Well, M5 lasted a week. Time to hit the wrenches. Need help guys RE Harmonic balancer

[Unregistered]

Dmitry,

Take a look at your ETK, you will see what I'm talking about. Group # 11......Harmonic balancer assembly

Jr

[BigD]

I'm at my University right now (100km from home), could you do a snapshot for me?

Well, it's looking better and better. My friend who was doing all the non-DIY work for me on the 535, also says he'll fix the S38 no problem. AND, my friend who did the valves, has offered to trailer the car for me to the mechanic.

Bottoms up for Good Samaritans!
Dmitry

Dmitry,

Take a look at your ETK, you will see what I'm talking about. Group # 11......Harmonic balancer assembly

Jr

[MarkD]

I'm at my University right now (100km from home), could you do a snapshot for me?

Well, it's looking better and better. My friend who was doing all the non-DIY work for me on the 535, also says he'll fix the S38 no problem. AND, my friend who did the valves, has offered to trailer the car for me to the mechanic.

Bottoms up for Good Samaritans!
Dmitry

Dmitry,
How is your friend going to "fix the S38 no problem" ? Is he giving you a free S38 crank that he just happens to have lying around and performing the labour for free? Don't be surprised if the crank's keyway is worn. The early Dinan chip has a rev. limiter that is set to 7500 rpm, too high for that motor! Over-reving will cause the HB to vibrate, destroy the keyway and come free. Call up the dealer and get him to fix this. You may be surprised what it will cost to fix.

Mark

[BigD]

I never said for free. He does good work and charges good rates, and takes cash. The revs never went that high, like I said I didn't even hit redline. If my friend says it will be hard to fix, then I will wait until I get the warranty coverage from the dealer. Otherwise I'll probably just pay for it myself. I'm not going to try to guess anything anymore.

Dmitry,
How is your friend going to "fix the S38 no problem" ? Is he giving you a free S38 crank that he just happens to have lying around and performing the labour for free? Don't be surprised if the crank's keyway is worn. The early Dinan chip has a rev. limiter that is set to 7500 rpm, too high for that motor! Over-reving will cause the HB to vibrate, destroy the keyway and come free. Call up the dealer and get him to fix this. You may be surprised what it will cost to fix.

Mark

[MarkD]

I never said for free. He does good work and charges good rates, and takes cash. The revs never went that high, like I said I didn't even hit redline. If my friend says it will be hard to fix, then I will wait until I get the warranty coverage from the dealer. Otherwise I'll probably just pay for it myself. I'm not going to try to guess anything anymore.

There's nothing to guess at. Anyway, I talked to my friend who has the BMW garage I checked out my M5 at, and mentioned a car with a loose harmonic balancer. His first two questions were:

1) Is it blue car?
2) was it owned by some student from Kingston (with a foreign name )


Mark

[632 Regal]

Loosen the bolt take the balancer off and check it out, eliminate a lot of guessing. I would bet whoever last had it off didnt tighten it enough and it sheared the keyway. Have to see how bad the keyway is in the crank and the balancer before you can go any further.

my 2¢

[BigD]

Yep, I'll see what my friend says when he pulls it off. See what the damage is and take it from there...

I don't know if he is a student from Kingston but he does have a foreign name. Why what else did he say?

There's nothing to guess at. Anyway, I talked to my friend who has the BMW garage I checked out my M5 at, and mentioned a car with a loose harmonic balancer. His first two questions were:

1) Is it blue car?
2) was it owned by some student from Kingston (with a foreign name )


Mark

[MarkD]

Yep, I'll see what my friend says when he pulls it off. See what the damage is and take it from there...

I don't know if he is a student from Kingston but he does have a foreign name. Why what else did he say?

Dmitry,

call me at the number shown on my website. I'll be going out around 1:40 or so.

Mark

[gordon]

Dimitry... unless you bought it "as is" (gulp, tell me you didn't)... the dealer has to cover it for at least the first 30 days... don't let anyone put a wrench to it until you talk to him....after someone else touches it it will be too late.
I was always told that whatever you pay for an "M" you should have in reserve to pay for engine work.....???

[BigD]

He had no way of knowing about this. No technical inspection, short of an engine tear down would have found this problem. It wasn't "as is", it was certified etc. The 1 year warranty is for $750 and they tell you where to go for the fix. Screw that. I'm not going to bother. He won't do anything about it (not that I would expect him to, I know I wouldn't) and the best I can do if I really wanted to is take him to court. He could easily win. It's too late with wrench work anyway. I had Will do the valves on Saturday (day before all this went down).

It's alright. From the sounds of it the crank shaft will have to be replaced eventually. My mechanic will look at it tomorrow, see if he can do anything, and not do a temporary fix. If not, I'll have him to do the same thing as was done before (loctite on the crankshaft, and crank down the bolt). Take it easy until the winter, and then send it up to Markus G to do the crankshaft. While he's in there I'll have him freshen up the engine insides - won't be much more expensive from there. I can borderline afford the crank replacement now, but it would be too tight. Markus actually said this is a very common problem on the S38. They raced one in '92 and it happened more than once on the same car. He designed a modification for the crankshaft for a permanent fix. I'll probably have him do that as well.

I have no regrets. I was expecting something like this, just a whole lot later.

Dimitry... unless you bought it "as is" (gulp, tell me you didn't)... the dealer has to cover it for at least the first 30 days... don't let anyone put a wrench to it until you talk to him....after someone else touches it it will be too late.
I was always told that whatever you pay for an "M" you should have in reserve to pay for engine work.....???