Serpentine belt tensioner...do they wear out?

[DOE-SST]

Just wondering if I should keep a spare in the van.

I've never had one fail on previous vehicles, but have only had the 7.3 IDI for about a year. It does have about 200k miles on it.

Your experience?

 

[jperecko]

the bearings on the pulley go... but they tend to make noise before actually failing thus giving you warning time

just my experience though...

 

[RLDSL]

Usually they will either make a racket or start to wear the belt unevenly before giving out, but with 200k, you can be pretty sure that the grease is long gone You can pull the things and if still tight, you can take a grease needle and work it in around th eedge of the rubber seal of the bearings and squeeze as much grease in as the things will take rotate the bearing a bit to get it to suck the grease down. It doesn't hurt to poke the needle in , in a few spots to get ful coverage. I've extended teh life of idler pulley bearings and driveshaft carrier bearings oodles of miles that way . The trickiest part is finding decent quality grease needles these days. most of them are pretty flimsy anymore and won't puncture teh plastic seal or work in around the edge without breaking. It's hard to find good ones.

 

[DOE-SST]

Usually they will either make a racket or start to wear the belt unevenly before giving out, but with 200k, you can be pretty sure that the grease is long gone You can pull the things and if still tight, you can take a grease needle and work it in around th eedge of the rubber seal of the bearings and squeeze as much grease in as the things will take rotate the bearing a bit to get it to suck the grease down. It doesn't hurt to poke the needle in , in a few spots to get ful coverage. I've extended teh life of idler pulley bearings and driveshaft carrier bearings oodles of miles that way . The trickiest part is finding decent quality grease needles these days. most of them are pretty flimsy anymore and won't puncture teh plastic seal or work in around the edge without breaking. It's hard to find good ones.

Thanks for the tip.

I have a few syringes with .040 needles that should work.

 

[RLDSL]

Thanks for the tip.

I have a few syringes with .040 needles that should work.

Yeah, I've used those big reusable livestock syringes with the heavy needles a few times, they work pretty good

 

[towcat]

I have an extra tensioner assy and idler just for a precaution.
better to have than wishing I had one.
attached pic is both tensioner and idler pulley aftermath when the vac pump locked up. could not pull over where it happened. this was what was found 5 mins later.

 

[DOE-SST]

Yeah, I've used those big reusable livestock syringes with the heavy needles a few times, they work pretty good

Livestock?


These are what the meatball medics at the VA hospital used on me.

 

[Shadetreemechanic]

Mine fell apart without warning at 301k. It would probably be worth keeping a spare in the truck at that mileage.

 

[icanfixall]

I have a spare tensioner and idler along with two belts. Ebay has the tensioners and idlers cheaper than anyone selling them. My tensioner is the one with the shock absorber. Uhaul is selling a kit really cheap too. It even has the belt guide that nobody sells any longer.....