Crankshaft Pulley? What's Going On Here?

Yours has separated and needs to be replaced. It is called the harmonic balancer, vibration damper or crankshaft pulley.

They should be plentiful at the auto wreckers although I'd check with an auto parts store (not a dealer) about the price of a new one. You may be pleasantly surprised. If not though a used one is probably fine for an older car like yours. You'll likely need to replace the serpentine belt as well with a new one. I don't know for sure, but I would expect about 3 hours labor at a shop. They should be able to give you an estimate over the phone.

I would recommend buying a new part for this repair. I would use a new genuine GM part instead of aftermarket. A used salvage part may cause the same issue. Just my opinion.....

If it was a newer car I would agree, but given its age the replacement part probably doesn't need to last long and the car is certainly not worth spending any more money than necessary on.

That part won't be fun to get to. I would recommend new so the repair only has to be done once. We will have to agree to disagree on this one.

Actually I don't disagree with you. Your advice is good. Just throwing out other options since sometimes every penny counts or the car is just being repaired to sell. I think the part is fairly easily accessed via the front right wheel well opening. Had one done on a Bonneville a few years back and I think it was the part, not the labor that was crazy expensive. Of course in my case it was the supercharged version and the only place I could find the part was at the dealer.

You could be correct and it maybe an easier job than I thought. Years ago if it was front wheel drive and needed a harmonic balancer it was an ugly job.

My 2001 has just done the same thing!! Thanks for the info! How did u go about this?

Hi JD, All you have to do it replace the Crankshaft Pulley aka Harmonic Balancer. Personally, I took my wheel off, removed the old one (it was a hell of a struggle), got a new one from Oreillys (60 bucks), and tried to put it on... but unless you have some serious tools (a mallet ain't going to cut it)... you're not going to be able to get the new one on yourself. Eventually I realized my girlfriend had AAA and had it towed to the closest shop, and the guy put the new one one for me for $20 bucks. I'd recommend having a shop do it if that's an option, but if you're going to attempt yourself, watch Scotty Kilmers 'Crankshaft Pulley Removal Trick' on Youtube for how to get the bolt off easily. All in all, this is a pretty easy fix. Good luck!

Whats the name of that big pulley that's on the bottom? On 2002 grand prix pontiac

I believe that would be the crankshaft pulley which includes the harmonic balancer, so it is sometimes referred to as the harmonic balancer pulley.