I would like to change my belt tensioner but I am not sure which one I should go with. Any recommendation? solid or self adjusting? brand? Also want to change the Belt, is there any better one? It is for a 99' coupe 66k miles. thanks in advance

 

there are two tensioners, and two idler pulleys. Question ? why do you want to do this? no reason to replace a perfectly good pulley. A new belt at 66K is not a bad idea.. but you need to replace both belts.. Both the Drive belt and th Ac belt... Talk to me I will set you on the right path.
Bill aka ET

 

Well I had a couple of different sounds coming from the pulleys I am not able to distinguish witch one is making the sound, one is a chirping sound and the other is like a "shhh shhh shhh" (sorry couldnt think of somethin that sounds similar), I checked the crank pulley to see if it was wobbling but I cant tell, I guess it is not. Someone recommended me to remove the belt and try to shake all pulleys one by one to see if one was loose, I wanted to change just the belt but I also read that chirping sound comes from a bad tensioner

 

I had the chirping on my 97. Replaced both belts with gatorbelts thanks to cf recommendations. No more chirping!
L

 

I know both of those sounds, the chirping is from rust getting into the bearing... Changing belts wont cure a bad bearing.. but because the New belt has a different ID than the old belt, when its put on it will cause more tension during the install and redistribute what grease is left.. sometime it will last for another year or it will chirp in a few days.. you change a belt because its old or dry, not because it makes noise...
the shh shh shh sound is a spinning grease seal on a bearing..its the side of the bearing designed to keep in the grease... these bearings are faulty and the design was replaced on newer model C5's... the Ac belt system consists of an AC compressor, the harmonic balancer and a belt tensioner, and an idler pulley... this belt system is the inboard belt system of the harmonic balancer drive. the drive belt system also has a tensioner and an Idler , water pump and alternator driven by the harmonic balancer... here is the trick.. remove the outer belt ( drive belt ) see if the noise is gone...if it is, then its a component of the drive belt system... the usual culprit is the idler pulley or the tensioner...if one is bad then the other is soon to follow. so replacement of both should fix this problem... Now if the noise is still there after removing the outer belt, remove the inner belt ( the AC belt ) if the noise is gone then its a component of the AC belt system...
replacing the tension and idler pulley should solve your problem...
Bill aka ET

 

Im shortcutting that......thx ET

 

No kidding Jistari! I have a noise coming from the tensioner thats on the opposite side of the alternator. I am going to purchase one when I get back, hope that ends the problem. If not, I will follow this to a tee to figure it out.

 

I just did mine Monday. My friend owns a Chevy dealership. He gave me the employee rate for labor. I brought the parts from Autozone (a/c gator belt, pulley and a tensioner) and they put it all on for $48.00 out the door All is quiet now

 

Any opinions on whether to attempt to purchase pulleys and tensioners from Auto Zone, Oreilys or go back with GM parts to replace? Im replacing my radiator due to a pinhole leak on top and while I have it out was thinking of going ahead and replacing for preventative measures knowing its gonna come up.

 

Corvette Fever recently did a write up on this. Check it out!!

Go To:
Http://www.corvettefever.com/techart...all/index.html