E-shaft pulley wobble - video included
 

Ever since I got the car it's been wobbly when idling. As you can see from the video once you get to about 1500rpm it seems to rotate normally. I had one shop tell me the e-shaft was bent, and at first I thought "what?! It's like 4 inches diameter." but then I realized that it could just be the nose that's bent right? I took it to another well known rotary guy just outside of Toronto and he said if I've driven like that for almost 30,000km now without any major problems (it's been about 40,000km now) he wouldn't worry about it.
It's been eating up my alt belts though I just replaced my second one in about a year :icon_tdow: so just wanted to get some opinions on what you think (or know) it might be.

Also, i had it off last week to replace my waterpump gaskets and after putting it back on its a little bit better at idle. This video is from today, but before putting it back on today the wobble was noticeably worse. This video is at regular warmed-up idle at 750-800 rpm.
Video quality isn't great so if needed I'll try to get another video with my mom's camera.

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k obviously I don't know how to upload videos but here's the link to streetfire lmao.. sorry
http://www.streetfire.net/video/esha...le_1995096.htm

sorry if i missed it but have you tried a different pulley??

Replace the main pulley set. Pick up some cheap ones in the classifieds.

the first shop i took it to said that they tried it with a second pulley set and said it did the same thing... but then they tried to charge 1700 for the rest of the diagnosis lol

You should pull off the pulleys and check to see if the e-shaft is bent. Also check the e-shaft bolt. 90lbs is what it needs to be torqued.
Thanks Robert

To check the e-shaft can I use any dial indicator that's mounted somehow on the block properly or do I have to find one of the Mazda units?

e-shaft bolt is torqued to proper specs as per FSM.
-next step is to find a dial indicator to test for the bent nose
-will update after that

well if it is the eshaft then the block has to come apart....so......

I have also seen a block where the pulley was wobbling like that after it was rebuilt. Took the motor apart and the wrong spacer was used so the front needle bearing and thrust washer slipped off of it and obviously wasn't holding in place. Still ran but destroyed those parts. that was just an experience I had. Good luck with your issue......

lol i don't want to get ahead of myself and pull the engine out if its not the e-shaft, and as far as I know it's never been removed/rebuilt before. The previous 2 owners have kept the car service well recorded and it's actually been to the same dealership for the past 15 years.
With that said, if the bearing and washer slipped off, would the engine still be puling strong after 30,000+ km?

-

Well in my friends' case the engine was running for about a week. Then when we noticed the wobble; we pulled it out that day and broke the front end of the engine down first. That's when we saw the thrust washer and needle bearing mangled after removing the counterweight. But it was running. We wanted to save the internals since we really didn't know what was going on. That's why we pulled the motor out even though the motor was running fine. just my experience.....haven't had another one come up like that so far....