Idler Pully

The Idler Pully puts Tention on your Serpentien belt..

Take your Belt off and see if the Idler Pully spins freely. When it spins see if you can hear a humming sound or if you can feel the bearing bounce as it turns.

As for the ALT.. Well depengine on what you have on your car, you will need to remove the Power steering pump. Some have had sucess removing the Alt from underneth.

"Joe Biadasz" typed until their fingers bled, and came up with:

I've never had to removethe PS pump - I have changed the alt on both SOHC and DOHC S series Saturns. It comes out through the wheel well quite easily.

Wow. If you've gotten that much mileage from those parts, you're doing pretty well! The last time I heard a bearing whine from under the hood of my SC2, it turned out to be one of the alternator bearings. If you take off the right front tire and splash shield, you can change the alternator without touching the PS pump. With the tire and shield removed you can also get to the tensioner and idler pulley. The tensioner is easy, but you'll need an offset box wrench (I it was 15mm) and some patience for the idler.

Dave

Barry Schnoor wrote:

Damn..

Never thought of that.. A buddy of mine has a 92 DOSC and that how he got his out. (Removing the PS and pull the Alt up.)

I my self haven't had to change the Alt.

I just replaced an alternator in a 97 SOHC - through the wheel well. I didn't pull the PS so it was a bit tight getting to the top bolt. The tensioner takes a 14mm wrench.

My first suspect would be the alternator. You don't need to remove the PS pump to do it. The first time I changed it I did it from the bottom entirely, the second time I pulled the pass frt tire and splash shields and that made it much easier. The top bolt is a little annoying to get to, but other then that its a simple job.

Be extra careful to properly "tighten" both bolts on the alternator. It is easy to not get them right, and then the alternator will move/wobble when the engine runs. That will destroy the part in short order and you will not notice it until the damage is done.

I also take off the plastic wheel well to replace these parts. It only takes a few minutes and the job is easy. With care, you can "save" the plastic plugs/fasteners for reuse. The cost of the fasteners are not cheap, especially if you go to a dealer.