bdruff

Had a squeak under the hood for about a month now. I've been reading threads and symptoms are pretty common. Squeak got loud, then smelled burning belt, then squeak was gone for about 5 days. It came back with a loss of power steering for a few minutes.

I knew I needed a serpentine belt but came online to read a little first.

I bought a new belt and went to take the old one off. The tensioner bolt turned counterclockwise. The tensioner did not move. I could feel that it wasn't right, like it was being stripped. I read and worked but could not get the tensioner to release pressure on the belt before the bolt began to turn.

I turned the bolt clockwise and removed it. I was able to slide the pully off the tension assembly but the assembly is definitely broken now. I could see metal shavings around the threads.




I know I have to get an assembly now. The pulley doesn't feel great either; kind of gritty when I turn it. I'm thinking the pulley would be part of the new tension assembly.



The idle pulley doesn't move either. I'm thinking it should with no belt on it. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think I need to replace the idle pulley and the tension assembly.





96 lexus ls400

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

yep that idler pulley needs to spin freely, and the tensioner assembly should come with the pulley as well.

to save money you can simply just replace the bearings. search on here as i believe someone figured out what size bearings you need and where to get them.

bdruff

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...6-ls400-2.html

Shows the bearings.

bdruff

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...t-numbers.html

This is another thread with the bearings.

One thread said you could get the bearings out with sockets, one said they needed to be pressed. I don't have a press so maybe it would be worth it to just get the Idle pulley? I have no idea what a shop would charge to press them for me. Or has someone had success using a socket?

Thanks

bradland

The squeaking and burning belt generated enough heat to fry the bearings / grease inside the idler pulley bearing. The tensioner assembly appears to be a sub par part which would eventually fail.

These parts are not expensive. The idler pulley is available from any Toyota dealer or RockAuto.com as low as $20.
The tensioner assembly in your pic looks newer than what it's mounted to. This makes me curious...

A while back a friend of mine had a similar issue with a GS300. He opted for the CHEAP option at Autozone which was a Duralast part. He doesn't turn wrenches so he called me to install it. The part went on fine until we were ready to swing the pulley and install the belt. A short breaker bar twisted the bolt in half like BUTTER!!! We went back and the same part branded under Goodyear was also available for a few more $$$ and subsequently installed perfectly. Autozone is SOMETIMES ok as long as you stay far far away from their Duralast brand.

This shouldn't be a difficult fix and IMHO don't waste your time trying to press a new bearing into the idler pulley.