Changed out idler pulley(accessory) due to it squeeling and mounted the new one exactly the same as I took it off. Washers in the same way and everything. Torqued it down as instructed on installuniversity.com to 37ft-lbs.

Anyways, I started the car up and everything was fine, noise was gone. Then I hear a rattling noise and it gets worse and I shut the car of thinking I screwed something up. I crank it back and the rattling gets worse then stops. I notice my drive belt on the ground and the pulley hanging off.

I take the pulley back off and reattach it. When torqued down to spec it will not turn at all, and the bolt turns with the pulley allowing it to loosen or tighten depending on which way I turn it. Obviously it loosened itself and and came off allowing the belt to fall off.

Anyways, what the heck did I do wrong? Everything is on exactly how it came off, yet if I tighten it back up the pulley wont move and if I loosen it up it moves around too much and the belt slips off. Do I need new washers? Is it just a bad pulley?

I know this is a stupid easy part to replace which is why I am confused as to what the heck is going on with it.

 

Anyone? It almost seems as if the washers in front and back are tightening it down too much once the bolt is tightened down. But like I mentioned if I loosen it up any it's too loose and the pulley works it's way off. Any tighter and it won't turn. Belt is on correctly as well. Everything is on as I took it off. I saw no mention of greasing the washers on the install write up but is that necessary?

 

Well found the problem. The replacement pulley I was given has a slightly deeper front where the washer/bolt go into, causing the washer to rub against the outside of the pulley.

Problem solved.

 

That makes it nice when ''replacement'' parts aren't the same as stock,

 

Yep. I took the part number from the one listed on installuniversity.com's website and went to O'Reilly's since they are closest to me. Anyways they cross-referenced it for what part number they carry and gave me this pulley. It looks exactly the same except for the front where the washer goes into is about 2mm deeper. I even took it back to exchange for another pulley and it was the same. I ended up using another size washer and it worked fine.

The reason it wouldn't fit is the "washer" is sort of a bowl-shape so it goes into the pulley where it bolts on and the outside edges(top of the bowl-shape) don't actually touch the pulley. The replacement pulley was too deep for this washer and so the outside edges were making contact with the front of the pulley and actually grinding a grove around it when it turned, causing it to seize after a few minutes.