Serpentine Belt Woes...Part II
03-11-2004, 05:09 PM
#1
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Serpentine Belt Woes...Part II
its been 5 months since i replaced my harmonic balancer/crankshaft pulley with the updated, lightweight version. ive noticed that it's starting to rotate off-center once again, wobbling just a little bit, but not as much as it was before. i compared its movement with that of neaby pulleys and it seems to wobble just as much as the fan does. the other pulleys seem to be perfectly calibrated and dont seem to move off-center whatsoever. is this an indication of another replacement or is it normal to wobble a little bit?
the belt tensioner seems to be going to crap as well. i posted this up a couple months ago and it hasnt gotten any worse since then but im knocking on wood. what happens is that as the belt moves around, the tensioner occasionally makes this clicking noise (metal on plastic type click). it gets worse as you put more of a load on the belt by turning on any additional electronic devices (i.e. radio, A/C, headlights). i did a small test to see if i could find more details. i shut off the engine, popped the hood, and tried to gently move around the tensioner. low-and-behold, the clicking noise occured everytime i moved the tensioner off its center by gently pushing it in each direction. im planning to make this a DIY job because i've heard that its an easy 30-60 min job anyone with the right tools can do. i havent taken it to a mechanic to fix yet because they all charge an average of $500 for the job (~$200 for the tensioner itself and ~$300 for 3 hours of labor @ $100/hour). if anyone can offer some advice, suggestions, or comments, it will all be greatly appreciated
in closing, are these two problems related to one another? it seems that the problems occured sequentially (the balancer went, then the tensioner went).
the belt tensioner seems to be going to crap as well. i posted this up a couple months ago and it hasnt gotten any worse since then but im knocking on wood. what happens is that as the belt moves around, the tensioner occasionally makes this clicking noise (metal on plastic type click). it gets worse as you put more of a load on the belt by turning on any additional electronic devices (i.e. radio, A/C, headlights). i did a small test to see if i could find more details. i shut off the engine, popped the hood, and tried to gently move around the tensioner. low-and-behold, the clicking noise occured everytime i moved the tensioner off its center by gently pushing it in each direction. im planning to make this a DIY job because i've heard that its an easy 30-60 min job anyone with the right tools can do. i havent taken it to a mechanic to fix yet because they all charge an average of $500 for the job (~$200 for the tensioner itself and ~$300 for 3 hours of labor @ $100/hour). if anyone can offer some advice, suggestions, or comments, it will all be greatly appreciated
in closing, are these two problems related to one another? it seems that the problems occured sequentially (the balancer went, then the tensioner went).
