has anyone's else idler pulley came off also? 99 Gxe here long post beware!

DonaldHays · May 8th, 2005, 10:38 PM

Hey Everyone,

Just wondering here (quick reference to all who have the Sentra service manual) the part is on page 65 and its number 10 in the picture.

I started driving my car yesterday (had to run out to my store) 52 mile drive on the Truer Turnpike here in Oklahoma (80mphish) it has a few hills that tends to make the car shift at times. I noticed yesterday that the car seemed to be shifting a lot more than it had ever before and that it seemed to lack a lot of power (not much new there ga1.6 Auto)

Got to my store and ran inside dropped off the things I was leaving there jumped back into the sent and cranked it (as odd as it was didn’t sit in at first but took longer than normal to start)

Drove 13 miles to the store I am watching while the managers out ran in and came back (slow and long crank again)

Drove a total of 60 miles at around 75-80ish stopped to grab a soda at a gas station at a broken twig in the road (225 people) a gas station and a blinking stop light. Got back in my car and cranked right up and wouldn’t you know I got a loud squealing sound from my belts on the car. I quickly hopped out and opened the hood as I have had the car from 101k till now 168k and it hadn’t ever done it before. Upon looking my ac/alt belt was fixing to come off. Killed the car and noticed that my idler pulley was hanging and half sort of there. I removed the coolant holder and grabbed a size 14 socket from the truck and tigned the nut on it and refitted the belt back on all the way. Cranked and all was fine.

Drove the car another 45 miles to my parents house and then to okc and back that eve (155 miles) and then back to okc this eve, and the pulley is still tight as ever and doing fine now.

Things I am worried about now!

(1) This is normal for the nut to come loose on this part?

(2) I have always had a little noise coming from that area of my car just always thought was the ac compressor but guess that was it as it seems to have stopped now and is not as loud from that area

(3) The car runs better than geese forever as long as I have owned it, it revs now. I mean it always did but at times would be like it was hitting flat spots and would just stay at the same rpms for a few while still trying to go.

(4) What should I check to see why this happened?

(5) I also noticed yesterday that my motor mount near its buldging a bit (surely that wouldn’t make it mess up right?)

(6) Ok last one now. since I got the car back in July of 04 its always had a bump when you put it in any gear and a heck of a kick if you run the ac and get on it and then it shifts (worse than my 88 maxima's 1-2 was) I have always worried about this and asked a few shops to check the mounts as I think ones bad or was going bad (all have said no its a ga16 motor and its normal for the trans to trash and kick like that) I dint belie it much as my me and my sister both had Storm Gsi's and they had a tiny 1.6 auto and they didn’t have a kick like the Sentra does. So personally I think they just didn’t like sentra's

Ok well any ideals on what to look for as far as why it came loose and was basically sitting there sort of and the mounts and info on that’s awesome

Thanks everyone

Donnie H.

AznBoiBryant · May 10th, 2005, 11:23 AM

happen to me before. Drove out of my driveway and down the neighborhood. Then heard a loud Clank! Stop and saw that my idler pulley came off, did a U-turn and went back home. Reattach the pulley. Car is still good. My car has like 70k of miles on it when the pulley flew off.

Kindfiend · May 10th, 2005, 06:03 PM

Yep, happened to me without warning, just a bang and theres the alt and battery light staring at me. Not too hard to fix, I had a harder time finding the parts. Apparently, the bolt sheared off while driving on the highway.

Edit: sounds like your tranny could benefit from new fluid. The auto trans is pretty hard on the ATF. The mount may be the cause of rough shifting; it's typical in manual cars. I'm not sure about autos though.

nd4spd · Aug 24th, 2005, 09:57 AM

Dont suppose you guys know the price, and where I can get one, except the dealer, mine flew off and couldn't find it the other day. !@#!@

**Matt93SE** · Aug 24th, 2005, 10:05 AM

probably a dealer only item. depending on exactly which one it is, it's anywhere from $25 to $80. (the PS/water pump tensioner pulley on my Maxima is $35, the A/C tensioner pulley is $65.... and they look almost identical. use the same bearing even!)

himilefrontier · Aug 24th, 2005, 11:01 AM

Happened to me in my driveway. Started the engine and there it was-came right off. Reinstalled it, made sure it was tight this time and haven't had a problem since. If it'd make yuou feel safer, just put a dab of Loctite on the bolt and reinstall it.