myLexRX

I am hearing a squalling belt noise (belts are 2 months old) and my mechanic pointed to this pulley (in the picture) as the cause of the noise. It looks like the rubber seal inside the pulley is falling apart and it causes the pulley to vibrate. He said it's the main engine pulley. I called my local Lexus parts guy and he does not know what pulley I'm referring to. Is this the crankshaft pulley?
I found this picture of an RX330 engine and the large pulley at the bottom is what I am referring to.
Please help.

TCM55

You are right, that is the crankshaft pulley.

myLexRX

Thank you. That's what I suspected.

Would the powertrain warranty cover a replacement of this pulley?

RTIS250

iTrader: (9)

It should, powertrain warranty is 6 year/70k miles... Although, in 10 years of working for Lexus, ive never seen one go bad. There are a number of other pulleys that i would be looking at before this one. If you're under warranty, just take the car in and have them look at it.

myLexRX

Thank you. I bought this car recently with 60K miles. I took it to my mechanic for a service and that included changing the belts (AC and sepr). I first I started noticing a ticking noise, took it back and he said it's normal. Now, I month later, it's squiling. I took it back in and after looking around, he noticed that this crank pulley is vibrating and the rubber from it is falling apart. Hence he advised to replace it.
If Lexus decides to give me reasons not to change under warranty, can I go with a used one from a salvage yard?

AshburnM3

change it asap!!! vibration can cause damage to the crank pulley bolt! broken crank bolt equals new engine!

guitarmike

It's very likely that your "mechanic" did not get the belts tight enough to prevent belt slippage. Does it squeal mostly when the vehicle is first started? Or for example when the A/C cycles on? It's probably that the belts are too loose. We don't typically see pulley failure on those engines. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, it's just not typical. Tell your mechanic to tighten the belts.

myLexRX

I took the car to the dealer on Monday and they confirmed that the crank pulley had some vibration (I think they said the seal broke off) and they replaced it under the powertrain warranty. Now the engine sounds perfect...

Thank you.

hmoob_kid

crank pulley also known as a harmonic balancer pulley..

jooky

I have had that pulley separate on two different ES300. I had a 94 a few years ago that did it and I own two 99's now (one for me and one for wife). I just had that same pulley separate and had it replaced last week on my 99. I am in Phoenix,Arizona so maybe something to do with the heat? Anyway, when it fails it allows the outer belt-driven pulley to wander back and forth on the smaller crank-driven pulley. If left alone it will cut into the shrouds behind the pulley/belts and start to run very poorly. Don't delay, fix it (new not used).