like it supposed to be, like a sewing machine. Very happy with the results, and for the price, hell yea. Sheer luck I have to say. Would have never thought. It's a common issue on Benz V8s though. So as soon as I saw it, I knew.

[Cisc0]

Does this only apply to a 4.8is or can I replace this on my 3.0i? If so, can you please post a link to the part @ AutohausAZ.

I've been chasing a vibration also for quite some time.

[SlickGT1]

I'm on my phone so links and all that is hard. If you get the part number from real oem, search that same number on Autohausaz. That's what I did. Not sure if it's the same part on the 3.0, but I'm really sure it will be much harder to do than on the 4.8.

[Turbo_Bimmer]

Slick, what was your mileage when it started to vibrate?

[SlickGT1]

Ever since I bought it with 70k on it. I had blown mounts, one belt tensioner was a bit rattly, and idler pulley I changed because I already had one from a friend. After I did all that , plus the cleaning of tb and maf, plus plugs (I matched them exactly to spec too) and still I had this vibration that was just unpleasant through the steering.

Way better now. I pulled out of my garage today and stopped in the street to warm up for a min. About 30 seconds later I had to check the tach, I thought the car stalled or something. You guys might want to check this thing. The rubber between the parts is clearly deteriated. I'll upload a pic later.

[Turbo_Bimmer]

Ok, thanks Slick. Mine has 90000km (54000mi) and it has a slight vibration. I will keep an eye on it.