Broken idler?

[2002_auto_tdi]

Hi,

My guru and I were doing some work on the car and this went flying off in the middle.

In most of the car world it is called an idler pulley?

I did some searching around and it seems like failure is usually the result of something else on the drive belt path being seized but he found no evidence of that.

I also saw some posts on it that seemed to imply that it can be alot of work to replace depending on how it broke.

Any ideas what this part is called?...he mentioned two words that both started with the letter "r" but I forgot what they were.

Will this be a bear to put a new one back on?

Thanks.

 

[csstevej]

A picture would help.

 

[2002_auto_tdi]

A picture would help.

Lol!

I thought I had posted it.

http://imgur.com/a/jWlSUuT

 

[turbodieseldyke]

That's the serpentine belt idler. When mine failed, it failed by itself, not because of the alternator or A/C or anything else.

 

[2002_auto_tdi]

That's the serpentine belt idler. When mine failed, it failed by itself, not because of the alternator or A/C or anything else.

Awesome in a relative sense. Was it a bear to replace or pretty easy like most idlers? Glad this happened in the relative comfort of my own garage.

 

[Nero Morg]

It's pretty easy to replace, take off the plastic cone and under is a hex socket bolt. Just remove and replace. Careful not to over torque it though, it can snap off the flange on the mega bracket. That's a whole nother chore to replace.

 

[Genesis]

Most of the time when that fails its due to the bearing in the center of it. But not always; it is weak on purpose compared to the other things which you really do not want to have rip free (like the alternator or A/C compressor, breaking the accessory bracket, for example.)

That bracket, if you break it, is a royal pain to R&R and is why "yes, the torque specs should be adhered to" applies to things that are not necessarily internal engine parts.....

 

[2002_auto_tdi]

Thanks. I am a stickler for torque specs!

 

[Curious Chris]

I had an idler loose all its ball bearings right after a timing belt change. Sigh one was embedded in the timing belt so back to another timing belt change after not even 10,000 miles

 

[Diesel Fumes]

I had an idler loose all its ball bearings right after a timing belt change. Sigh one was embedded in the timing belt so back to another timing belt change after not even 10,000 miles

Yea these things can cause havoc. I had a wrx ac belt idler seize up, shredded the serp belt and broke a hole in the timing cover. Luckily the timing didn't jump but could have easily done so

 

[Hyde7278]

just replaced mine it melted and broke my belt. It was caused by a bad alt pulley that started to come apart ad seperate causing the belt to be misalighned.

So mine was done in by the alt pulley. make sure you check yours as they look fine but freeze up casing issues.

I got lucky it happend close to home and the belt shredded and didnt get wrapped around things.

 

[2002_auto_tdi]

Thanks very much everyone. Hope that doesn't happen again, lol.

 

[ghohouston]

Mine shot off of the engine a few months back going down the highway. Kind of sounded like a rock hitting the car off the road, and then immediately lost power steering, and battery light came on. I knew the belt must have come off. The pulley and outer portion came off, leaving only the inner bearing race attached with the bolt. Belt was undamaged, and left in the engine bay. Drove to auto parts store and got a new on on battery power only.