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Chevy Idler Pulley Has Lost All Tension

Hey everyone,

I have a 91 Chevy Cavalier 4-door sedan with 190,000 miles on it. All of a sudden, after starting the car, I heard a loud squealing, especially when turning, and I lost some of my power steering ability. I just checked under the hood, and the serpentine belt is very slack. I used a 15 mm wrench to adjust the idler pulley upwards, to make the belt tight, but merely pressing down on the belt with my hand makes the pulley go back down again, and the belt becomes loose. The belt itself appears fine.

Just an FYI: on my car, the belt connects the crankshaft pulley, water pump, alternator, power steering pump, and idler pulley. The idler pulley is held in place by one 15 mm bold, and it is supposed to tension the belt automatically. Up to now, it has.

Does anyone know how to fix this? Is there a temp fix I can use just to make my car driveable, so I can get to the parts store?

I suppose if all the pulleys suddenly stopped turning while driving, the only harm would be the coolant not circulating, and the consequent overheating, right? As well as the draining of the battery, although I have a professional charger for that.

Thanks for any help!

Julie

Reply to
Julie P.
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After doing some research, it looks like I will need a new belt tensioner??

The official Chevy shop manual says I have to remove the PS pump and two alternator bolts to remove the tensioner. It seems pretty simple.

Will I need any special tools, or is there anything I need to watch out for? Does the PS pulley have to be removed to access the PS pump bolts? It's dark out right now, so I can't really tell. And wil I have to disconnect the PS hoses to remove the PS pump?

Thanks!

Reply to
Julie P.

I just took a look. It looks like the PS pump pulley is rather large. I can't see the PS pump bolts. They must be under the pulley?? Is there any way to get the pulley off (and back on) without those special GM tools?

Reply to
Julie P.

You access the bolts through the holes in the pulley. Just turn the pulley until they line up.

Reply to
Edward Strauss

Awesome! Thanks Edward. Might have been a stupid question, but I have never pulled a PS pump before. :)

Julie

Reply to
Julie P.

Another thing I am wondering is this:

The manual says never apply more than 30 lb. ft of torque when turning the idler pulley bolt to remove or install the serpentine belt. But how does one know how much torque one is applying? I always use a 15 mm box-end wrench. It is almost impossible to fit a socket/ratchet over the bolt, given the wheel well inner body interferes. I once got a 1/4" ratchet/socket over the bolt, but it was hard to get off.

Also, I notice there is a groove in the belt tensioner from the belt apparently rubbing against it. But the belt itself is fine. This has been going on for a few years now, and never happened before. I am wondering if I somehow caused this problem:, because:

a) One of the bracket bolts has always been missing from my alternator set up. When I replaced my alternator a few years ago, I put that bolt in, but then there was another place that had previously had a bolt where I was no longer able to get the bolt in. But there are enough other bolts holding it in place where I feel it is fine. You can't even budge the alternator by pushing it.

b) In 1999, I removed the idler tensioner pulley just for the hell of it, as I replaced my water pump. I reinstalled it, and torqued it to spec. I hope I wasn't supposed to line anything up!?

Reply to
Julie P.

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