Baffled on 08 Chevy harmonic balancer noise!

I have a problem with a '08 chevy Silverado pickup,80,000 miles,with a 5.3L Vortec V-8 engine. It has a chirping noise coming from the front end of the engine that continues even after removing both drive belts. It is coming from the harmonic balancer OR possibly something else behind it,toward the engine block.

I closely inspected the balancer for rubber ring cracks/breakage as well as for any movement/slack. I didn't see any rubber deterioration or detect ANY side to side/up or down movement.

The harmonic balancer center bolt was also very tight and it has no apparent wobble, it appears to be physically correct.

I would appreciate any info. or knowledge of this engine harmonic balancer. I did an online TSB search and there is none pertaining to the engine harmonic balancer.

I am baffled at this point as to how the balancer could be causing this chirping noise w/o drive belts???



Response:

1) Sounds like a bad bearing to me. I have worked as a machine builder in the past and have seen bearing do this. Sometimes it is caused by poor lubrication and sometimes the bearing just go bad due to defects in the bearing itself or improper installation of the bearing. If it is the bearing it will only get worse.