Mumble88

Hey everyone. Just wondering if it is possible to repair the tensioner mechanism inside the serpentine belt tensioner instead of buying a complete unit? I replaced the bearing inside the pulley, which decreased the squeaking sound, but did not eliminate it completely. Thank you in advance!

wbmx1981

Usually the belt is the cause of the squeaking. Is the belt new?

Mumble88

yes, the belt is new. I just replaced it less than 3 months ago. I pretty positive that it is the tensioner mechanism because the chirping noise can only be produce when there is load on the engine at around 1-2k rpms during acceleration. If It's revved in park or neutral theres no noise at all.

KeyKeeper

I did the same thing... replaced the pulley when it started squealing.....turned out it was my harmonic balancer pulley had separated from the center balancer hub. Take the belt off again and see if you can spin the crank pulley or see if its slides on and off the balancer.

chuyrobles

What was the outcome?

What is that bearing part #? I only find part listings for the entire belt tensioner assembly, not for the bearing. Is it the same as for the idler pulleys?

I am diagnosing a squeak from the belt area and found some useful info on the net.
Turn on engine and spray water on inside of belt. About three pumps of water.
If squeak goes away, it is usually a belt misalignment problem. Spray at different parts of the belt.
If squeak gets louder, it is usually a tensioner problem.
If there is little or no change in the squeak, it is usually a bearing pulley problem. Idler, water pump, alternator, power steering, etc...

chuyrobles

While I was replacing the alternator in my wife's ES350 this weekend, I went ahead and replaced the two idler pulleys. I removed the belt tensioner pulley to compare it to the idler pulleys and they are clearly incompatible on the ES350, maybe not the GS models. The idler pulley would not fit on the belt tensioner because the idler pulley bearing is indented to far and the backside hits the tensioner body. I don't know that it's possible to press out the bearing; the bearing race is visible from the front but not the rear. If you pushed the bearing out, the race would stay behind and it would be tricky and time consuming to pull out the race from the front side.

D3V3LOP3R

iTrader: (3)

I need to replace my serpentine belt tensioner as well. It seems like you need to replace the whole assembly, not just the bearing. And the idler bearings shouldn't be compatible with the tensioner...

lexo98

iTrader: (2)

I just replaced the tensioner pulley bearing. Super easy. There are already a few Youtube videos of other vehicles so I didnt do a DIY. Just in case you are wondering I used an aftermarket bearing. The brand was Nachi #6203-2NSE9