AC Idler Pulley
Take it apart, clean it and grease it up. No need to replace it unless it ran dry so long the bearings are shot. All the idler pullies can be taken apart and re-greased. The more you clean your engine, the more often these things start squeaking.
Exactly which pulley is the idler pulley? The one on the compressor, or the other two that the belt route around? My squeeking seems to be coming from the pulley on the compressor.
The pulley on the ac compressor has a clutch on the front. Mine was sqeaking and started sounding like a loose rocker arm when it was cold. I bought a new clutch only to find out it's a bitch to change out and not worth it, may as well swap the whole compressor. I ended up removing the belt and greasing the hell out of the clutch, cleaned it up and put it back together. Hasn't made a sound since. Like I was saying earlier, the idler pullies can be taken apart and greased if you are careful. Here's an old dirty one with the plastic outer cover and plastic bearing race removed. Much cheaper than buying new ones.
Originally Posted by Krab
Exactly which pulley is the idler pulley? The one on the compressor, or the other two that the belt route around? My squeeking seems to be coming from the pulley on the compressor.
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My AC pulley has been squealing for months - I'd spray with WD40 and it would be quite for a little while. I just took both pulley's in the AC side off, and repacked just like HavAtampa suggested - very easy to do with a little screwdriver - repacked both sides of the bearings with wheel bearing grease, and reassembled. Both were bone dry-- still a little squeak, but nowhere near as loud as before - may be something else - I'll remove and repack the main drive pulleys and see what happens.
When I went to buy a replacement pulley, the car parts stores, online GM stores and the GM dealership only seemed to have the maindrive pulley (even with what appears to be the correct part number- which I didn't write down), which is too large to fit. The dimensions of the maindrive pulleys are, more or less, 76mm by 29.5 mm, while the dimensions of the AC pulleys are about 64mm by 20 mm.
When I went to buy a replacement pulley, the car parts stores, online GM stores and the GM dealership only seemed to have the maindrive pulley (even with what appears to be the correct part number- which I didn't write down), which is too large to fit. The dimensions of the maindrive pulleys are, more or less, 76mm by 29.5 mm, while the dimensions of the AC pulleys are about 64mm by 20 mm.