How many others w/broken factory idler

[WraithCobra]

I was a few blocks from home and accelerating onto the highway when I heard "bang..tick.tick..tick...tick....tick.....tick" and the car fell flat on it's face. I quickly pressed the clutch and pulled to the side of the road. It only ticked those few times and the engine was still running smooth, but it rev'ed slugishly and the Battery light had came on. I was pretty sure at that point it was the blower belt, so I slowly moved the car to make sure nothing else could have made that noise. My worse fear was the trans input/output shaft or a half shaft snapped, but everything sounded fine so I went to the next exit and drove back. When I got there I opened the hood and there was the broken belt. Of course Ford service/parts had closed two hours before hand, so I took the truck to the local auto parts store to buy the belt. The belt part number didn't cross reference nor did they have the belt info in their computer. I didn't know the stock belt length so we kinda' measured the broken one at 72", but the shortest 8 rib belt they had was 80". I thought that was going to be too big, but I really didn't know how much was missing from the broken belt and was going to try it anyway. BTW, what size is the stock belt? Oh well, I got back home and started to route the belt but found that the idler pulley to the right of the crank (from the front) was broke. An inch chunk was peeled open, the sharp edge is what cut the belt. That same chunk is what made the ticking noise, it hit the crank a few times as the idler spun to a stop. That idler is also loose, I can wobble it back and forth about an inch. I took the belt back, then I was putting the belt guard back on so I didn't loose any hardware and the rod that connects it to to the snout broke off! So now I need Ford to replace not only the idler and belt, but the crank pulley (it's nicked up) and belt guard. I havn't drove it since last weekend anyway beacuse we have the new (used) truck, and I'm just glad I didn't get stranded somewhere. Ford's only a few minutes away, so I'll drive it over there on the battery first thing Monday morning. How many others have broken a factory idler? I know I've seen mention of it here before.

Mike

 

[Juiced-03]

I've broken 3 so far (including an aftermarket one), not including the countless number of bearings I have replaced.

 

[mike79]

3? Damn Bryan! Why did you replace the bearings, dont the new idlers come with new bearings? How did you know they went bad? (the bearings)

 

[dougwg]

Here is the part number of the stock Motorcraft belt ;-)

 

[Juiced-03]

Originally posted by mike79
3? Damn Bryan! Why did you replace the bearings, dont the new idlers come with new bearings? How did you know they went bad? (the bearings)

Ya Mike the bearings go bad on a regular basis now lol. Basically the pulley will make a chirping noise and won't spin freely. It's pretty simple to swap out the bearings, except the tensioner assembly can be a pain to remove with large hands.

Each time the pullies broke under quick acceleration, so I imagine the belt slipped and caught on the edge of the pulley. It's not a pretty sight when it happens, nor is the sound it makes!! Even though it has happened to me quiet often, it still never fails to scare the life out of me!

 

[JP]

Originally posted by dougwg
Here is the part number of the stock Motorcraft belt ;-)

Nice work on the belt # Doug!!!
What are those other shiney things that the belt is running around?
:lol:

JP :beer:

 

[dougwg]

:shrug: :??:















;-)

 

[Dana]

I gotta get me some of them...
Sure look purdy.
Dana

 

[WS6JJP]

Just wanted to bring this back up to the top to see if anyone is still having problems like this. This EXACT same thing happend to mine...minus the crank pulley damage...and the weird thing i did notice is when i went to remove the broken idler it was already loose! So maybe these are just loose and start to wobble causing a section, where the belt rides, to break off, which in turn causes this to tear and snap the belt from the sharp edges....??? i dont know what else to think really, i mean if you look at the factory idler its steel and it looks to be able to handle quite a load, ya know....i mean its only a rubber belt thats riding on it!

 

[maoun]

doug, you little show-off hehehe

 

[coleman]

I've busted one ...

 

[i8u]

I had an idler bearing failure at 10k.......

 

[davidwhitt]

Guess I now feel better about going to the 3 idler set that Amazon proposed when I move to my 2.93 pulley on 8/2 - I was on the fence before reading this post