Well, I did as advised and painted a line across the two metal parts on the harmonic balancer and drove the car today for hours. When I returned home, the two pieces were still matched, so im fairly confident that i do not have a harmonic balancer problem as of yet. (89K miles). Still, I have the annoying crackling sound emanating from under the hood under light acceleration, and under light deceleration. Hmmmmmmmm...i did notice that the "recovery" bottle was hissing ever so lightly....AND, most importantly, i did see a tiny bit of water looking substance on the pan. I've begun to wonder then if the bearing on the water pump are going out and this is what is making the noise the continues to plague me. I know enough to make sure of the coolant levels and will probably replace the water pump soon. I will have to just take a weekend and do the whole flipping thing, ie timing belt, tensioner, seals, pump and the like. Just get it done i guess. Anyone one then have any comments on using parts purchased from FCPgroton? I've never purchased from them, and don't know if using non-oem is such a bad thing or not. I'd like to hear from others experiences to know what to buy. Thanks to all!

Sincerely,

JB