How do you remove harmonic balancer on Lexus es300?

Answer 1

I have experience removing the harmonic balancer on a 92 ES300 which may be the same for several different model years. Per the service manual, there is a special tool which you could use to engage into the 2 holes surrounding the 19mm bolt. I did not have that tool so I will offer the following solution. The bolt will require a hefty 19mm socket such as the type used for an air impact driver. I used a 3/4 in. drive air impact driver with a compressor capable of producing at least 100psi. According to the service manual the bolt is only supposed to have about 140 ft. lbs. of torque, but my 1/2 in. drive air impact driver (which is supposed to produce about 200 ft. lbs of torque) would not remove the bolt. The 3/4 in. impact driver I rented produces in excess of 700 ft. lbs. of torque so it had no problem getting the bolt out. The bolt is a normal thread bolt (left/counter-clockwise to loosen). Once the bolt is out, you should have no problem working the balancer off by hand, although a puller is mentioned in the service manual. I personally have done more than one of these and never needed a puller. I can tell you that it is also possible to loosen the bolt by putting that same type of hefty socket on a good size breaker bar and bracing the breaker bar against the lower control arm and attempting to kick the motor over with the ignition key. HOWEVER, I don't recommend this due to the possibility of damaging the ring teeth on the flywheel or the starter, or both. Jeff