Sell or keep ? '97 SC Riv

'97 SC Riv in pretty good shape though were just getting a bill for $1000 to replace the tensioner pulley (part of engine mount) and the crank sensor.

When do you decide to keep or sell ?

Are these collectors items?

Scott

The dealership fixed that same pulley on my car for about $75. I still have the receipt.

How are you with a ratchet?

$1000 to replace the tensioner pulley? If you didn't have other work done (like the cam changed as well), that's the biggest screwing I've ever heard of!

There are no pulleys that are part of the engine mount. There is an idler pulley which is partially blocked by the engine mount and bracket, but it is not part of either. The mount has to be pulled, the bracket unbolted, and it's a PITA to swap the old idler pulley out for a new one. I did it myself with no prior experience. Read the write-up here.

Whether you decide to keep or sell depends on the condition of your vehicle, and how much enjoyment you get from working on it. I would say that right now Riv's are not collector's items. I think they will be in the future, especially the later model years and Silver Arrows. There were only 100,000 made total and I don't see many that are still in good shape. Of the ones that are in good shape, most are getting the customization treatment. There aren't a lot of stock condition, low mileage cars out there.

Thank you both much for your reply - I've seen your other posts and know that you are real smart about these things so thanks for the reply.
It does look like a project that would take me personally some time. If I had the time I'd use those incredibly detailed instructions that Jack wrote up - wow are those ever complete!!!

This is one of these repairs where there were multiple failures - the pulley broke, ruined the belt then broke the crank sensor. Three in one ! Drats.

It is a fun car though and certainly has the power to get out of a tight squeeze.

Happy Thanksgiving! Scott

still it should not cost 1000 $. Is the work already done or was that an estimate?

How much does crank sensor work usually run?

They wanted $690 for the tensioner pulley that you wrote about and $245 for the crank sensor.

Thoughts on that...

Scott

I changed all my pulleys in MAYBE 30 minutes. Maybe it would take longer if you fragged the whole tensioner assembly ? If your tensioner pulley disintegrated, you probably could have just changed the pulley in around 8 minutes.

The belt is tricker. Using Jack's write-up, maybe you could do it in 3-4 hours. If it isn't done yet, change your lower supercharger idler pulley. Your pullies are probably going to start going one by one. You have to have the engine mount out of the way to get to that lower s/c idler...

scott_in_mesa wrote:

They wanted $690 for the tensioner pulley that you wrote about and $245 for the crank sensor.

Thoughts on that...

Scott

Whatever pulley it is, $690 is out of line by about $600.

There are two types of pulleys that we're discussing - tensioner pulleys and idler pulleys. Tensioner pulleys sit on a spring loaded arm and keep the belt in tension. These are all at the top of the engine, and are very very very very easy to replace. Like, two minutes if you've got your tools out easy.

Idler pulleys redirect the direction of the belt. All of these are easier to change than the tensioner pulleys, except one, the one inside the engine bracket.

After 85,000 you need to replace all of them, just to be safe. If one goes you'll either experience a major power loss if it's on the SC belt, or be stranded if it's on the accessory belt. AA had these go off in series within a couple thousand miles of each other, not fun. They can also shred your belts, and your belts can shred the hood liner, making a nice mess of your engine bay.

I haven't done the crank sensor and don't know how much it costs - it sounds like a more expensive job than the pulley should normally be. I think Turtle may have done his, but I'm not sure.

Even though that is high for a tensioner pulley job, probably because it was the dealer doing it, I bet they were going to replace the coolant bypass valve as well, which is part of the tensioner pulley system on Rivs. I got a quote for that a while back for about 300-400 dollars and I decided to do it myself. I was not difficult at all. The pulley itself is easy to replace, buy the spring assembly which comprises the coolant bypass valve requires a little more work. Of course a coolant flush/drain is required.

Those numbers are seriously high.

Chandler AZ ..hmmm I know a guy out there with a B'ville that knows his stuff and is usually up for hanging out with friends and working on cars. Holler if you run into more issues.

sounds like a rip-off to me