Crank pulley spark/arcing??? - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

PatrickGSR94 · 07-19-2011, 01:31 AM

I just noticed this ticking sound shortly after starting the car. Looking down by the crank pulley I see a white/blue spark or arc popping every 4-5 seconds or so! Sometimes it goes between the crank pulley and the frame of the car. Other times it goes somewhere else where I can't see from above.

Belts were replaced in November of last year, barely any miles on them at all. Crank pulley was replaced with one from NAPA a couple years back, due to the old one wobbling, but this one has also been wobbling for some time now. Currently there is no A/C belt installed due to me just installing a new A/C compressor a few moments ago.

Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing?

Bitter · 07-19-2011, 07:42 AM

you sir have made a van de graff generator!

You Tube

The rubber between the pulley outer ring and pulley center from the factory is conductive to bleed off the static....aftermarket are not. certain conditions will allow this to happen, even to stock stuff. get some aluminum foil and cut a comb and mount it just over the belt, grounded to the block. that will pull the electrons off and ground them out. for more fun, you can attach the comb to an insulated metal sphere and stand your hair up.

PatrickGSR94 · 07-19-2011, 09:04 AM

It's not even as fast as in that video. It's just kinda slow like tick... tick... tick...

It sounds exactly like a relay clicking on and off, which I thought it was. So are you saying it's supposed to do that?

PatrickGSR94 · 07-19-2011, 09:23 AM

oh man, other forums say the arcing is a sign of harmonic dampener failure: http://www.crownvic.net/ubbthreads/u...Number=2195286

And I paid almost 200 bucks for this POS only about 3 years ago! Why does the crank pulley wobble?

speedy25 · 07-19-2011, 03:20 PM

Soooooo other than the visual effect, is it a problem??

I dont think so.

-SP

PatrickGSR94 · 07-19-2011, 04:54 PM

Well if it's an indication of the balancer coming apart, I don't want it to come apart while driving and suddenly have no water pump among the other accessories.

Bitter · 07-19-2011, 07:23 PM

well get some eyes on it and check it out, does it look like it's coming apart?

speedy25 · 07-20-2011, 04:17 PM

As I understood what was written it was AFTERMARKET pulleys that did this because they dont have a conductive rubber in their construction. You might want to try an ohm meter to see if the outer hub has continuity with the center.

-SP

PatrickGSR94 · 07-21-2011, 08:39 AM

Last night I removed the outer belt to install a new A/C belt, then put the outer belt back on. Now I do not see any sparking anymore. Maybe the outer belt was too loose or too tight before, who knows.