Need help with new to me GX (1 Viewer)

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May 18, 2019
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Location
Texas
I've been mostly lurking lately while I was in the process of finding my very own GX. Yesterday I picked up an 04' with 146k miles on it from a smaller dealer here in Houston. He just had the timing belt and water pump replaced along with new spark plugs and even flushed the transmission fluid. There are a few minor things wrong with it like the 120 outlet next to the diff lock doesn't work, rear passenger door light doesn't work and passenger running board lights don't work pretty much all small inconveniences that I can spend a few weekends fixing.

Now onto why I need help. After driving the car home yesterday approximately 30 miles everything was great, no odd noises coming from the car whatsoever. Later that evening I take it on a Walmart run and on the way home I noticed a slight skipping noise that at first I thought was the front suspension but then literally as I pull into my driveway all hell breaks loose in the engine bay.

Short Video of what I'm looking at

I'm not sure if it's visible in the video or not but the motor is visibly shaking and sounds like it's struggling, and of course the belt is squealing. I just spent $9,000 on this and I have a sinking feeling I'm about to spend more just to get the thing running right. ☹


Edit: forgot to mention that the only code I'm seeing is a P0442 code.
 
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Sounds like a idler or tensioner pulley. The EVAP can be a gas cap.
 
Sounds like a idler or tensioner pulley. The EVAP can be a gas cap.

Thanks for the response, I had spoke with the dealer and that was his guess as well. I'm probably going to have it towed (too leery to take it on the interstate) back to the dealership and have them fix it.
 
My guess is they reused the old idler and tensioner when doing the T-belt and it is causing the squealing. The P0442 is likely a gas cap or other minor vacuum leak (check cap first)
 
My guess is they reused the old idler and tensioner when doing the T-belt and it is causing the squealing. The P0442 is likely a gas cap or other minor vacuum leak (check cap first)
Yeah dealer told me they didn't change them out. Kinda silly considering how inexpensive the parts are but oh well. Once I get the idler/tensioner fixed I'll start working on the P0442. Thanks for the help!
 
Sounds like a idler or tensioner pulley. The EVAP can be a gas cap.

Okay, so the idler pulley no. 2(smaller one) appears to be good. The tensioner has a bit of a grinding noise so probably needs to be replaced (ordered one off Amazon but it was the wrong one 😅.) All that said, I also noticed a bit of a grinding noise on idler pulley no. 1(cooling fan pulley?) I didn't realize the cooling fan pulley was also something I should have considered to be bad. I'll have to look at what it takes to get that off, it looks a little more involved.
 
It is, and it doesn't go bad that often, but when I do my timing belts, I replace ALL those pulleys when it is fully stripped down.
 
It is, and it doesn't go bad that often, but when I do my timing belts, I replace ALL those pulleys when it is fully stripped down.
So I swung by Nappa hoping to get the correct tensioner but the one their system said fits is literally the same size as the one I bought off Amazon which is a smaller outside circumference. Are all aftermarket tensioners just smaller than OEM? Will it still work?

Edit: Well, answered my own question. The aftermarket tensioner (the one I have anyways) definitely will not work on the OEM assembly. I'll just order an OEM one and be done with it.... Hopefully....
 
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Okay, finally found a belt tensioner and got it put in along with a new serpentine belt. The belt squeal is gone but something still sounds terrible. I'm fairly certain its something to do with the cooling fan/pulley. What do you think?
 

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