midwest2

The pulley had been making noise for over a year, but I was never exactly sure where the noise was coming from. Frozen pulley and jumped belt definitely narrowed it down.

I was under the impression that the entire tensioner had to be changed, and not just the pulley attached to it. Definitely a 1 banana job.

LS 400 now smooth as silk!

RugbyDad

What did the noise sound like?

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

well? did you hear him humming?

A friend had his pulley freeze up and throw a belt also, it was the FAN BRACKET BRG..
it had 193k on it, and this bracket fits all of our LS's so if you have some strange noise, remove your belt and spin your pulleys, you should be able to feel if it is going bad (or get someone smarter than you to feel it) might save you down time..

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Mine gave up the ghost on my '99 after ~172-173k miles in the middle of a 2800 mile roadtrip. Luckily the belt didn't snap, it just sounded like it was squeaking for about a thousand miles before i realized that it was in fact a seized tensioner pulley.




Changed it out for a gates unit in an O'Reilly's parking lot, slapped a new belt on it, and was on my way in under an hour.

Mind you, everything else was new (including fan bracket) since it just had a TB/WP job so there isn't too much left to break

midwest2

It was a low pitch "chirping" type sound that was worse at startup.

Also, disregard the wise *** remarks that are becoming all too common here.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I know th e bearings in my tensioner pulley and idler pulley are gone. my car is real loud on initial Start up but I also have a leak at the Y-pipe.

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

is this the tensioner for the timing belt, or the tensioner for the serp belt? either one glad it's fixed.

wouldn't the timing belt overheat and degrade under a seized tensioner pulley?!

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

I'm talking about the SERPENTINE TENSIONER PULLEY.

Mine initially sounded like an inconsistent metal on metal squealing sound for over a year before it totally seized up and started chirping/squeaking constantly.

Timing belt wouldn't be effected by anything wrong with the serpentine pulley. If the timing belt tensioner pulley (or the idler)seized it's going to shred instantly as the belt is cogged unlike the serpentine belt which is smooth and will slide.