I was at Firestone today having something looked at and the mechanic brought me into the bay and showed me that my crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer was wobbling around.
Has anyone experienced this yet on the 5.3? And if so, how big of a job is it going to be to repair this thing. I'm trying to find the replacement part online but all I can find are harmonic balancers for the 6 cylinder engines. If someone has a link to one it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you for all the help.

 

Go to GMPartsDirect.com and click on the catalog tab at the top of the page. Enter your car year/make/model, then engine displacement. Do a search for 'VIBRATION DAMPER' and it will take you to the page it is listed on. This is a genuine GM part and they want $110.46 + shipping for it so you may also want to do a further search using the above bold key words and/or contact your local dealer to see if you can find a better price.

Edit: Maybe the wobbling damper is making the tapping noise you recently acquired?

 

Thank you very much for the info.

The sound that I was dealing with ended up being a plastic protective cover under the transmission that had cracked and was getting rubbed up against by a bolt rotating.

Do you know of anywhere else online that sells these? I've been looking around and can't find much. Firestone wants $186 for the part....

 

I just got the unhappy news that my '06 SS has the wobbling harmonic balancer, which will necessitate having to have the engine dropped to reach the damn thing to replace the camshaft pulley. My mechanic is telling me it's a 7 hour job, and I'm staring a $750 bill in the face. Sounds like this is a common problem on the 5.3L. I was able to book the repair a couple of weeks from now because its a big job. Is it safe to drive in the meantime?
Thanks, Carl.

 

Yes, it is absolutely safe to drive. What'll happen as it gets worse it you'll run an increase chance of your serpentine belt wearing out quicker and/or popping off while driving. That, however takes a long time. I drove mine around for about 6k miles with it wobbling and didn't have a problem. keep an eye on it, I would suggest looking at it every time you fill up, and repair it when you can afford it. Good luck!!