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By Spyder, October 6, 2010



My Corolla just this morning started making a tell tale "rattle" from the Serpentine Belt. I'm wondering what I'm in for and what the more likely culprit is: the tensioner or the belt. The belt only has 60,000 km on it, while the tensioner was replaced 12,000 km ago. Wondering if its likely the tensioner just needs adjusting, or if its more likely something more involved like replacing the belt. Seems premature for the belt to start to go this soon, particularly when it checked out ok 12,000 km back when the tensioner was replaced.

From memory, the tensioner on this gen is a common problem. Any suggestions?

-Spyder

Tensioner issues were more prevalent on the 9th generation Corolla/Matrix/Vibe models than with the 8th gen Corolla/Prism models - but it could still happen. 60k km on a belt, under normal conditions, is nothing to the belt. There are some owners with over 150K miles on the car running the original OEM belt. Lots of little cracks are fine, but if you have larger cracks, cord showing on the top, or missing ribs on the belt, then it is time to change it.

Possible that the tensioner and belt are fine, it could be the idler pulley or an accessory pulley making the noise. Might get lucky and see it visually as the engine is running with the hood up. But more than likely, may need to pull the belt off and check for play in all the pulleys.

There are lots of little cracks, and while I haven't pulled the belt to examine the whole thing, no sign of excessive wear. The timing could be worse (could be acting up in the middle of winter rather than now), but being about to start the first of at least 2 consecutive night shifts, I won't be able to do anything with it for a few days. This will be another first for me as I haven't had to do anything with the belt myself yet - the previous work was either done by the original owner (the replacement belt on it now) or pre-purchase as part of our cost split agreement (the new tensioner).

-Spyder

Fish I think its the pulley. I did some searching and found this from wiki answers:

"I have done quite alot of research on this very issue for my own 2000 Corolla VE (Auto). If you are refering to a rattling noise that happens while either going up a hill, turning on the AC or even taking off from a stop; then I may have your answer. The noise is caused by the serpentine belt tensioner pully. It was a faulty unit for this our generation of Corollas and even had service recalls on it. Many will say that you need to replace the entire assembly, however I have found that just the pully is necessary to fix the issue. You can purchase this from most parts store for around $15. The repair can be done in a matter of 20min or so. All you have to do is remove the serpentine belt by taking a 19mm socket with cheat bar and releasing the tensioner, then remove the old pully using a (147) star bit, put the new pully on, replace the belt and your good to go. If your belt is worn I would also recomend purchasing a new one."

With the low mileage on both the belt and tensioner, I'm inclined to think its just a pulley that needs to be replaced. I will check with Toyota tomorrow to see if they have a replacement pulley.

-Spyder

  • 11 posts

I have a 1999 corolla that had the belt tensioner bolt (large pivot bolt) snap off in the block I didn't hear any symptoms and found it by watching the engine run after a oil change. It appears like there is a collar bushing on the back of the tensioner that cracked and became a spacer. Over time this allowed for the tensioner to vibrate enough for the pivot bolt to snap where the threads begin just under the timing cover. I haven't received my new tensioner yet to compare - Is this a spacer or is this a part of a collar bushing pressed into the back of the tensioner? I had to pull the Timing cover and all the other BS in the way to get the broke off part out. I reccommend paying close attention to putting plenty of rtv sealant where the head meets the block especially next to the timing chain tensioner (not the timing chain tensioner it has a O-ring). Mine leaked right next to the timing chain tensioner the first time I did it so I DID IT TWICE It doesn't leak now default_tongue It gives a false impression that the timing tensioner is doing the leaking.

Ramm 440, its not a spacer ,its part of the bushing/ bearing thats pressed into the the tesioner arm.

You are right ,where the head meets the block there is a dip ,and you have to make sure you use enough sealent there or you will have a leak.



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