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Idler pulley preventative maintence Posted by Saabtech [Email] ![]() ![]() |
Three Years ago I became a Saab Technician. it was the middle of the winter and there were 6 NG 900's on the lot waiting for new serpintine drive belt idler pulleys (4 cylinder engine). the parts were back ordered, Sweden. all of these cars had 120,000 plus km. all got a new ribbed pulley above the alternator, a smooth pulley in the center above the crankshaft and a new belt. there was even one that needed a new alternator upper bracket, as the belt rode on it for a few dozen miles before the owner had it towed. Very inconveniant for the owners, i'm sure. the following winter we started to see a repeat of the previous year, only this time our parts department had lots of stock. I began to realize that the serpintine drive belts start to crack at about 100,000 km and that the pulleys don't last much longer after that. also the pulley's bearings, which are lubricated by grease, fail in the cold of the winter more often than the heat of the summer! After that intial winter, I paid close attention to the belt system of my customers cars. if i found a car with a cracked belt i would recomend its replacement. if the pulley's bearings sound noisy they too would be replaced. if, however, they are quiet, i found that i could remove the pulleys, remove their grease seals and repack their bearings. this i would do for an aditional 1/2 hour of labor above the belt replacement time. as our dealership uses a computer dispatching system for work orders which provide the history of all the work done previously, i can track the success rate of this preventative maintence. to date all cars that are towed in with failed pulleys have never had their bearings repacked by us. NO one can predict when a part will fail. servicing your vehicle on a regular basis can reduce the chance that you get stuck on the side of the road! a technician, who services Saab's all the time will be more familiar with wat to look for, this too will reduce the chance of being stranded! this bulletin board is also a great place to find out what can and will go wrong with your cars! HTH Saabtech
posted by 24.156.2...
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