Okay guys I was having some problems with some squeeking on my 99 coupe (a4, with 82k miles). I read up on here to change belt, belt tensioner, and idler pulley. I did that. When I went to take the Idler pulley off i realized it was kind of loose, still nonetheless I took it off and put the new one back on. I noticed i couldnt tight'n the tensioner pulley 'tight' because it began to start spinning. It was on there pretty tight, everything was fine drove off for a little while with buddies.

We come back the car is squeeling like a mother. We open the hood the belt came off and the bolt for the idler pulley had came off as well. We couldnt find the bolt and attributed it that it came off during the drive back to the house.

We inspect the pulley, looks fine and notice the bearing that the pulley rests on is broken in 3 pieces on the ground. I am not sure what exactly to do, my friends dad jimmy rigged it together to get it back to the house. Hes telling me I need to take out the entire radiator and pull out the mount that the bolt goes into and replace it. Im not exactly sure what i need to do, help me out guys because I am lost at the moment.



I have made a diagram showing what the idler pulley and assembly looks like. Can I get another Bearing and bolt from GM without having to buy the entire assembly.

Note! this is not the bearing that is made into the pulley, it is what I assume that pulley rests on.

Thanks guys

 

if you are refering to bolt (3) in the picture my Service Manual describes it as being a part of the pulley assembly and NOT available seperately....

Since this is true, tapping to a larger hole won't work.

 

I just replaced same hardware with success, here's what I just posted:

Well I actually fixed the dreaded 'Bird Chirp' in the accessory belt system. Took a 400 mile trip yesterday and today. The silence is deafining, no squeels, chirps, anything. The noise originally came from the Idler pulley/Power Steering pump pulley area. Took a shot (replace the cheapest parts first)and replaced the Idler Pulley, the Belt Tensioner (Changing both as recommended on this forum), and used a Goodyear Gatorback Acccessory Drive Belt, Goodyear Part # 4060798. Here's what I learned:

1) It is an easy job with the exception of routing the accessory belt. I've done it three times now and still curse a storm at it. I'm just stupid about the trick to doing this easily.

2) There are four pieces to the Idler pulley assembly: The Bolt (Torque to 37 ft-lbs), the Dust Shield, the Pulley, and the back spacer.

3) When you buy a non GM Idler pulley, you probably won't get the back spacer or the dust shield. I used the original dust shield and it didn't quite fit right and drug on the Dayco pulley making a gawd awful racket. Looking at the GM original and the Dayco (From Advanced Auto) pulley, the metal wheel in which the bearing is pressed is oh so slightly different in shape. Barely discernible. I needed to 'push' the Idler Pulley dust shield a little way away from the pulley to get cleared so it would not drag. I used a brass washer/spacer between the pulley and dust shield, no interference and no noise. Made sure the brass washer/spacer did not interfere with the race or outer meatal ring of the Ider Pulley bearing.

3) Be very aware of which direction the back spacer is oriented. The apex of the concave spacer goes against the bearing. Do it wrong and you will probably get a terrible noise indicating you did it wrong. Thanks to the advice of CorvetteTechInc, a supporting vendor, I paid attention. Thanks Corvette Tech Inc. wish you were in MD vice NY. After installation, the bearing should hand spin with no noise.

4) To get a torque wrench on the idler pulley bolt, I used a 3/8" drive torque wrench, 15 mm short socket, and a 2" extension. Gives plenty of clearance. Otherwise the radiator hoses interfere with the torque wrench. Probably a deep well 15 mm will work also. Works best doing the work from the passenger side. Torque on Idler Pulley bolt and Belt Tensioner bolts is 37 ft-lbs.

5) The Gator belt. What a marvelous design. Not only is it grooved, it's cross cut so when the belt folds around pulley, the outside of the belt is under minimum stress. Neat design. I'm hooked for life on these. I can't believe anyone would design their belts any other way.

 

well to be honest that really helped a lot hollywoodfrc, I took the pulley off that we rigged on and took a few pictures that would maybe help, where the actually pulley sits is chipped/cracked, I held the pulley on and watched as i spun the pulley, the chipped part was not rubbing or touching the back of the pulley.

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo...00112410uUOpMj