I was coming home tonight (1995 A4 Z28) and I heard a loud thud and figured I ran something over. As soon as I went to turn in my drive-way I realized my power steering was gone. I pull in the drive-way and find the tensioner pulley in the street. The belt only has a long narrow slice through it. Does anybody have any assumptions? A few of the pulleys were just off so I'm figuring something is out of alignment. What can I do to try and find out what went wrong? Can a slightly worn belt rip a whole pulley right off the motor. Last where is the best spot to go buy this pulley because the bearing inside is shot? <---- could that be the answer to my question or could the bearing have been broken by something else

 

Is the bearing still in the pulley???? The bolt that holds the pulley, is it still on the tensioner????

You can purchase a tensioner pulley at your local parts store, cost around 20 dollars, or just buy a tensioner/pulley combo around 45....

 

I am dumb so bear with me........the center piece is still intact but all the little ***** that make up the bearing are just in metal slices. So I guess I can just buy the bearing. I assume the bolt you are talking about would still be on the car then right? If so then I'll have to check when its light out. How many bolts hold on this pulley? Just one then I would assume. Thanks n2cepter

 

More than likely, if you have something misaligned you would be shredding and throwing belts. I had that problem for awhile. They will walk one way or the other. Then hanging off of the misaligned pulleyand shredding them apart. I would think you idler bearing probably locked up. Did you bolt break off? I would buy a complete idler assembly. I got one from the dealership in town for about 30-35 bucks i thought.

 

Tensioner Pulley bearing p/n is: NTN 6203LU, there was also a
P/N on the side of the bearing:
NTN 6203EX4CSIS.
Or TIMKEN 203FF sealed bearing, if you want to try changing just the bearing..

 

I just bought an entire tensioner for $24.99 @ Autozone a couple days ago.

 

when you replace the pulley be sure and check how the belt rides on it
because you may have to adjust it by puting washers behind the pulley
where the screws go through and oh make sure you use new bolts.