that annoying ring from the idler pulley !!! how do i get did of it?

[admir87]

Well doing a major service today, anyways

for a long time now, i've had that annoying ringing sound coming from the idler pulley above the aircon, only rings in D.

heard alot of vs and vt ecotecs with the same problem, sitting at the lights.

ive tryed replacing that pulley with a brand new holden one, no fix. But its definetly that pulley that makes the noise.

then i tryed replacing the belt, and the noise sort of went away, but 5months later its back.

theres got to be a way to get rid of the noise, and im sure its a common problem with vs vt ecotecs

let me know if anyone has experienced the same here, and if you've been able to get rid of the noise.

only other thing i can think of it trying an aftermarket pulley :?

[Brett_jjj]

Id try replacing the bearing in the tensioner pulley and the 2 idler pulley bearings.The bearings are around $8 each from a bearing place.Mine is heaps quieter now.It didnt have a ringing sound though,more of a buzzing type of sound.Also some pulleys are plastic, the bearing cant be removed from these type of pulleys,they are a throw away item once the bearing gets noisy.

[VS_Pete_1]

Didn`t want to start a new thread are Gates pulley any good?

[slayer208]

I have got the exact same noise. When I replaced my water pump recently i've found that i've got 2 stuffed idlers. One of them in particular is really bad. Got 3 new ones today. 2 were $22 each and the other one was $27. The type I got are the metal serviceable type, but the ones that will be removed from the car tomorrow are all plastic. Also got a new gates belt for $25.

Cheers!

[aceventura]

The bearings in the original pulley on mine were stuffed and I replaced it with the serviceable type - that is when the noise started. Replacing the belt reduced the noise a lot, but getting rid of the large metal disc between the bolt head and the pulley also helped. I still get some noise, but not too much.

[Bob129]

I spray a bit of silicon spray onto the belt while the engine is running, and that takes the noise away. It comes back after about a month, but another spray fixes it again. Not a long term solution, but it's cheap and effective!

[Sharpie]

Need to replace the whole arm which is the tensioner. Its lost its tension so the belt slips for a micro second causing that noise. Best to buy new from a dealer.

[slayer208]

Also, check the water pump for movement. If it has slop in the bearings it will make this noise. I've just recently replaced my waterpump and found that the new one was of very low quality and has excessive bearing play which causes an imbalance and makes a little noise.

[admir87]

thanks for the ideas guys,

its definetly the idler pulley right below the coil pack..

thing that gets me is ive replaced it and it still makes the sound... little spray of silicone spray and it stops, for a day! then starts again.

[slayer208]

Is there any bearing movement in the idler pulley?

[admir87]

no, no movement in any idler pulley, only the waterpump has a very slight movement

im thinking if i should try an aftermarket pulley, or get the bearing changed by a bearing place to eliminate a holden manufactoring fault

[Youngblood]

if you can get a non air con drive belt and see if that works, if it does its your air con pulley bearing making the noise, if it doesn't you have a spare non air con drive belt :-P

[immortality]

the problem with the entire design is the use of singe row deep groove ball bearings which can't support the belt properly through the vertical axis of the idler pulley. put basically, the load isn't spread evenly across the entire surface of the pulley, rather it tends to sit to one side a little. even if you use brand new steel pulleys the bearings will get noisy withing a relatively short time. the proper solution is to fit idler pulleys with either 2 bearings or use a double row bearing unfortunately nobody manufactures anything to suit at the moment

[Chappo_1]

Spraying with silicon spray or the like is not the go, as you say it only keeps quiet for a day. I prise the cover off the bearing and pack the bearing with grease. Grease is what bearings need, not spray. The spray just cleans out any grease that is there. Use grease. I do mine two or three times a year. I won't be doing the current ones again, I will replace them next time.

[slayer208]

Too true. Many new bearings aren't packed with nearly enough grease these days, causing premature wear on the bearings and bearing preloads. Would definately pay to service the bearings with grease.

[Youngblood]

could be a sales strategy :-)

[immortality]

Spraying with silicon spray or the like is not the go, as you say it only keeps quiet for a day. I prise the cover off the bearing and pack the bearing with grease. Grease is what bearings need, not spray. The spray just cleans out any grease that is there. Use grease. I do mine two or three times a year. I won't be doing the current ones again, I will replace them next time.

Too true. Many new bearings aren't packed with nearly enough grease these days, causing premature wear on the bearings and bearing preloads. Would definately pay to service the bearings with grease.

Lets think about this for a minute, if you repack the bearings with grease and then you have to do it again in 3 months time then the excess grease is just been forced out of the bearing. sealed bearings require a relatively small amount of grease to survive for years(as long as it doesn't get contaminated or washed out). if the bearing is failing then it is 99% likely that the bearing is being used in the wrong application and no amount of grease will fix that.

also, the nuline range of replacement pulley's use a C3 bearing. C3 basically means it has extra clearance, considering the design fault of this setup and the way the load is applied to the bearing this will in my opinion lead to a faster failure rate if any of the other pulley's are not running true and forcing the serpentine belt to run off to one side (go out to your car and have a look at the pulley's and tell me where the wear marks are on the pulley faces, on the majority that i have seen the pulley face is always shinier on the back of the pulley, the side it is mounted to the engine. this clearly indicates that the pulley/bearing isn't running 100% true which tends to make the belt run off to one side slightly)

the last thing to consider is the type of grease used. there are many variations of grease and the applications they are used for vary greatly. use the wrong type of grease and it will be forced out of the bearing relatively easily. this was proved to us at work a few years ago when we had a planetary style gearbox failure because the standard EP2 grease (as recommended by the manufacturer) would be thrown to the outside of the gearbox at high rpm's, changing the type of grease used this problem was largely eliminated which meant less grease was required with greater intervals between greasing periods (less downtime)

[Chappo_1]

Thanks for the info Immortality. I have enough of an idea about bearings and grease to realise what I am doing is a band aid solution, but I thought I would point out that spraying something like silicon or WD40 was not as good as using grease. I just use ‘normal’ grease, and it shuts them up for a while, when they feel rooted, I get new ones.
These C3 bearings you talk about. What’s the go with these? Are they common knowledge in the industry? If I go to a bearing place with my part numbers and ask for C3 type, will they know what I am on about?
Thanks mate.