Idler Pulley
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Idler Pulley
Hi Everyone,
I have a problem with a '99 Ford Ranger 4x4 idler pulley. I installed a brand new pulley about 4 months ago when getting a lot of noise from under the hood, and experienced a month or so of blissful silence. I've recently noticed progressively worse noise, and today when checking out the engine for the source of the noise I found the new pulley has a noticeable amount of movement when I try to wiggle it.
I am getting a new pulley, but am wondering if I just happened to buy a faulty part last time, or is there something I should check out that could be causing idler pulleys to go bad?
How much lateral movement should a pulley have? As I recall, when I installed the new one, it didn't wiggle at all.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I have a problem with a '99 Ford Ranger 4x4 idler pulley. I installed a brand new pulley about 4 months ago when getting a lot of noise from under the hood, and experienced a month or so of blissful silence. I've recently noticed progressively worse noise, and today when checking out the engine for the source of the noise I found the new pulley has a noticeable amount of movement when I try to wiggle it.
I am getting a new pulley, but am wondering if I just happened to buy a faulty part last time, or is there something I should check out that could be causing idler pulleys to go bad?
How much lateral movement should a pulley have? As I recall, when I installed the new one, it didn't wiggle at all.
Thanks in advance for your help!
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Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Greenvile, SC
Hi!
I couldn't see what eng. you had....but anyhow, I similar problems with my '99 3.0 (FF) mine had a soft whistle to it and it did have some play. After doing some closer inspecting I've found the "internal" bearing had gotten some foreign debris of some sort in where the race/ball area.
Questioning myself on how to get it "clean" and lubed ...I've found it easier to replace it ... for the second time (the first time I replaced it for a troubleshooting measure to get rid of a bad belt squeal).
I couldn't see what eng. you had....but anyhow, I similar problems with my '99 3.0 (FF) mine had a soft whistle to it and it did have some play. After doing some closer inspecting I've found the "internal" bearing had gotten some foreign debris of some sort in where the race/ball area.
Questioning myself on how to get it "clean" and lubed ...I've found it easier to replace it ... for the second time (the first time I replaced it for a troubleshooting measure to get rid of a bad belt squeal).
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Thanks for your reply 99Trigger3_0. I should have included more info about the truck.
It's a '99 with a 3.0 liter V6, standard trans, 4x4, approx 70K miles. The replacement pulley I bought at Napa about 4 months ago has a lifetime warranty, so if I can find my receipt the new pulley will be free. I originally replaced the idler pulley to stop a loud belt squeal, and it worked for a while. Now it appears the replacement pulley is in the process of (noisily) dying too.
I'm going to replace the pulley again, since I don't have the tools (or skills, really) to pull the bearing cartridge out of the pulley and clean it and repack it, if that can be done. I'm just worried that I may have an engine problem that is killing idler pulleys that won't be fixed by replacing the pulleys.
It's a '99 with a 3.0 liter V6, standard trans, 4x4, approx 70K miles. The replacement pulley I bought at Napa about 4 months ago has a lifetime warranty, so if I can find my receipt the new pulley will be free. I originally replaced the idler pulley to stop a loud belt squeal, and it worked for a while. Now it appears the replacement pulley is in the process of (noisily) dying too.
I'm going to replace the pulley again, since I don't have the tools (or skills, really) to pull the bearing cartridge out of the pulley and clean it and repack it, if that can be done. I'm just worried that I may have an engine problem that is killing idler pulleys that won't be fixed by replacing the pulleys.
