1998 Drive Belt Idler Replaced

Nasp016 · 02-05-2005, 04:03 PM

Well I was the typical moron...allowing a noticible squeal/grinding sound exist for too long before I check it out. It was the drive belt ilder pulley right at the top of the block. The bearing had started to go out...then it totally disintegrated. When this happen the drive belt slipped off and luckily stayed in the engine compartment until I could stop.

The repair was much simpiler than I had thought. Basically I went and bought a new idler pulley for the ribbed drive belt from Napa (~$14 or so). When you remove the old pulley be sure to retain the small bushing that fits between the pulley and the block mount. I had first not found this bushing because it had almost welded itself to the inner race of the destroyed bearing. It was easy to pop out and I had the new pulley in place ease.

Then the tough thing was figuring out how the dang serpentine drive belt snakes through the various components. I checked the Gates web site and they had a diagram that at first doesn't appear to correspond to the Rodeo, but it actually does...just a bit out of scale.

My last hurdle was moving the tensioner so that I could get the belt on everything. Two tricks..1) use a socket wrench on the 14mm nut in the center of the tensioner pulley and both try to tighten it more while at the same time pushing str8 down on the wrench. This moved the tensioner down easily and 2) put the belt onto the tensioner pulley last (since it doesn't have an edge it will slip on quick).

That's it..Cheers.

Cat Fuzz · 02-05-2005, 04:40 PM

Good tips, thanks!

amigo-2k · 02-05-2005, 04:57 PM

added it to the faq. thanks!
-Ryan

dthardcore · 01-19-2006, 10:06 AM

My girlfriends rodeo had the same problem with the idler pulley except when her pulley bearing froze up it ripped right out of the mount and destroyed it, i was looking at the mount and the upper radiator hose runs into it as well, i contacted serveral parts stores and even isuzu themselves and they dont even know what that part is for me to replace it. If you have any insight into what the part number is or what it is actually called please let me know