how to id a bad timing idler

[93ej22]

im about to go out and finish taking off the crank pulley and timing covers so I can replace my broken timing belt, while im in there I need to see if I broke my idler pulley or just the belt. I may have put the belt on backwards when I replaced my water pump about 1.5K miles ago so im hoping I just broke the belt but how would I be able to tell if I broke the idler pulley?

[johnegg]

a failed toothed idler, any failed idler, will be obvious.

but the if the idlers pulleys are more than 60 - 100k old,

replace them.

they have factory sealed bearings,

which were lubed at the factory.

any folks expect them to last the life of the car.

no way.

 

from the factroy they are quiet and tight.

some folks only replace them when they are noisy and/or loud.

but there is no way to tell how long a 150k idler that is quiet will last.

 

buy a gates timing belt kit off amazon or from rockauto.com.

they are about $150.

 

your engine is non-interference,

so you don't have to replace all of them,

but for about $100 more than just the belt,

you can be confident of 60k trouble free miles.

[93ej22]

if I had any money at all to spend I would buy the whole kit and do the head gaskets at the same time but I am too broke to pay attention just had a kid and I have about $11 in the bank. im really hoping it is just the belt since I already have one, if it is the idler I can replace it on its own and do the rest later but I am really hoping that it was the belt being installed the wrong way around and it just gave out from the stress. while I was fiddling around in there i noticed one of my plastic fittings is broken, i want to say it was for the pcv system since it went to the intake, the 3 port fitting broke one arm off so i plastic welded it back together because i didn't want to go find one at picknpull

 

will finally know tomorrow morning, I tried my damnedest to get the crank bolt off but I need a cheater pipe for my breaker bar or there is just no way it will budge, I was bending the breaker bar handle trying to get it loose, any time im not in a huge hurry i try to use rockauto they always have a really good price and combined shipping is really handy

[monkeyposeur]

Here is an easy way to break the crank bolt loose: Get a long breaker bar and put the socket end on the bolt while resting the end of the breaker bar on the frame or ground (depending on the length), blip the starter and it will break it loose. Works like a charm. Just make sure you put the end on the correct side of the frame so it doesn't spin and kill somebody.

 

If you spin the idler and it makes noise or the bearings feel shot then you'll know that it is bad.