The idler pulley on my 2004 disintegrated this afternoon and serpentine belt shredded. I've got a new pulley and belt on order.

To install the serpentine belt, the shop manual says to release tension on the tensioner by turning the 17mm cast bolt counter-clockwise and then lock it in place with a 5mm pin. Some observations:

1. It's difficult to move the tensioner much with a standard 8-in socket wrench. I can move it well with a cheater pipe but it limits my range of motion.
2. The tensioner cylinder makes quite the squeaking noise when it moves.

Should it be that difficult to move? Have any of you experienced a noisy tensioner cylinder?

I think I need to rotate it more so that the groove on the tensioner lines up with the hole in the case. Is that correct? That's as far as I can move it without a cheater pipe. I could try a shorter one.

Thanks.



Rotate tensioner until blue oval lines up with red arrow?

 

I suggest you replace the belt tensioner. I was able to use a 24” breaker bar to rotate the tensioner and insert the pin.

 

I sure can't move the tensioner with a damn 8" ratchet - you must be a gorilla.

And i don't use the 'pin' trick. I route the belt everywhere, but go UNDER the idler.
I then grab a LONG bar and move the tensioner, then pop the belt on the idler and then relax the tensioner.

OH, and I take the fan assembly out first, makes it way easier.

 

Replace it because of the squeak in the cylinder or as a matter of practice?

Thanks.

 

Oh, and I am not sure you can get the type of tensioner with the shock on it anymore. SOME but not ALL manuals had that. My graphite didn't have it but my SE does.

 

Replace it because of the squeak in the cylinder or as a matter of practice? The tensioner wheel spins freely.

Thanks.

 

If the belt tensioner pulley lets go, you may lose the radiator or fan assembly. In fact, you are lucky the idler did no damage.
I make it a ruile: Belt and idler every 3 years or maybe 30,000 miles.
Tensioner around 80,000 miles. I have 70,000 now, did my Graphites' at around 90,000 when it started to make weird noises.

 

I'm a little dude and assumed I was just wimping on it!

Great tips. Thanks.

 

So the replacements with the internal torsion spring mean you can ditch the cylinder and they still work well?

So happy to see folks are still active here, helping others out.

 

Although the idler pulley, tensioner, and belt on mine looked good, I replaced them since they were 15 years old and they were relatively cheap. I’d rather be safe than sorry.

 

They're now all on order. Thanks for your help.

 

On the advice of others, I replaced the brake lines and siren last summer, as well. I also ended up replacing the valve cover gaskets since they had begun to leak, too.

Update: I should clarify… Bob McCubbin replaced my brake lines at the Crossfire Tech Day he hosted last year. He also installed a new top from BAS last summer after the window fell out. Thank God for Bob and all the other Crossfire experts out there!!

 

That is my understanding. THe tensioner has the spring that makes the belt secure and tight. THe cylinder is apparently there to dampen tensioner movement during hard shifting with the manual (that is the prevailing guess, anyway). No explanation that I have read exists why my 05 Limited six speed did not have a shock/damper but my 07 SE six speed has it. Same engine. Same transmission. Maybe it's the color of the car.

 

I recently had my valve cover gaskets replaced for the second time (130k miles now) and the inner tie rods and associated hardware replace. The steering has been transformed and I found myself turning in too early on corners since it was more immediate. I didn't realize how loose and slow it had become.

 

Interesting. I assumed the replacement tensioner wouldn't have the post for the cylinder to mount to but it does. So, I haven't decided if I should connect the cylinder it or just skip it...




When I was feeling around for the mounting bolt when trying to remove the tensioner, I unscrewed the wrong screw - it wasn't holding anything to the block so I don't know what it's for - maybe to plug a hole for something that goes on a MB? It's about 3-in long and the threads in the block are way in there. I had to torque the tensioner to move it out of the way while I removed the correct screw on the right (blue circle).