Driving my car home tonight from work, hear a load bang on the floor board, lights go dim, radio and gps shutoff, and loose power steering. Pull over see the serpintine belt is off and pieces of the idler pulley everywhere. Has this happened to anyone else? What would cause it?

 

hmmm...maybe it's time for an inspection how many miles do you have?

 

just over 48,000

 

hmm.. yeah I would say 30k is time for new belts and fluids. guess you can add idler pulley to that list!

 

That's an unusual one... Never heard of that happening on a Crossfire...

 

Yeah that happend to me today, and I'm pissed I just purchased an SRT-6 two days ago from Carmax and they claim to do 125 point inspection on all autos sold there, but I don't buy it. However, I called them and they are sending a tow truck and a rental car today. So I guess that will calm me down somewhat.

SRT-6
Silver Blue
22,940 Miles

 

srt6 is a different story, you probably shredded the serp belt. car max dosn't waste thier time doing inspections, they just flip cars, and tell you BS to make you feel like your getting a good car.

 

New Idler Pulley $42.28
New Serpentine Belt $46.17
125 point inspection from Carmax $PRICELESS$

 

Do you believe in that CarMax crap? Or is it my bad luck!

 

Carmax sent the tow-truck and on the back of the truck was a Dodge Neon as a loner car. So they picked up my car and towed it back to the shop and left me with a stupid Neon. Carmax just killed my joy!

 

Well, no bang, but yesterday I got to the end of my street and the red battery light came on and I lost power steering. I turned around and went back to my garage figuring the serpentine belt broke. Belt was off (but fine) but the idler pulley was wobbly (bearing blown apart) and the bolt finger tight. I guess the counterclockwise rotation loosened the bolt when the bearing went.

The SRT-6 idler pulley is a 90 mm flat OD metal pulley with a 17 mm bore that runs against the top of the belt. After checking Autozone, Advance, and O'Reilly, the only thing coming up everywhere was a 65 mm plastic grooved pulley. That's apparently what the common normally aspirated Crossfire uses. I was telling a buddy about my dilemma, and he said he might have a pulley new in the box in his garage that might work. It's a Gates 38001. Using 1 very thin shim washer, it actually lined up better (perfectly) than the factory pulley did (which was off by about 1/16"). I'm not sure what this pulley is listed for but apparently it's a readily available pulley that solves the problem if yours should die like mine did. I had to make a quick trip to Harbor Freight Tools for a Torx socket set for $8 to adjust the tensioner to get the belt back on.

I got the belt diagram off the Forum here, along with the way to angle the tensioner pulley over (counterclockwise on the torx head bolt) to get the belt back on. Hint; you should remove the fan/shroud to make this easier, and not cut up your arms on the shroud. Only two clips on the top, connector on right end, and move the small hoses out of the way that run across it to the overflow tank. After struggling for quite a while trying to avoid dealing with the shroud, I took off the shroud and then had the belt on in two minutes.

Whenever I do have to change the belt, I will do it this same way right off the bat.

 

This may be a record! Responding to a post that is 8 years old. I'm sure the problem was resolved many moons ago. LOL

 

While I'm sure his problem was resolved, I wanted to pass this forward to others who haven't experienced it yet (but probably will) and they will be able to benefit from it. I know since I got my SRT-6 two and a half years ago or so, I have learned a lot on this forum about it that has been of tremendous benefit and wanted to contribute something back. There is lot of old stuff on here that has benefitted me.

 

So you installed another pulley (not the actual correct part), right? You should move to eliminate that pulley by installing a LateModel21 Belt Wrap Kit or a Needswings Pulley Saver Kit. That idler pulley is a "destined to fail" part because it simply spins too fast and the bearing will fail (again). Also FYI you should not use that little torx head bolt in the center of the belt tensioner . . . you should use a 1/2 inch drive ratchet or breaker bar with a 15mm socket on the pulley nut to move the tensioner counterclockwise when slipping the belt on or off.

 

The SRT uses the Torx head on the tensioner to slacken the belt, and you should use the proper size Torx bit it's the largest one that just goes on. There are many stories on here of the Torx socket getting stripped because the bit used was too large.

The NA uses a 17mm hex boss on the tensioner to relieve the belt tension.

 

Where do you get the "Late model 21 belt wrap kit"? The Neesdswings Pullery saver kit is $219. It talks about replaceing a 60 mm idler pulley. The NA engine uses a 65 mm pulley and the SRT-6 uses a 90 mm idler pulley so I'm confused. Also, I followed another post on here which said to use the torx head bolt in the center of the tensioner pulley to adjust it, which worked perfectly. Are you talking about using a 15 mm on the cast boss which is off to the right of the tensioner pulley? Since the original pulley lasted 92k miles, I guess it would be more cost effective to replace it again in another 60K or 70k miles if it's going to wear out because of the speed it runs vs. spending $200 plus on that it.

 

Hello Rob, Finding a bad bearing in my idler pulley was one of my first experiences on CrossfireForum.org . . .

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...tml#post686326

To help you use the search tools available on this forum to find answers . . . In this case you would go to the top of any page and click "tools" then on the drop down menu click on "advanced search". Enter "belt wrap kit" in the"key words" box and "LateModel21" in the "user name" box. Click on the "search now" button at the bottom voila . . . everything you seek will magically appear.

To answer your first question . . .

https://www.crossfireforum.org/forum...tml#post719553

Read the thread linked above and then click on LateModel21 by his avatar in any of his posts you'll get a drop down menu that will allow you to communicate with him.

To answer your second question . . . No, you put a 15mm socket on the nut that holds the pulley on (the nut around that torx head bolt in the center of the pulley). Using gentle pressure counterclockwise release the tension to slip the serpentine belt on or off. While you CAN use that torx head bolt in the center, most members feel that it is too small and you risk damaging or breaking the bolt. I've been there done that. Use the 15mm pulley nut and avoid creating another problem.

As an additional comment about your original "breakdown" when the idler pulley failed . . . They usually start making A LOT of noise long before a catastrophic failure. You didn't hear any grinding rattling noise coming from the engine compartment? As with most any car, Crossfires have some common issues and / or parts that will often fail. That idler pulley on the SRT6s is one such example. Now that you have the car running again with some off the self part (not even the correct replacement part) it sounds like you want to just run the car until it fails again? Not everyone is a "car guy" and I understand that. Good luck and enjoy your Crossfire . . .

 

I have used the Torx socket and it worked just fine, using the nut means turning it in the direction of loosening the bolt. Probably it will not loosen the bolt but if it isn't on tight enough you are asking for trouble. But do as you want as both methods work.
Problems arose when people used a Torx socket that was too large and stripped the corners.
Torx fasteners require the use of the exact size removal bit or socket.

 

Hi Dave, You too are welcomed to use whatever technique works for you . . . Just sharing my experience and my personal opinion on this subject.

 

Actually I am a car guy, and an engineer. I was a bit concerned about the bearing size of the new pulley but didn't know it was a common weak spot on the SRT-6. Thanks for making that excellent point. That being said, I decided I would order a new factory pulley from Chrysler ($60) since no auto parts stores even know what I'm talking about. I don't want to go the belt wrap kit route as then I'm locked in to even harder to find stuff should I need it on the road. Anyway, I bought a 36 month/36K mile warranty with the car, mainly since it dropped the loan rate to 2.3% on an 8 year old used car, and I knew it wasn't a cheap car to fix. As it turns out, the idler pulley is covered. Dealer is ordering it for me, and they have to put it in to do it under warranty. Didn't need that, but at least it's a freebie. I'll keep this pulley I have on there for emergencies should I need it in the future. Thanks for your help, this is a great resource!