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Mazda Harmonic Balancer
Vibrations—it’s the least thing that you want to have inside the cabin of your
Mazda, right? But since vibrations would unavoidably emanate from the body panels
of your vehicle, you would just try to resolve the noise problem by applying sound
deadening materials. Vibrations, however, is not only a problem inside your vehicle’s
cabin. It is also a problem for the engine’s crankshaft. And to resolve this vibration
problem, Mazda engineers have equipped each and every Mazda vehicle with high
quality Mazda harmonic balancers.
The vibration created on the crankshaft of your Mazda’s engine is called torsional
vibration. It is a type of vibration emanating from the twisting of objects. As
the engine fires, the front end of the crankshaft takes the largest part of the
power created by the engine. This causes the front end of the shaft to move before
the end does, resulting to a twisting motion. As power is removed from the shaft,
it would then unwind and snap back. This twisting and snapping motion is the cause
of torsional vibration and excessive amount of this vibration can be detrimental
not only to the crankshaft but to other parts of the engine as well.
To avoid too much engine damage from torsional vibration, auto manufacturers
have come up with the harmonic balancer (also called crank pulley damper or vibration
damper). In your Mazda, the Mazda harmonic balancer can be found on the front
end of the crankshaft. It is a special type of pulley that is made up of three
parts: a steel inner part which is connected to the crankshaft; a steel outer
part which has grooves for a belt; and a rubber disk or spring loaded friction
discs, or both, in between. As the engine tries to twist the crankshaft, it ends
up twisting the rubber part of the harmonic balancer instead. Thus, torsional
vibration is avoided and the crankshaft turns smoothly.
With a properly working Mazda harmonic balancer, your Mazda’s engine and crankshaft
is guaranteed to run smoothly. However, if the balancer gets damaged, you can
expect the opposite. So if you want to keep the engine running smoothly and to
prevent a lot of damage in it, better give the harmonic balancer a regular check
and replace it when needed. |
