The harmonic balancer on my buddy's accord broke. The fly-wheel is now hanging and both belts broke. He gave me the car for practically nothing. I will actually make money on it ifI take it to a junk yard. However, I would really like to get it fixed and make it a commuter car. It is a 1989 two-door EX, and it was running fine before this happened. He said he had spent about 4,000 dollars on the car in the past 2 or 3 years. I know he put a new distributor, master cylinder, and some other things. I am a college student, and I was just wanting some advice or any opinions anyone might have. I am not sure if it is worth taking to a mechanic because I don't quite know the extent of the damage or what it would cost me to get it fixed. I don't know if it would be better to just take it to a junk yard and make a little money on it.

Any Help Would Be Greatly Appreciated,

Rory

 

Be a bit more specific. Which two belts broke? (The A/C and P.S. belt or the two timing belts)

Also, when you said the fly-wheel is hanging, did you mean that the harmonic balancer is hanging?

 

You say the car was running fine before the balancer failed. To me this means that ifthe balancer isreplaced, the car will run fine again.(You should ask your friend if the timing belt was also replaced recently.)

Luckily, replacing the balancer is an easy job for a pro and should not cost much money, but it certainly will cost some money. So, if I were you, I'd first call up a Honda dealership and ask them how much they would charge you to replace the balancer. Then call another repair shop that specializes in Hondas and ask the same.

If you do not have the amount of money thateither placewants for the job, your choice is simple - sell the car, or DIY to save some money.

Ifyou have a place, a few basic tools and powerto work on it, the folks on this forum can walk you through replacing the balancer.

If you can get the car running again for just a few bucks, you'll thenat leastbe able to sell it much more easily andfor probably a lot more money.

Please let us know how it goes.

 

First off thanks for the info. I really wish I had time to work on the car myself, but I am in Grad school and I am very busy right now. I am not very auto mechanically inclined anyhow.

The flywheel is hanging but I haven't looked closely enough to actually see the harmonic balancer (and even if I had I might not even have known what I was looking at). I am not sure if the timing belt has been replaced or not, but I don't think so. The timing belt is not known to be broken. When the harmonic balancer broke, the flywheel right in front of it couldn't support the belt and the belt was shredded, at least that is what it looks like. Also, he told me that another rubber belt was broken but I don't know which one and I assumed there was only two. Since I posted the first question, I have about decided to take it to a mechanic and just see what he says.

Any more information would be greatly appreciated,

Rory

 

I think your terminology is a little confused... which is normal, I do it all the time. But the Harmonic Balancer (aka Crankshaft Pulley) is located on the drivers side of the motor, the flywheel is in the transmission and visible with the tranny on only through a little viewing hole. That pulley has the main belt that runs the alternator etc. The belt behind that pulley which is held in a plastic case is your timing belt, if that one broke you've got plenty of issues, if it's fine then this may be a fairly cheap/easy fix (realativly speaking....). Supponing the Timinb belt is intact (a quick removal of the upper cover will confirm or squash this thought....) you're looking at a pullye (about $80.00 new OEM) and belts ($40-$60 I think) and an hours labor. So at shop rate of $70.00/hr you're in the $190-$210 range....

Broken timing belt (again not visible without removing the covers) could potentially be a LOT worse. Honda has interferance engines, if that belt breaks then the valves hit the top of the pistons which means the possibility of any or all of the following: Bent Valves, Broken Pistons, Bent rods, Broken Valves, Scored Cylinder walls. Any piston issue and you're looking at rebuilding the motor, valve issues can sometimes be handled for a lot less.

 

very good SIR.....

Also if indeed the crank pulley came apart engine should still run, it would make a lot of noise but it would run,, Unless when the belts came apart ( alt, a/c, p/s ) the alternator could not keep up with the demand of the charging system and shut the engine off,,
But a crank pulley broken WILL NOT keep engine from runnning , again assuming alr did not drain the charge system ,

 

Thanks a bunch guys. Like I said I am no mechanic, so I am sorry for the confusion. Everything I am looking at is visible on the right side of the engine. I took it to a mechanic yesterday, and he said he could fix it pretty easily. I am going to pick up a harmonic balancer and the three belts that were shredded. Hopefully he can fix it and I can sell it for a little bit of spending money, or I may drive it myself. Any other comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

 

When it comes to the Accord, those are the proverbial famous last words.

In short, the bolt that holds the balancer on theengine is infamous for being very very difficult to remove, and that is an understatement.

If the person doing the job is going to charge you based on the actual amount of time it takes him, you would be well served to ask him if he has removed one of these boltsin the past. You don't want to get into a situation where (because he's never done one before, or doesn't haveproper tools)it takes him hours and hours to get that little bugger out of there.Don't laugh. It's possible, and you definitely won't be laughing after he hands you the bill.

A competent, experiencedpersonwill be able toremove itin 20 minutes, at most. This is why I originally recommended that you take it to someone who has experience with your year and model car, and this is why I repeat that recommendation now.

Taking it to the right place might very well save you tens, of not hundreds, of dollars. The right place -a Honda dealership, for example -may give you an estimate that's higher than than another place, but, unless there are other thingsblatantly wrong with the vehicle,you can rest assured that the job will not cost more than the original estimate. Honda will also fully guaranteeany repair (or major screw-up) they perform.

If Honda is too expensive, look in the yellow pages for advertisements that mention Honda repairs specifically. Call one for an estimate and ask if they are aware of how difficult it is to remove the bolt thatsecures the harmonicbalancer to the engine on your year and model car.If they say "yes, we are well aware that they are little buggers to remove" (or something to that effect), agree to stick to their original written estimate, andguarantee their repairs in writing, then that'sprobably a goodplace to take it.

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Tony, Tony, Tony,
my friend ,with the right tool it takes less than 5 minutes to remove the crank pulley nut ,it takes a lot longer to remove the belts so you can replace the pulley ,,, I got 2 impact ,1/2 and 3/4 inch , on most cases the 1/2 will remove those crank bolts but on a few occasions i have to use ( BERTHA) my 3/4 inch impact and it will remove the most stubborn crank bolts in a zip ,,
I agree with you that if you do not have the proper tools that crank bolt could be a son of a gun to remove ,but all the shops should have the proper tools
also if a shop specializes on Hondas i am real sure that they are aware of the easiness to remove crank bolts , i am sure that they have crossed that path before ,,
A shop that specializes on Hondas should have as much experience if not more than the dealer and should warranty their work as much as the dealer, the only difference is that they should be cheaper than the dealer ...
people that own their own shop and specialize on Hondas are people that used to work and were trained at dealerships and decided to go on their own , so most of those guys have many years of Honda experience and i am sure that they know their trade ..
Having said so, even if a shop does not specializes on Hondas should have no problem what so ever to replace the crank pulley, it is a very, very easy job ..

 

Well, good news everyone! I got it fixed and the guy charged me $110. Thanks for the help.