Funny noise on cold start

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Joined
May 31, 2010
Threads
5
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147
Location
Canton, GA



Any guesses?? It is intermittent and goes away after about 5 minutes. This only started to happen when the temps around here dropped into the twenties.
 
I would bet a small amount of money that it is your serpentine idler pulley bearing or the tensioner pulley bearing. I recently had to do both of mine. I had a somewhat similar noise on colder mornings and then it would quiet down after warmup. Spray some lubricant(WD-40, etc) on one or the other (at the bearing portion only so you don't get it on the belt) and start. If it quiets or changes pitch, that is the one. If they haven't been changed they are probably both due. Be aware that from Toyota it costs nearly as much for the serpentine tensioner pulley as it does to buy the entire assembly. Hard to tell from the video, but that would be my bet.
 
My bet as well just hoping it has nothing to do with power steering pump. Priced out all tensioner and idlers with belt. Thinking that is what I will be doing this weekend. Thanks.
 
I was concerned about it being PS as well. Was amazing how quiet the engine was again after changing them both. I didn't realize they were making that much noise until they weren't.
 
Thanks. Going to replace tensioner, idler and belt since I'm already in there.
 
If you want to save some time, and your tensioner itself is still in good shape, the bearing for the tensioner pulley is a 6203. It can easily be pressed put and put in a new 3$ bearing and you're good to go instead of spending 75$ ish on the whole tensioner. I don't generally advocate going the cheap route, but in the case of the tensioner it takes a while to get the stuff off to replace and probably doesn't need replacement. YMMV
 
Don't have a press to get the bearing right so I will just replace. Four more bolts and less headache if the tensioner actually goes bad later. I just need all the torque values as I have not bought a factory service manual yet. I know the idler requires 27 ft lbs but not sure on the tensioner bolts. I have the whole tensioner assembly so long as Advance gave me the right one.
 
And a pic of the serpentine belt routing. Thanks ahead of time to all. Looks like fun.
 
And a pic of the serpentine belt routing. Thanks ahead of time to all. Looks like fun.

Thank you for posting the video. My LC makes similar sound, also only happen in cold weather and only a few seconds which really make it hard to figure out. I think I need to get the serpentine belt off again and test each pulley.

On my LC the routing is on the hood, a sticker on passenger side. Let me know if you dont have it, I can try to take a picture of mine.
 
Got it thanks. I'm replacing both tensioner and idler pulleys while I'm in there.
 
Got it thanks. I'm replacing both tensioner and idler pulleys while I'm in there.
 
Just FYI. I found a video how to replace the bearing for a Tundra with the same 4.7L engine.

 
you use a 24 (i think) mm socket to set (4lb hammer-bang) the new bearing in. Put the old bearing between the socket and new bearing to protect new bearing from damage.
 
Thanks to all the cruiser is up and running. It's really easy to get the center timing cover off if you remove the idler. Both the idler and tensioner were bad on my truck.
 
@medtro , sorry I don't. I did the whole pulley since I was feeling lazy and my pulley needed to be painted if I kept it. Wanted it to look pretty. ;) I'm sure if you look at the bearing it'll say on there.
 
Do you have the part number for the idler pulley bearing?
I've seen some newer post were they found a part #, I've not tried.
Finding Part Numbers...

About 8 years ago I could not find an idler bearing, I've not tried since.
What I did found years ago was off by few mm in thickness, which changes offset. So I just used OEM with pulley $70, which has always chirped just a bit. Whereas the $7 NAPA bearing I used in tensioner runs quiet. Both are still working.
 
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I've seen some newer post were they found a part #, I've not tried.
Finding Part Numbers...

About 8 years ago I could not find an idler bearing, I've not tried since.
What I did found years ago was off by few mm in thickness, which changes offset. So I just used OEM with pulley $70, which has always chippered just a bit. Whereas the $7 NAPA bearing I used in tensioner runs quiet. Both are still working.

That is what I found from searching. 6301 is 2 mm narrower.
 
If my OEM bearing gives out before my NAPA, I'll try a ~2mm space next time. Actually surprised the OEM hasn't failed, as it's been chirping for years now. But not to bad once it warms up.
 

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