Last Minute Auto Repairs

April 23, 2022

Yesterday, (the day before we had to drive for 300 odd km…) my wife’s car started making a funny noise. Not cool, as we planned to take her car as it is larger for the family and all our gear.

Luckily I have my work van with all my tools at home. So I grabbed a long screwdriver, poked it around the engine while running – in case you weren’t aware, they make a great stethoscope! Just put your ear down to the handle and listen. You’d be surprised what you can hear. Just be careful where you point the pointy end while the engine is running, of course.

So I managed to trace it to an idler pulley on the front of the engine, by putting the screwdriver near it and on the bolt holding the pulley on (which doesn’t spin). That was the loudest noise anywhere in the engine.

So this morning at 7am I grabbed a spanner, relieved belt tension and unbolted the idler pulley. Spinning it in my hand confirmed the bearing was absolutely stuffed. I’m glad I removed it before we did our trip…

I originally planned to get a new pulley from one of the auto parts suppliers in town, but it looked like the bearing would press out. I was correct, and recalled we usually have a 6203 bearing on stock at work, so raced in to work and yup we had one. Pressed it into the pulley between a couple of sockets in a vice, and drove back home.

I also roughed up the smooth pulley surface that runs against the back of the belt, as I know from experience that once the back of the belt smooths off it will squeak on the pulley. A quick sand of the pulley with some emery and that’s now a bit more future proof.

Bolted it back on and ran up the engine. Yay no noise, and we can do our trip!