Black Lex Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 My 94 LS 400 makes a intermitent grinding noise from the front of the engine when the temp outside is below 35 degrees untill the car is fully warmed up. Has anybody else run into this? I scoped out the noise and it seems like its coming from the tensioner pulley assembly can I replace the bearings or do I have to replace the entire assembly? could it be something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxed_out Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 mine drove me nuts and it turned out to bethe waterpump bearings. So I did the waterpump and while I was there did the timing belt, all the pulleys and tensioners. Once one fails they all seen to follow and you end up doing the job twice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Econ Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 The tensioner pulley really shouldn't go out - I've only ever replaced one, and that on a friend's car. Plus, it wouldn't get better as your car warmed up, the constant wear would probably cause it to get worse. Maxed out's experience sounds like something you should look into. The tensioner pulley is close in relation to your water pump's position. Plus I would agree with his advice to just do it all at once - pulleys go bad together and once you replace one, the effective wear on the others increases. It's like your suspension or brakes - don't do just one side because they wear together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicol-ini Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 hello, ive got one for sale, belt tensioner pulley, if ever you need one in excellent condition Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigenfiver Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I had the same problem. My culprit was the Fan Rack bearings. The pulley the Fan and fan clutch mount to. Parts of the bearing we're getting ground up and falling out. I also had a drive belt tensioner pulley making noise but wasn't too bad. But I replaced that as well. I changed my timing belts etc. and the #1 and #2 Idler timing pulleys too. Everything sounds good now. When you pull everything out, roll each pulley and you'll find out which one it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexus400 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 I just had this problem on my '92 and it did turn out to be the upper drive belt tensioner. It was worse when it was cold and then slowly got better as it warmed up. Change that first, it's only a 15 min job if that. Even if it turns out to be one of the others they do fail eventually and you're not wasting a lot of time. It's about $50 at the dealer. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexus400 Posted March 4, 2005 Share Posted March 4, 2005 Forgot the second part of your question. You replace it as a whole unit. It has a single (17mm I think) bolt in the middle. Just release tension on the serpentine belt (no need to remove it) and make the swap. You'll probably want to remove the black plastic piece on top of the radiator to get better access. Just a few 10mm bolts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Lex Posted March 5, 2005 Author Share Posted March 5, 2005 hello, ive got one for sale, belt tensioner pulley, if ever you need one in excellent condition ← Yes I am interested bicol-ini . How much? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Lex Posted March 5, 2005 Author Share Posted March 5, 2005 mine drove me nuts and it turned out to bethe waterpump bearings. So I did the waterpump and while I was there did the timing belt, all the pulleys and tensioners. Once one fails they all seen to follow and you end up doing the job twice. ← My water pump was replaced with 90K maintenance . I bought the car with 125K and it did it then too. From what Ive heard waterpumps last a while longer than that and if they make noise they would go out soon . My car now has 140K and the water- pump is still not leaking and seems to be working fine. Does anybody know the serpentine belt replacement intervals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicol-ini Posted March 6, 2005 Share Posted March 6, 2005 hello, ive got one for sale, belt tensioner pulley, if ever you need one in excellent condition ← Yes I am interested bicol-ini . How much? ← thanks, 40, bucks let me know, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted March 15, 2005 Share Posted March 15, 2005 I scoped out the noise and it seems like its coming from the tensioner pulley assemblycan I replace the bearings or do I have to replace the entire assembly? ← The bearing can easily be replaced by itself for a few bucks. No need to replace the entire assembly. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Lex Posted March 20, 2005 Author Share Posted March 20, 2005 I scoped out the noise and it seems like its coming from the tensioner pulley assemblycan I replace the bearings or do I have to replace the entire assembly? ← The bearing can easily be replaced by itself for a bucks. No need to replace the entire assembly. :) ← Bought a new tensioner pulley for 50 bucks + surpentine belt 30 bucks from irontoad installed both in 20 min. problem solved . I wish now I would of brought the pulley into local machine shop and had a new berring pressed in. oh well less than a hundred bucks and it runs quiet and smooth right from start up. Thanks everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Posted April 12, 2005 Share Posted April 12, 2005 The press is not needed to remove/install the bearing. A few taps from the hammer is all that is needed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lextreme Posted May 5, 2005 Share Posted May 5, 2005 Why would anyone what to buy a used serpentine belt tensioner? How do you i know it wont got bad in few thousand miles? Get a new one from the dealer and rest for the next 200k miles. Do it right one time....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluethunder2008 Posted May 12, 2005 Share Posted May 12, 2005 Hi , I had the same problem, when the car is cold, then after 2 days on travelling road, the engine belt splitted in two parts. it might be one of the pulleys failure, but I can't tell, I just replaced the belt with new one. and also I start hear noisy sound in the engine. but no that one when the car cold. I took it to the dealer and they said the tension pully need to be replaced. I just left them, because they didn't have strong arguments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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