Message board members,
Has anyone heard of a harmonic balancer looking normal, but having the outer ring shifted on the rubber damper? I have a 73 model 250 inline 6 and after I bought it, it ran well, but could not be timed with the light. It actually appeared to be timed on cylinder 5 instead of cylinder 1.
I immediately looked for the hard solution. After making sure the distributer was in properly (using the timing mark on the damper on the compression stroke of cylinder 1), I pulled the front cover and looked for the timing gears to be a tooth off. The gears were fine, and even though the job was a pain, the new gaskets will probably help the engine stop leaking oil like a seive.
After putting everything back together, I got the engine to run well, but the timing mark still seems to be about 90 degrees off when checked with a light. I think the balancer must be out of whack, and that would account for the rotor not lining up where I expected. I had to stab the distributer a few times, moving the gear a tooth at a time until I got the engine to start.
Is this possible for the balance to be out of whack, or am I barking up the wrong tree?
Thanks for your help.
