Starting engine with harmonic balancer off

I have an oil leak that starts running out somewhere, and the only way I can find to tell where it is leaking from is with the harmonic balancer off, can the engine be started even for a couple seconds with it off? Thanks

Yes, just dont run it too long as the coolant wont be circulated, and you can over heat the motor.

well I know that you can run the engine with that belt off that runs on the balancer and the water pump, but it can be run with the actual pulley off?

Yes
...

lol

Well I figured out that the oil is pouring out of the front crank seal, yay. I think that I am just going to bring it to a shop and have them replace it.

That sucks. I noticed my Tbelt was wet and I will have to do the same thing to figure out whats leaking. The kicker is eveything is brand new in there.

What sucks is when I bought this engine the guy assured me that everything was in great condition on and I wasnt going to have any problems with it. But lately I have found that to be a big lie. :swear:

anyone have an idea how much a shop might charge me to replace that seal? Like I said I was thinking about just having a shop do the work. I have torn that engine apart so many times lately and I dont feel like doing it again.

Doing a Tbelt is usually 3hrs labour or so, add another at least 1/2 hour for doing the seal as well.

Just to list some common leaks after doing a tbelt job. Spacer behind the front cam sprocket was left out (I've done this), cam seals not squarely seated, bolt that holds the front bshaft belt tensioner pulley wasnt sealed up (rtv. there is oil pressure behind it!), gasket between the oil pump cover and the block, or the oil filter housing and the oil pump cover, And of course the other 2 seals in there, the main crank front seal and the oil pump sprocket seal. Thats really all thats in there, so by seeing where the oil is coming from (clean it all up if you have to so you can see) you can narrow it down to 1 or 2 places.

Yeah most likely a seal is crooked. I re-rung my block in the car, so it was a little bit of a hassle to do.