aode08

The 5.0 has been known for bad idle issues, stalling at idle. or slowing from part throttle, minor vibration ,rpm fluctuations when slowing and loss of power..

Well after banging my head against the wall, with this Capri that came into the shop with the above symptoms and every other mechanic looked at it; I noticed when checking the timing , the harmonic balancer had some visual woble.

The timing numbers were steady, so the chain appeared to be ok, . So, I told the customer, I could not accurately check the timing without replacing and investigating his harmonic balancer issue.

Got an extra hour, replaced the balancer, and behold, all of his idle and stalling issues were GONE

Baffled the hell out of all the tech's, Harmonic Balancer FTW ![8D]

86 5.0L

[:@] another thing to add to the things to chek/replace

aode08

never fails to amaze me(kinda scary),what you run across in a diagnosis[>:]

93LX5.0L5SpdConv

I'm real glad to read that. What goes wrong with the balancer? I may have the same problem, mine wobbles a bit also, everything's tight and the timing checks out.

aode08

From a guestimate, I just think the rubber gets old and weak.

Hell, im gonna change mine if any wobble is present.

Harmonic Vibrations lead to a variety of mechanical failures .
Signs of a failed Harmonic Balancer: Leaking from main seal. Deterioration of the rubber between the hub and the outer ring. A visible cracking of the balancer hub or in the outer ring. Any wobble of the balancer or wobble in the drive pulley. Excessive engine vibration. Slipping or noisy drive belts, belt damage or accelerated belt wear. A highly polished spon on the pulley grooves, means a warped balancer. Elongation of the balancer key-way or wear on the balancer hub or crankshaft. Failure in the alternator, power steering pump, A/C or water pump. Engines that don't run properly when adjusting the timing. Poor engine performance, irregular idle.

ZachW04Stang

I had a similar problem when I had my 86 which had asurging idle non stop.I noticed thefactory balancers rubber was starting to pop out and replaced it. The car never surged after that.

aode08

yes, and I never knew a balancer could do all that

w8less

very interestign i wouldn't have guessed that either

88redhatchgt

Yea when i bought my car with a dss 306 [:'(]the people who had put the motor in used a crusty balancer and with it turning close to 7000 and 410 rwhp the block didnt like it. Which led to the rebuild and a new block 2 months after i had the car

aode08

im wondering if i should reccomend the fluid dampners only?

THEY ROCK[8D]