Honda D16A6 Guru's Please Step Inside

I've got a bad harmonic balancer on my CRX. I know that some 88-91's had the harmonic balancer and some had just pulley's, but what I don't know is what had what and when and why. I've also gotten conflicting information, such as the 88's didn't have a harmonic balancer, but both of mine did/have. When I look up the OEM part numbers they are different between 88 and 90, but the balancer off my 90 is identical to my 88. It also appears that these are now made of unobtainium, so I need to find a good source for them...And I need one with two poly-v grooves so I can run my air conditioning.
So on one hand I want to know what they used when and why, but as far as replacing the one I have, I'm looking for an identical unit that has the dual grooves and the harmonic balancer built in, and I really want an OEM unit.
So if anyone can educate me on these I'd appreciate it, but I'd also appreciate any leads on where to buy a new OEM type balancer, if they are available at all. Thanks guys.

Do they have junkyards and craigslist where you live? I had a major packaging problem with the stock crank pulley on the D15B+D16A6 frankencivic engine donor I used for my N600. Based on the stuff I documented in that build thread, as far as I could tell the early D15s had a solid pulley and the rest of the D1x had a typical damper. I couldn't find any D16 that had a solid pulley (in the US). That early D15 solid pulley I got had a smaller center bore diameter than the later damped versions had by a couple millimeters. I'm not a Honda whiz, I was just figuring things out as I needed to get the job done. I was able to easily find the parts I needed from junkyards and craigslist locally.

Link for reference:

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/build-projects-and-project-cars/2011-n600-west-coast-challenger/33452/page3/

With all that said, I'm confused why you need a NEW OEM balancer, and if you do...did you call the Honda dealer? If anybody has one, I think it'd be them. Sounds like a really expensive part that doesn't necessarily need to be new, I bet.

Bryce

I passed your question on to our local honda guru ...this is his answer, hope it helps

D16A6 has the rubber dampener ring, aka harmonic balancer. D15B1/D15B2 had the solid metal pulley. They should not be interchanged as the timing marks on the pulleys are DIFFERENT, and the extra few hundred rpms the D16A1 spins means it needs the harmonic balancer style of crank pulley - light weight pulleys on those motors are linked to #1 main bearing wear and broken oil pumps. If in a pinch, a 92-95 Civic EX or Si, D16Z6 engine, can be used. The timing marks will be off 2 degrees (close enough) and the alternator belt is a 4 groove instead of 3 groove affair (92-95 alternators can not always swap pulleys to 88-91 cars as there were two different diameter shafts used, but the entire alternator does swap).

Nashco wrote: With all that said, I'm confused why you need a NEW OEM balancer, and if you do...did you call the Honda dealer? If anybody has one, I think it'd be them. Sounds like a really expensive part that doesn't necessarily need to be new, I bet. Bryce

I need a balancer because mine is bad. And according to my buddy Honda parts manager, Honda has discontinued them. The auto parts stores I've looked at don't even list them, and because mine is bad I'd really like to buy new instead of used, but that may not be possible.

In reply to wbjones:

Thanks, that at least answers the question about what got what when and why. Now I just need to find one.

Sounds like you have the same problem I do. My harmonic balancer is bad on my B20 (Honda CR-V), but I don't feel like forking over $150 to the dealer for a new one...

How about running a later model pulley, and changing the pulley on your accessories? You can probably find a later D16Z6 or D16Y8 pulley more easily, and then use a later A/C pump and bracket from the same motor, to make the belts match up.

I am curious as well as I have recently had a harmonic balancer failure on my civic and the one I bought off the ebay is the non harmonic pulley. I have yet to install it but was worried about installing it without a harmonic balancer, guess I will have to keep looking and try to find one with the balancer as well.

Rob, the reply I posted was from Joseph at Redline on Leicester Highway

he might be able to help

I have a broken D16A6 out of a '91 RealTime AWD wagon. I'll take a look at what's hanging on the crank snout, tomorrow.

