Idler Pulley?

[ProtonPusher]

Driving home from work today there was a loud thunk, the battery light came on, and the power steering went off. I got off to a side the road, parked and found the belt was off the pulleys, but not broken. I did not check much more, but I am thinking maybe a pulley (tensioner or idler?) broke. It was dark, I had to pick up my daughter, and I was in West Oakland (not a place to hang around after dark). Excuses, excuses!

Anyway, I am going to get it towed tonight, but I had a couple of questions. It is a 94 Mazda Navajo

1) Is a guess of a broken idler or tensioning pulley reasonable?
2) How hard is it to replace these pulleys? (less than a couple hours?)

The reason for these questions is whether or not to tow it to the mechanic, or home. In the past I would not hesitate to do it myself, but having a new daughter I’ve discovered time is a lot harder to come by!

Thanks for any help.

 

[Rick]

Very easy job especially since the belt is already off. Just a couple bolts holding it to the block if I remember right. I've never heard of one breaking like that. My bearing went bad and it sqealed like a pig before I replaced it.

 

[aldive]

Either the idler pulley or the tensioner is a very easy 15 minute replacement.

There is a single bot holding these in place,

Good luck .........

 

[96limitedX]

i replace both of mine (pully/tensioner) in about 15mins. very easy..luckly mine did not break..just sqeeled also.

 

[ProtonPusher]

Ok,
had it towed back to the house, and under closer inspection it is the tensioner pulley, or actually the lack of a tensioner pulley. It does look like an easy fix though.

Thanks for the help.

 

[scottmotocross]

Just a FYI here.

When the pulleys (tensioner or idler) start getting noisy you can easily grease the bearings by carefully removing the seals with a small screwdriver. I've done this several times on my Ranger & Explorer.

Hope this helps,
SMC