My 2000 Tensioner & Idler pulley experience

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Today I fixed two noisy pulleys. Both the tensioner pulley and the idler pulley's bearing were shot at a mere 90k miles. They roared loudly.

I bought a replacement tensioner pulley at Autozone and when I went to install it I was disappointed that it was plastic and didn't seem to fit very good. So instead I returned it to Autozone and pressed the original (bad) bearing out of the old steel tensioner pulley, took it to NAPA and purchased a better quality replacement bearing then pressed it into the original steel pulley. Bolted it onto the spring loaded tensioner (reverse thread bolt), then mounted it back on the car. The reason I went with NAPA's high end bearing instead of their cheap bearing is because it was a PITA to reach and I don't want to have to pull it again. The bearing was $12 which is about what Autozone's plastic pulley w/crap bearing cost. Difference is now I still have a steel pulley and a kick ass bearing.

As for the idler pulley, I couldn't find the right size bearing in stock for it so I bought a whole replacement pulley. It has the original style crap bearing but at least it's a simple to reach pulley that won't be hard to replace later.

I had put one of those plastic pulleys on my saturn and it makes noise. I have heard this from other people too. I think they are junky.

Getting the belt on and off was simple by having my wife slip it off the alternator while I held the tensioner with a wrench.

The tensioner bracket wasn't too terrible. 3 10mm bolts. Two were easiest from the bottom and one from the top.

That is my experience, I hope it helps someone.

[jayjp200]

These 2 components are very crappy in Windstar and I have replaced them every 15 months

[road_rascal]

I think the belt tensioner is shot on my '01. It's making a clack-clack-clack sound. I narrowed it down using a long screwdriver and I'm 98% sure it's it. I was hoping is wasn't the water pump as that's a b!tch to remove. Looking at the Ford Service CD it doesn't look to bad of a job.