Pop quiz. Do you know what this is (or more appropriately, what this used to be)? It's the mangled remains of the idler pulley for the auxiliary (a.k.a. fan) belt in Amanda's car. It appears as though the bearing seized, which led to the plastic shearing away from the bearing. This then rubbed against the remains of the bearing, melting down to just a rim. Finally, it slipped over and the belt ate away part of the outside. In it's last grasp for freedom, it threw itself off of the mounting shaft and into a cavity in the engine compartment, where it got tossed around by the fan belt with a clatter loud enough to get Amanda to call me.
She drove home safely and I found the above piece wedged between the fan belt and the chassis. Amanda and I fished the part out that evening and I took it into work the next day. After scanning some photos on e-bay with my co-workers Wednesday, we determined that it was the tensioner pulley for the fan belt. So, I called a local parts store and ordered the part, as well as a new fan belt. I picked up the tension arm assembly Friday. Sure looks like the part. Then Friday evening I take a look inside Amanda's car again. Not the tension pulley. Only the idler pulley. Hard to explain why this was an easy mistake to make, but it was. It wasn't clear until I was holding the part in my hand and comparing it to what was in the car. And by comparing I mean looking into dark recesses with a torch and feeling around with my hands. They pack everything in so tightly these days.
Today, I'm calling around seeing if anybody has it in stock. It's not looking promising. So that means I'll have to take Monday off to fix the car. However, the good news is that while the tension arm set me back about 50 pounds, the idler pulley is only about 15 pounds.
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