Alternator Idler Pulley: which way does it go in?

[Mailorder]

Well, I've run into a another problem! Everything seemed to be running fine until I noticed a strange whistling sound coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and showed my co-worker.. who told me I had put the idler pulley on wrong. I had it so the belt was running under the pulley, instead of on top. (Yep.. I'm new to cars) So I unscrewed a few nuts and put the idler pulley on the right way.

But now I hear a worse sound, a sound of screeching. My co-worker says something must be rubbing against another thing. On closer look, I notice my idler pulley is not straight. It looks crooked. I take the pulley off, and one side of it is lightly scratched. But like a fool, I don't remember which way I'm supposed to put it in.

Let's say where the bearing gets press fitted into the pulley is the "top". Do I put the idler pulley into the bolt "top" side first, towards the bracket? Or the other way?

Another question: Am I supposed to have a washer between the pulley and the bracket? Is there supposed to be anything between it? Right now, I've got a washer and lock washer between the nut and the pulley, but nothing between the pulley and the bracket.

[Mailorder]

I randomly found this image:http://members.tripod.com/~han...r.jpg

I dunno if this idler pulley is for cars or not, but does the idler pulley for cars need a spacer between the pulley and bracket?

And from this picture, it looks like the "bottom" side of the pulley goes into the bolt first.

[Q451990]

I believe the spacer (thick washer) goes on the back... don't remember the other order. It might be worth it to take another one off paying particularly close attention to it's orientation. I have put them on wrong before too... horrible screeching noise!

I actually posted pictures of this at some point, but our photo hosting isn't the same now...

Heath

[Q451990]

Just found it... guess the photo hosting is back up!

Wrong

Right
Modified by Q451990 at 12:26 AM 12/8/2006

[Mailorder]

Yep, I got the same noise : /

Okay, so to follow the pictures here... I put the thick washer in first, then the pulley (bottom-side down), then another washer... but what is that final black disc thing?

I think I'm gonna have to phone up the Infiniti dealership to get parts : / I'm worried my Ace Hardware washer and lock washer won't hold. Although, I've driven to work and back for two days on that setup... but that's only about 35-40 miles.

[Q451990]

The last part comes with the pulley. I would highly recommend getting a whole new assembly from the dealership. Looks like you're not far from Joe at Infiniti of Scottsdale - and Joe is the man!

Heath

[CrimsonQ]

whats the chance that i just had the same problem yesterday! LOL!!

My pulley's are all marked with a paint dot on the face side. I was just to retarded to realize it.

[Mailorder]

Update. I ordered the official parts from Joe at the Scottsdale of Infiniti. Took about a week, but I got my stuff. I just put in the official parts tonight, jump-started my car, and everything sounds fine. No nasty screeching sounds. I drove it around the block, reved the engine a little and everything felt fine. I parked the car, turned off the engine and turned it on again. However, it wouldn't turn on after the third time. As I type this, I'm using a battery charger on my battery hoping that an overnight recharge will revive it.

Since my car has been sitting dead for two weeks (took me that long to get the official parts), do you think those two weeks killed my current car battery? Keep in mind that this car battery has probably gone through at least 5 jump-starts due to my trial-and-error experiments on fixing my alternator idler pulley.