Anyone have experience with the proper tools/removal procedure to remove mid nineties FWD harmonic ? Have '93 Skylark with 3.3 L engine, recently died, am going to try used crank trigger sensor, the car has no spark and another ignition module/coil pack did not change situation. Found '92 Century in U Pull with same engine, but harmonic removal is unusual. Removed center bolt, by locking engine at flywheel, but it does not seem to have the three "threaded" holes on the outside, only "slotted " holes on the outside of it. Haynes says it "just comes off" once you remove the 15/16" headed center bolt. Not true, it seems to require use of a harmonic balancer puller of some sort. Crank trigger sensor and a plastic shield are right behind the balancer, so it needs to be removed with care so the plastics do not get damaged. Standard threads? Any insights?
Inside those 3 slots are 3 holes. Sometimes the balancer will slip on the ring and the holes will be difficult to access. I've had to use a die grinder on the slots to uncover the holes. If that's the case, the balancer is junk anyway. Use Kent-Moore # J-38197-2 puller. I think the threaded holes are 6mm.
Yes, there are 3 6mm holes way in the balancer. You will need some pretty long (80mm?) bolts and some washers to use on a std balancer remover.
Some of the crank triggers are adjustable and a special tool is needed that goes over the end of the crank and holds the trigger in the correct position when tightening the bolts. If it is not perfectly positioned, The balancer will immediately rip the new sensor apart.
Thank you, I did believe I saw one hole - way inside one of the slots on the outside of the balancer on the Century. The center bolt on the puller probably has to be very long, as well, as it needs to go way into the "recess" on the snout of the crankshaft. Not buggering up that center balancer bolt threads, as well, is likely a concern. The center hole on the outside of the balancer is really not all that big. These engines - the descendants of the 225/231/252 V6 - still have some SAE fasteners in the mid nineties? Looked at some slightly later engines in the engine bins at the local yard - they had both a cam position sensor and a crank sensor, although this earlier one appears to just have a crank sensor. The center crank bolt is described as 15/16" by Haynes, but no other mention of proper harmonic balancer removal is stated in their manual.
