I have recently replaced my belt tensioner pulley, serp. Belt, and idler puller. All went pretty smooth minus the idler pulley, which was just a pain in the butt. But now when I start my car up it makes a horrible squealing noise and im not sure what went wrong. Im pretty sure its something with the idler pulley but im not sure where I messed up. Any ideas? I applied the right amount of torque to the bolt, routed the belt properly...idk

 

Why did you replace all of these parts? Were they all bad? Were you making any noise before the replacement? A good diagnosis is really best before replacing parts. I understand your thinking about replacing everything while you had everything a part but it is hard to believe that all the components were bad.

 

Why was the idler pulley a problem.. it is one bolt and easy to access? How do you know it isn't the AC belt system, the ac belt tensioner, or ac belt idler? how do you know its not the water pump, alternator or power steering pulley? Lots of engine components can cause noise... why did you choose the drive belt components?

 

I was just starting with the drive belt components, and yes it was squeaking before I replaced anything, I didn't know the exact piece that was the problem so I was just taking it one piece at a time. Any ideas.

 

Not trying to be a smart a$$ but I would but the old parts back on one at a time until the noise stops. You might also try looking at each component to see if you can feel anything in the bearings. Also, look at the belt and pulley alignment. Look to see if all the pulleys and belt edges are in the same plane. You might have a Harmonic balancer that is failing too. Does it wobble? Is the belt on all of the grooves in the HB?

 

Well I put the old idler pulley back on and its at least working again. But looking at the new one, I don't think they sent me the right one, the front of the pulley doesn't start to dip in soon enough so it was rubbing against the plate on the front. There's still a little squeak but I can't tell were its coming from.

 

I found my sqeeking pulling using a piece of clear plastic hose as a stethescope. One end in my ear the other fishing around the pullies. You will know when you hear the squeeky one.

 

Ive posted this a thousand times over the last ten years.... the first thing you do is isolate which belt system is causing the problem ( noise ).. you do this by removing the drive belt first and noting if the noise stops. If the noise is still there, then its a component of the AC belt system. to verify this remove the ac belt and the noise should go away... once you determine which belt system is at fault you then isolate the components within that system... if the noise goes away when you remove the ac belt then its either the tensioner, the idler the AC compressor, belt of HB.
if the noise is isolated to the Drive belt system you then isolate the noise within that system at the idler, tensioner, water pump, power steering, or alternator. (98% of the time ) the component within the individual belt system is either the idler pulley or the tensioner pulley. The whole tensioner is rarely bad, its usually the grease seal in the pulley, which causes the bearings to dry out and cause the seals to spin and make a rattle noise. the fix here is to replace both pulleys only .. they are 16 dollars each and should be replaced in pairs. If you search the forum, you will find many post on this subject.. Like Ive said Ive addressed this issue many many times.. do a search use my name, and you will find some useful information on many issues found with the C5.

 

I would make sure you put the grease catch on the correct way. I made a mistake when i did it, because it is hard to tell which way it needs to go on.