question about a idler pulley
08-26-2007, 12:41 PM
#21
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when you take the pulley off, put you finger in it and spin it. if the bearings make noise, i guess you could grease them. although that sounds like a temp fix, if the bearings have too much freeplay, your just going to get the same problem a few months down the road.
08-29-2007, 08:07 AM
#22
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My '98 vert had a bad chirp at about 80,000 miles. Read a thread about pulling off all the idler pulleys and regreasing. Removed all the serpentine belt idlers ( I think there were three) and very carefully pried off the seals, cleaned them with brake cleaner, regreased with hi temp silicone grease, and replaced the undamaged seals. Made a neat little tool out of a nail that I mashed the head on into a thin blade and used this to remove the seals. Took about 2.5 - 3 hours for all of them. Put em back on, and VOILA!! the chirp was gone, for about 10 days. Ended up replacing the AC idler pulley( Dealer, NAPA and AUTOZONE all ordered the wrong one on their first attempt!) If you want to go to the trouble of taking them off, removing the seals, and re greasing them, just make sure that you check the bearings carefully for excessive play after you clean them. Usually, one or more of them will be really loose. Grease is a temporary fix for bearings worn beyond their tolerances...
