My wife (and coach) says my van is a money pit and not worth having. This was spurred on after a pulley wheel on the serpentine belt tensioner crapped out and cost me several evenings and $90 to repair. The pulley had been making noise for months but I never considered it to be on the brink of failure. It was just noisy is all.
That was dumb thinking on my part. When I took it apart (which meant draining 5 gallons of radiator fluid and removing the radiator all together) the pulley’s bearing was all but gone. The only part remaining was the outer race. The pulley had been spinning on its mounting post for who knows how long. I know that generated a ton of heat because of the discolored hoses and other engine parts near the tensioner.
But now the van is quiet again. Joe noticed it right away.
From left to right: the bad pulley, the bad post, the good post and a good pulley
