FAQ: Fragged Tensioner/Idler Pulley Reports & Questions

Rib number 6 totally let go this afternoon. Knew I should have just cut the F'ing thing off yesterday. Gouged a nice big hole in my new $85 hood liner. NOT a happy camper here...

Anyway, I pulled into an Applebee's lot and yanked out the pieces, drove home and got out the utility knife and cut off the rest of it. Sure runs quieter now, and has more power NA than I expected. I wonder if my SC bearings are going bad as well, considering the lack of noise, and I'm not talking about SC whine.

At least I now have all the pulleys and belts I need when it warms up here.

I have a 1996 SC riv and one of my pulleys is either loose or wobbling because the bearing inside it is bad. i have found what pulley it is but i dont know if it is the idler pulley or what. I dont want to buy the wrong pulley. it is 3" in diameter and it is a smooth pulley(no ribs). its located below the SC pulley but closer to the front of the car. i think its the closest smooth pulley to the SC pulley. can any1 tell me if i was right? is that the idler pulley?

it sounds like the s/c tensioner pulley to me. there are several topics about replacing the belts and pulleys with pictures and diagrams.

Yep, that sounds like the SC tensioner pulley. Easy to replace, look for the topics Matthew mentioned.

does anyone no where i can get one on short notice like napa or autozone and which one would i get.

Dealership will be expensive at around $50. If you look around, you can find one for about half. I have an extra, brand new GM part. PM me if you are interested.

hey guys, so i was under the hood yesterday figuring out all the parts i will need in addition to ma new engine, and the pulley that is missing that i thought was the supercharger pulley is actually the tensioner pulley. Does anyone know how that could have broken off? The bolt at the end is still there and there are 2 pcs of metal that look kinda like washers left where the pulley should be. I had to have the belts changed about 6months before the engine died (charged me $500 btw) so if that has something to do with it, should i be able to get compensated from the dealership you think?

I don't think you'll get anything from the dealer, they changed the belts. Unless they inspected all the pulleys and said they were fine, you won't get a dime from them. By the way, you were WAAAAAAAAAAY overcharged for a simple belt change. If you look through this forum, you can find the procedure for replacing belts and pulleys. $500 is REDICULOUS you can get all the parts you need for less than half of that and do it yourself in an afternoon.

$500 isn't really overcharging, especially in LA, although you can do it for less if you DIY. It takes at around 4 hours to do the job, which a mechanic will charge $ for time. Some people think that paying someone else is getting ripped off, but not everyone wants to or is able to work on their own cars.

The pulleys start to go out at about 85-100k miles on most of our cars. Two of mine fragged within a thousand miles of each other. Others have reported the same, so it's a predictable failure. We advise replacing all of your pulleys after 85k miles.

Here is a list of failures commonly seen in the Riviera. Probably something about the pulleys in here:

https://rivperformance.editboard.com/care-maintenance-f8/high-mile-club-t769.htm?highlight=mile

Don't expect any relief from the dealer, unless they listed the pulleys as "inspected and ok" on your receipt. On the other hand, when they replaced the belts, I can't BELIEVE they didn't suggest and recommend replacing all the pulleys at the same time. That's a no-brainer for a shop, and your car with it's higher mileage.

Like AA said, $500 is not a rip off when you're paying someone else (a professional) to do the job. Dealer shop rate here is $99/hr. It's a pain in the arse, really. I did my own this past spring. It's not a job for everyone, though most could get it done if they wanted to.

i felt totally ripped off a couple months later when i found out how much the parts were. I know better now and plan on doing my belts myself (with SOME other ppls help) i guess the factory ones are kinda cheap? I'm going to replace it with the bigger pulley from intense so hopefully this will not happen again. In the past weeks (with help from you guys!) i have pieced together what happened to my car.

first, it was a little low on oil and i was running 40wt oil which i guess is a little too thick then the belt broke off i guess making the s/c not run which made the engine run harder and low on oil... then poof! that's what i THINK happened. but either way i will get the engine soon hopefully and im sure i will be on here asking how to install certain parts of it. I got the cherry picker and 2 car men to help, i just need a place or my apt. mgr. will kill me for doing another swap in my parking spot. LOL

I don't know what you're saying.....can you "sign it"?

u should do the rwd conversion with a sbc 350 and a turbo 350 trany!

The OEM belts are not 'cheap', but the OEM pullies and more importantly, their bearings, are 'cheap'. I prefer the Dayco metal replacement pullies, they seem to have decent bearings and they don't scrub down like the plastic ones do.

Unfortunately, when a bearing goes bad, it usually wipes out the belt too.

1wickedninja wrote:

u should do the rwd conversion with a sbc 350 and a turbo 350 trany!

Why does everyone wanna put a damn sbc in every frickin car? She drives a Buick that came with a Buick engine. Put a Buick engine in it.

401 nailheads are hard to come across.

I agree with Dave, she should just put a SII or SIII S/C back in it.

baynes72 wrote:

401 nailheads are hard to come across.

Not really. But I wouldn't put one in a last gen Riv. This is the way to go:



TT 3.8 aluminum block.

1st : haha chicken ur an a$$
2nd - rwd? im barely past which is go and which is not go. lol and i hate turbo's - they lag - i have no patience. im just putting a used in and using my same s/c and am changing my s/c and tensioner pulley all at the same time

1998riv's pic is nice! im sure the lapd would be just thrilled if i was zooming by morning traffic on the fwy in that thing - i didnt know you could completly make them drag cars like that

It's the only RWD, track-only last gen Riv that I'm aware of. The owner spent a few years putting it together before finally getting it to the track last year. Still needing a lot of tuning time, I think he ran in the 7's. Don't know about this summer.

Took the car to a trusted mechanic today and had him replace the belt (Old won jumped the pulley once and shredded it a little). Wasn't about to fight with the car in the cold to do it myself. Anyways, when I drove the car home I noticed a new, annoying sound. Under light to moderate acceleration there is noise from the motor that sounds like noisy exhaust. It never made the sound before, and while not excrucatingly loud it really irritates me.

It only does it when the motor torques up under load, if I put it in neutral and rev up it doesn't do it. If the car goes into overdrive it's pretty quiet but from light to light, oh god it won't stop making that sound. Thinking about taking it back to them and asking what they did to it because it's making noise now. What should I tell them I think the problem is? A gasket that's coming loose or something? It had to be something they did because it never made this noise before.

If he's a trusted mechanic, there should be a warranty on the work. Take it back and make him look at it for free.

Planned on it, but they'll probably tell me it's just normal or some crap even though I know it didn't do it. They also rummaged through my center console for some reason. Don't know why, but I remember how I had my stuff in there and they made a mess out of it. Plus, they got grease all over the fender on the passenger side. Topped with the fresh bird shit, my car looks filthy and I just scrubbed it down good about three or four days ago.

What kind of exhaust sound? High-pitched & harsh, or low & drone-like? Have you checked the area they worked on to be sure it's not something else, like the belts or pulleys? Was it making any other noises before they worked on it?

That's bullshit. You should empty everything out of your car before letting people inside just because most have "not responsible for items lost or stolen" sign. Were they checking something down in the "trap door?"