Pulley on the drive belt shredded on an L27

[mdoggolfer]

Hey guys, it has been a while since I posted here, but I am wondering if you can help me out. I have a '94 SE, and when driving it the other day, I pulled into a parking lot, and the hood started smoking through the cracks. I stopped the engine, waited, and then restarted it. I had lost all power steering, but managed to park it. After letting it settle, I opened the hood. Now the radiator does have a small crack, but this time a small amount of radiator fluid had been sprayed across the bay. Worst off, a plastic pulley directly below the power steering pump pulley shredded and came off. So now the belt is loose, and I cannot start the engine.

Does anyone know which pulley this is, and what part was being turned by the main belt? It is below the power steering pump pulley, and the serpentine belt wraps underneath it. I checked all fluids, power steering was right where it should be, so I am at a loss for what happened. Only need it to last a couple more months...

Thanks!

>Matt

[grey3800]

Sounds like the idler pulley failed. I just replaced mine because it was squeaky. Its about $20 for the replacement. Use a closed ended wrench if you can. Keep in mind it is a reverse thread bolt. Be sure to bring in the old one for size comparison, the two auto parts stores I went to had different sizes for the same part.

[mdoggolfer]

Thanks for the info, I took a picture into Autozone and they knew exactly what it was. I felt dumb for not realizing it was the idler/belt tensioner pulley. Glad you told me about the righty loosey, problem solved!

[willwren]

The shredded pulley would NOT prevent the motor from starting. You may have deep issues now. How long did it go with no belt, and how hot was the car when this started, and when you finally shut it off?

You were running with no water pump.

[mdoggolfer]

I'm sorry, when I said that I could not start the engine because the belt was loose from the pulley, I meant that to mean that I did not think it would be smart to start the engine. It did indeed start up again and I managed to park it. The engine was normal temperature when this happened, and only ran for a couple minutes longer.

It sat for 2 days, I had it towed to my house, and I did not start the engine again until last night after I replaced the pulley. Everything appeared normal during the drive last night, no consequences from the water pump not running, as far as I could tell...