Okay, so I'm having a loud noise from my serpentine belt / pulley area. I took it to a shop they said it was the idler pulley. Now I bought an "idler pulley" from Oreilly's, but I can't figure out which pulley it is.. It's also called an "A/C pulley" right? The topmost pulley on the passenger side, right? It seems to be the pulley that leads to the A/C Compressor. How do you remove it? In the center of the pulley, I see the wrong end of a bolt.. and all around the pulley, it's covered by a plastic cover and bunch of plastic bolts that look like you need to pry them off.

Even though I have a 305 TBI, this picture shows the pulley I'm talking about: http://image.gmhightechperformance.c...engine_bay.jpg

I don't want to delete smog or AC, I would like to keep everything stock.

 

An idler pulley is the tensioner pulley on the spring loaded arm next to the A/C compressor Or a pulley that just reroutes the belt, powers nothing.(smog delete?)

 

 

I thought that was called the Tensioner Pulley? So did Rockauto and Oreilly just mislabel the pulleys?

Because look at the rockauto site, these are the "idler pulleys": http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...&parttype=6956

and these are the Tensioner Pulleys: http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/rafr...parttype=10346

same thing on the Oreilly site... Idler: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...make=Chevrolet
Tensioner: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/se...Redirect=03308

 

which pulley does the one you bought look the most like?

find that one and put the new one there...

 

this is the exact one I bought: http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...3307&ppt=C0074

Mine isn't exposed like in Tuned Performance's picture, it's covered like in this picture: http://image.gmhightechperformance.c...engine_bay.jpg Do you see the topmost pulley on the passenger side? Has a black plastic cover over it. Not sure how to take the cover off, and I don't want to take it off and find out I need to buy replacement rivets or bolts.

 

gates 38006 , gates makes the oem pulleys for gm. Yours might have a lip on it but the rounded edges is the updated design. They sold you a air pump replacement bypass pulley gates 38029.

 

Okay.. so where does that idler pulley go? It is the top most pulley on the passenger side, right? The only one attached with a black plastic cover instead of bolts? How do you remove it and put the new one on? Since it's not simply bolted like any of the other ones.

The tensioner pulley is the smallest pulley with the belt going under it, right?

What's the OEM replacement for a smog pump pulley? I can't delete it because I'm in CA, but I need a new smog pump pulley because it makes a lot of noise when I move it. In fact, the AC/idler pulley barely makes any noise, so I think the shop misdiagnosed it.

 

The tensioner pulley is the smallest pulley with the belt going under it, right? Yes

Unless the air pump pulley is damaged from a accident or a rock I doubt it needs to be replaced. If the Noise is coming from the air pump replace the air pump. You can easliy pull off the serp belt and feel the tensioner and spin the air pump and check for bearing play.

 

So the air pump pulley is attached to the air pump? So I have to buy a whole new air pump? (or get it used)

And yes, when I spin the air pump pulley, it makes a lot of noise. Different kinds too, scraping, and clattering. None of the other pullies even make noise, that's why I don't think I even need to replace the idler pulley.

 

The pulley attaches to the air pump with three bolts, you will hear a slight scraping noise. If your unsure if it is the air pump remover the pulley and buy a shorter belt to bypass it and it the noise is gone replace the pump.


https://www.thirdgen.org/serpentine

 

Yes I hear scraping and clattering. I still dont know if its the smog/air pump itself, or just the pulley