Jumbojoe55

chuyrobles

Yes, the cover is pressed in. A pick with a 90 degree end should pop it out.

hhua

My 2007 ES350 102K, one of the idler pulley making loud noise, the second idler pulley and the tensioner pulley also have minor grinding noise, I am planning to replace both idler pulleys, the tensioner pulley.

While I am at it, I also like to replace the alternator decoupler pulley if it is not a difficult job. Has anyone replaced the alternator decoupler pulley without taking out the alternator?

Thanks,

chuyrobles

I haven't attempted. I replaced our alternator with an Oreilly's brand. It has a lifetime warranty; so, if anything wears out, I will get a new one under the warranty - already did that once, but they sure are a PIA to replace. .

I don't think anyone advertises a pulley for the tensioner - one was not available when I looked for one last September. It does come off easy - the bolt is reverse-threaded, so turn clockwise to remove it. You can press out the bearings and replace them - there are two bearings in the pulley, size 12X40X17 (width x OD x ID). By chance I found out that a Gates/ACDelco pulley # 36174 is a direct replacement. That's what I ended up using - I had that pulley as a backup to my Tacoma and I had no choice but to install it because no one was opened on a Sunday that stocked the right-size bearings and the wife needed the car to go to work on Monday.

hhua

Thank you for the reply Chuyrobles.

I was able to take off the two idler pulleys and will replace them when the parts arrived.

For the tensioner pulley. I ordered the entire tensioner pulley assembly (tensioner bracket and pulley together) but for now I will only replace the pulley itself, and reusing the original tensioner bracket due to the labor and difficulty to remove the tensioner bracket.

As for the alternator decoupler pulley, I don't think it is bad yet, I just want to be ready when the time comes to replace it, however, I don't see an easy way to pry out the plastic cover other than drilling and breaking the plastic cover, in order to access the inside of the decoupler pulley with the pulley disassemble tools which I can rent from Oreilly.

Has anyone able to remove the plastic cover of the 2007 ES350 decoupler pulley without removing the alternator, if so what tool or method were used?

Thanks,

ESh

I was able to remove the pulley cover and the decoupler without removing the alternator.
I did it with a small but powerful air gun.

When I did the water pump and co. and replaced all three bearings, two reller bearings and one from the tensioner.
It is stupid to replace the rollers when you can get 2 bearing for $5 and the tensioner one for less.

hhua

If someone could provide the part numbers and information for the idler pulley bearing and the tensioner pulley bearing would be great. I have never replaced only the bearing, however, I will try and use them as spare for my the other Lexus car (2007 GS350) which currently has 108K mi. Do the pulleys between the 2007 ES350 and the 2007 GS350 compatible?

Thanks,

hhua

I saw this thread from us.lexusownersclub.com
https://us.lexusownersclub.com/forum...ulley-bearing/
and took the attempt to repack the grease, put everything back and they (all three pulleys) seem to be quieted again for now. Wish I saw the thread before ordered the new parts. The job of repacking the grease wasn't that difficult, after you pressed the bearing out.

Thanks,

chuyrobles

42X13X10 is the size of the idler pulley bearings; the OEM bearings are marked 6302RMX. Only a handful of companies make that size bearing - CMB and Toprol from China; and NIS Rhino from Singapore are three selling on amazon. The eBay offerings of Koyo bearings in that size are counterfeit. I went through their online catalog and they don't make that size bearing; they confirmed it in an email.

12X40X17 is the size of the tensioner pulley bearings. That translates into 6203, with various suffix designations depending on the bearing manufacturer and the type of seal, a popular size is 6203-2RS. I have Nachi bearings in my Tacoma tensioner; their part# is 6203-2NSE for the ES350 tensioner.

jagtoes

I guess the old saying goes , penny wise and pound foolish. Take a minute and think this out. If the grease ran out of the bearing considering it is a sealed unit then do you think any damage was done to the ***** or the bearing race. How long was the bearing run without grease and how hot do you think it got. When you repack it and it feels smooth how smooth is it considering the race and ***** are a micro finish. Next is the seal considering you had to distort it to force it out how well do you think it will seal once installed and heated during operation. So if reinstalled it won't be long before they will have to be replaced. Not worth the cost of new bearings.

hhua

Good point. The repacking can be worth it if the bearing is not already damaged, as for the removing and reinstall the bearing seals, it wasn't that bad if one like to try.

jagtoes

The problem is you don't know if the bearing race and ***** are damaged. As I mentioned these are ground to high micron finishes and you can't tell if they are damaged. Just by the fact that they ran without lubricants should mean they are damaged. When the time comes that you can feel roughness you are way past the damage stage. Look up bearing finishes and see .

chuyrobles

All of the bearings I've replaced exhibit high lateral movement compared to a new bearing. The correct term is axial play. Hold the center race with one hand and the outer race with the other; there should be little to no movement as you attempt to turn the two races side to side and opposite each other. There is also radial play, the up/down motion. I don't know what the acceptable limits are, but I don't like it when they get a lot of movement. It's a subjective feeling having replaced many bearings. I'm sure you can look up acceptable clearance limits.

igzy

A quick question guys: can the tensioner pulley be replaced without taking out the whole assembly? I think it is a left thread as well...

I believe my RAV4 needs it...

NM: yes, it can, just saw it in a video for water pump replacement Cheers