I forgot all about answering that, my apologies. I was filling my tank up with fresh water again to rinse it and it was getting full lol.
Yes, they will affect flight quite a lot actually. From uneven blade tracking, to throwing the gyro off to just what you said, uncommanded responses. When you give forward cyclic, it literally tilts, or tries to tilt the blades in teh head block. If the dampers are loose, worn or bad, then the shaft will actually tip in the head block. And seeing as one side is forcing up while the other is forcing down, it can and will beat the crap out of them when they start getting loose.