For reference, I'll check to see what's on my CRX, but I'm afraid to say that I don't have one to spare.

wbjones wrote: I passed your question on to our local honda guru ...this is his answer, hope it helps D16A6 has the rubber dampener ring, aka harmonic balancer. D15B1/D15B2 had the solid metal pulley. They should not be interchanged as the timing marks on the pulleys are DIFFERENT, and the extra few hundred rpms the D16A1 spins means it needs the harmonic balancer style of crank pulley - light weight pulleys on those motors are linked to #1 main bearing wear and broken oil pumps. If in a pinch, a 92-95 Civic EX or Si, D16Z6 engine, can be used. The timing marks will be off 2 degrees (close enough) and the alternator belt is a 4 groove instead of 3 groove affair (92-95 alternators can not always swap pulleys to 88-91 cars as there were two different diameter shafts used, but the entire alternator does swap).

Hot diggity damn, we should ask your honda friend every time! Great post!

Is this what you need?

The D16Z6 balancer is still available new. That + a later model alternator should get you going.

Vigo wrote:

wbjones wrote: I passed your question on to our local honda guru ...this is his answer, hope it helps D16A6 has the rubber dampener ring, aka harmonic balancer. D15B1/D15B2 had the solid metal pulley. They should not be interchanged as the timing marks on the pulleys are DIFFERENT, and the extra few hundred rpms the D16A1 spins means it needs the harmonic balancer style of crank pulley - light weight pulleys on those motors are linked to #1 main bearing wear and broken oil pumps. If in a pinch, a 92-95 Civic EX or Si, D16Z6 engine, can be used. The timing marks will be off 2 degrees (close enough) and the alternator belt is a 4 groove instead of 3 groove affair (92-95 alternators can not always swap pulleys to 88-91 cars as there were two different diameter shafts used, but the entire alternator does swap).

Hot diggity damn, we should ask your honda friend every time! Great post!

when it comes to Hondas he's pretty damn smart ... shoot he's pretty damn smart anyway ... but yeah ... Hondas

RealMiniDriver wrote: Is this what you need?

Mine doesn't have the v-belt groove, but otherwise, yes, that's what I need. I don't want to go Z6 if possible, because the alternator on mine is almost new, and my A/C compressor IS new.

So what's the actual difference in the A6 and D6 pulley's? The number of grooves? What number does the Z6 have? Seems that unless the alignment is off, you could run a belt that matches the pulley with the least amount of grooves.

In reply to bravenrace:

It's yours, for the cost of shipping, if you can make it work.

Getting a D16 pulley is a good call.

I had a D16 "mini-me" engine in my 1990 Civic, it rusted out so I bought a 1995 Civic that had a D15 and put the "mini-me" in it's place. The '95 had a/c and power steering so I simply swapped the 2-rib D16A6 balancer with the 3 rib D15 solid pulley. About 5k after the swap this happened:

The crank pulley bolt snapped and the pulley fell off.
Ruined the D15 pulley, the ID of the pulley got enlarged.

It also damaged the keyway on the crankshaft a bit.

So I found myself a D16Z6 balancer and put that on with a miata-style "loctite fix" for the keyway and a brand new bolt. I followed the updated Honda torque spec exactly this time too.
Left to right is the D16Z6 balancer, the D15B7 pulley and finally the 2 belt D16A6 pulley.

I'm not sure if I just overtightened it (used my medium-stength impact) or harmonics came into play but I've had zero problems since with a dampened pulley. I suspect harmonics, I'm sure crank pulley bolts get snugged on with an impact frequently but I've never heard of this happening to anyone else.

EDIT: I should mention one of the reasons I used an impact on the D15B7 pulley was that it doesn't have the hex-shaped opening to fit my Honda crank pulley tool like the Z6 pulley does.

RealMiniDriver wrote: In reply to bravenrace: It's yours, for the cost of shipping, if you can make it work.

Thanks a lot for the offer! My ideal is to get a fairly clean, correct, part, but if I can't find that I'll be in touch!