G'day people,

I've got a noisey Idler Pulley on an AUII which is gradually getting worse due to knackered bearings.

I'm about to change it with a new one but would like some advice as to how it's done in step procedure.

Never done one before and cant afford to pay big dollars

I'm sure someone on here would have done their own at some point, if you can be kind to share your tips and knowledge I'd appreciate it.

Cheers,

For my EL, it was just this process.

Take out thermo fans
Take off belt cover
Grab a 3/8 inch (if I recall correctly) ratchet/breaker bar and slot it into the square hole on the belt tensioner assembly ( the part the idlers are one)
Rotate the tensioner so it loosens the belt, I can't remember which way this is
Slip off the belt, undo the bolts that hold the tensioner on
Take the tensioner off, from then it's just taking out the bolts that the idler pulleys run on, taking the old pulley off, and then reverse the procedure to reinstall.

I'm not too sure on how the AU belts are in relation to the EL, but I can check in my manual for you. It's a pretty straight-forward process - some of the bolts holding the idler on can be pretty darn tight though.

Benno The Viking,

Thanks mate,

I appreciate your help on this,

I dont have the AU Workshop manual at present, the procedure might be similar but if you could double check with your manual for me, it would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Bondy

The procedure is the same for AU.

EF / EL and AU Belts ARE NOT THE SAME LENGTH (what f^%$ing genius at Ford decided to do that... ) - and also VCT is different to non VCT.

The direction you push the ratchet handle is toward the airbox - ie. clockwise rotation as you look at the engine from the front. It can be a help to use an extension - ie. piece of pipe of some sort on the handle of the ratchet.

The whole tensioner assembly is held onto the engine with 3 x 12mm bolts - one is longer than the other two.

Dont be intimidated by the process of refitting the belt - the critical part is slipping it up behind and then onto the tensioner pulley - I personally first lay the belt round the crank pulley and from the lower side of the crank over to and round the aircon pulley - so then you just need to twist that section where it comes off the top of the crank to slip it up behind the tensioner pulley and then back flat onto it and bob's yer uncle.

You do that initial laying of the belt BEFORE taking up the tensioner load with the ratchet - ie. get the belt laid in over the tensioner and crank and aircon, THEN compress the tensioner and lay the rest of it. I personally lay the lot except for the water pump pulley and then get it over the water pump last up with the tensioner compressed.

Greenmachine,

Thanks mate, much appreciated.

Yeah, I agree with you, one would think they would be all the same, as in uniformity..nah too simple hey, so lets complicate things FFS.

Just the idler pulley and the smooth one would need replacing.

Job for next week.

I purchased a non-genuine belt (in case I needed one) from Supercheap. Would they be ok to use or does one need to go genuine?

Thanks, Bondy

Someone else might have better info, but I haven't heard of any issues with belts - ie. anything about genuine vs non.

Greenmachne,

I would think there would be no dramas. The belt is made by Bosch. Made in Thailand.

I thought Bosch was German, gee whiz , eveything is made overseas, at least its not made in China fr a change hey!

Bondy

Ok,

I've changed the idler ribbed pulley and smooth pulley today and all seems ok.

Ribbed pulley was knackered , bearings worn.

I have one question.

Is the belt suppose to run smoothly when reinstalled ? I have noticed there is a slight wriggle movement on the water pump when the belt is running. There does appear to be a telltale sign of where the belt was running so I'm wondering whether it needs to run dead straight or not necessary?

Thanks

Sorry - I'm away from home for a few weeks so can't physically check right now - from memory tho they run fairly steady. It may be initial tight distortion and may go away as it relaxes?

Greenmachine,

Thanks mate, I did try to reinstate the belt to its original position using the witness marks.

Had no problems with it so far since reinstall.