tangystang

Well, I got my car put back together and fixed the oil leak, I think, haven't able to drive it at all. when I was putting it all back together, I saved the pulleys for the last thing I did, and when Putting back on the idler pulley it snapped off the timing cover and took a piece of the timing cover with it.

I don't have a good picture of it just yet, but maybe this will work for now.


So for now there is now belt on the car, and I am wondering if there is a way to route the belt without the use of the idler pulley and whats the flippin purpose of it anyways?

Stevo86

You might be able to get a smaller belt on there and get it all to work properly but I have never seen anyone try.

The right way to fix it is to fix it.

Thatsweetstang

Well, that sucks man. I've been in the same boat, my dad's broke on its own and the belt came off. I know I've heard of a shorter belt working, I just don't know what size. I went ahead and got a new timing cover which for me was surprisingly hard to find for a 99 mustang gt. Replace the timing cover was a pain, not hard just very time consuming. But I also did the power steering pump and water pump at the same time. I'd do a search on the forums and see if some one has posted a belt size for bypassing the idler.

tangystang

Yeah man it really sucks. and to make it worse, I literally JUST finished putting my car back together, I had to replace the timing cover gaskets, and valve cover gaskets, and when i put it all back together bam the idle pulley breaks off. so now if i can't route the belt a different way, I have to take everything back apart..

TXMach

Sorry to hear that man. If you wanna save yourself from re-doing all the work "for now" Take a piece of yarn or string and route it as you would the belt, then measure it appropriately and see if you can find a belt that matches the length.

The purpose of that pulley is to increase/decrease tension on the belt so that it stays taut around the pulleys or makes it easy to remove. So even if you bypass that particular pulley it's gonna be rough getting the other belt on.

ESABATM

^^^^THIS^^^^

72MachOne99GT

I went full retard a few years back and instead of just breaking like it did in your picture, my who pulley brought a chunk of timing chain cover with it.


IF you can get a belt to fit...good luck.

I thought the tensioner was for installing and removing, as well as maintaining tension while under load. I could be wrong there though.

tangystang

Well I think I have fixed it. I used a longer and bolt, and was able to torque it down to 20ft lbs. I couldn't find torque specs no where so I just did 20. But I won't know until I fix my power steering leak. The pump is off the car.

Stevo86

That's a lot. Remember when working on these engines most of your bolts are steel and most of the threads are aluminum. That means whatever you're screwing into is gonna get torn up well before that bolt gives way.

nathansmith50

The idler pully it appears to be missing doesn't have anything to do with getting the belt on and off. it isn't a great picture but it looks like the tensioner pulley is still there. I'm not a mechanic but I think the idler pullley in question just keeps vibration out of the belt to keep it from contacting the tensioner mechanism. also a way for the engineers to keep the belt routed and correct amount of contact on all of the pulleys.