Belt Tensioner Pulley.....How hard to replace???

[95silver]

It is squeeking all the time now, especially in the rain. I have to keep a can of WD-40 in my car to spray it every day. It's not the belt because spraying the belt does nothing. Spray just the pulley and the noise stops. The part only costs $23.99, but how hard is it to change it?

[southern94]

not hard make sure you put it back on right follow the diagram that is in front of the radiator if not one there look at how the belt goes around the pully's and draw a diagram then put a socket wrench on the tensioner and pull the belt will release easy then put the other belt on i always leave it off the alt. then relase the tensioner pully and put it on the alt. you will have no prob.

[bu-bye]

I think he wants to take the whole pulley off. Getting the belt on and off is easy as pie. So is taking the pulley of. Just unscrew the bolt in the center and use a gear/pulley puller to get the pulley off. You might not need it so try to get it off by hand. They can be had for $20-$30 or you could rent one for like $5 at an autoparts store. If you work on cars a lot like me, just buy it. One day you will need it again plus the tool itself looks really cool :cool: . I always get "WOW what is that" when someone sees it.

[bu-bye]

BTW do you have a 3.4 or 3.8?

[95silver]

3.4L

[black34v6]

taking the tensioner off the 3.4 is even easier than that. you unbolt it from the engine block and thats it. its gone. there are two bolts. one on either side of the pulley.

just remove them and it comes off. i had a similar problem, i pulled the pulley off and regreased the bearing, works fine now.

-R

[95silver]

So should I try taking the pulley off and re-greasing it and putting it back on to see if that works before buying a new one?

[southern94]

lol sorry guess i was tired when i read the post ha ha

[zccop2001]

Thanks guys, I think you might have just solved my nasty squeaking noise, because the belt is brand new, and it only sqeaks once It warms up


Dave

[MCGusto]

I can't remember..it's been a while since i did that to mine...and i have a 3.8 so i'm not sure if its different...but isn't that pully reversed threaded?? Don't want ya killing your self going the wrong way with the wrench.

[CARdiac]

I have a pulley from the tensioner I just replaced. If you are interested let me know, the thing is 18 mos old.

[Everglades W68]

95silver, I'll give you my experience as a not-so-mechanically-inclined person (in other words if I can fix it, most certainly you can too):

I had the same problem on my 2.8 V6 87 Bird. I replaced the tensioner pulley with no problem. The descriptions of people fixing the thing here sound accurate. It was extremely easy thing to do. I've looked at my 3.8 and it looks easy also. This is one of those things that is nice about V6 f bodies - there's lots of room up front where the other two cylinders belong.

As far as WD-40 or belt dressing - get rid of every trace of that stuff or else you risk having the squealing and squeaking return. That happened to me. That's where some hard work came in - tedious scrubbing and cleaning any area that came in contact with the belt as well as the entire belt itself. Your belt should run silent - if the tensioner is working right and the belt & pullies are clean.

[zccop2001]

Is this the entire assembly for the Tensioner pulley?

gmpartsdirect.com
12552509
Drive Belt Tensioners
TENSIONER
1
$35.09
$26.32
$20.00
$0.00

[CARdiac]

I just bought one from Dal Slabaugh (VanDever Pontiac) for around $26 for the whole unit. He will sell you parts at wholesale and note rape you on the shipping (like GMpartsdirectlyfromyourbankaccount.com)

[zccop2001]

lol.. good idea, ill stop at a dealer around here