How do you replace a 1999 mercury sable's harmonic balancer?

Answer 1

I changed one on a 92 sable, and let me tell you, it was a ****pain!!!!**** i was able to access the bolt through the wheel well on the passenger's side, with the tire removed. Here is what i did, but!!! It is not the safest thing to do. On my car, the bolt holding on the balancer will tighten with spinning of the engine. I didnt have any air tools, so, a friend told me to attach a socket to a large breaker bar and put the socket over the bolt. Then wedge the breaker bar, with the socket still over the bolt, between the body and the ground. Check to see what direction the engine spins so that you know which side to wedge the breaker bar on. Once the bar is firmly wedged...and no one is around!!! Turn the key for less then one second and "bump" the engine. The movement of the engine with the breaker bar on the bolt, will loosen the bolt so it can be removed. Fyi...the bar will fly out a bit when you do that so again...make sure no one is around!!! The other option is to use an impact wrench to remove the bolt.

to get the bolt back on, you will have to press the balancer into the hole. Now...at the factory, I'm sure that they just use a hydrolic press, but that is not an option when the engine is mounted in the car. I'm assuming you could use some type of air hammer to press it in, but you will need a block of wood between the balancer and the hammer. Don't hammer the balancer itself. It is actually a two piece unit and you can knock it out of whack. If you don't have an air hammer, you will have to do what i did, which is use a 5 lb hammer and beat the darn thing into the engine! Quite a pain!! My arms hurt for several days afterward. Once you get the balancer in enough, you can then use an air impact wrench to install the bolt. If you don't press the balancer in far enough, you will strip the threads on the bolt when you try to install it. You will have to have an air impact wrench to install the bolt the rest of the way in (i borrowed one from a nieghbor). If you try and use a breaker bar, it will not work, because you will just turn the crankshaft inside the engine as you are trying to tighten the bolt.

hope this helps...

Steve phx AZ