1996nissanlover

After I had an oil change today, the tech told me that he heard bearing noise in the engine compartment of my 96 Altima, possibly bad idler pulley bearing or power steering bearing but he could not tell.

I listened myself and did hear two different noises, one from the well-known timing chain, and another one from something else. How do I identify it is either from idler pulley bearing or power steering bearing? In addition, I checked AutoZone website but neither bearing is available. Where do I get those bearings, if either one bearing really went bad?

Finally, my 96 Altima already has close to 154,000 miles, is it worth to repair the bearing, if bearing is indeed going bad?

Thanks a lot!

jaybo_ob

My '96 altima is making a similar noise which is coming from tha AC pump clutch. Maybe yours is the same? Best of luck.

Altima SSS

Take one belt off at a time and spin the idler pulley to see if it makes noise. Also, once all belts are off, start up the engine for a few minutes and listen ... should only hear the cam chain noise if it's making noise.

The idler pulleys are available from the dealership ... I think they are around $40~$45.