quote:

Originally posted by Jelly:

quote:

Originally posted by r0gue:

Odd the tensioner only lasted 20k miles.

Was that OEM or aftermarket tensioner?

Not sure. The dealer put it on the fall before I bought it from the original owner. I am using OEM. When I get it back tonight, I'll compare part numbers and prices on the two receipts.

I was on the road when I lost my serpentine belt due to a bad tensioner pulley.

I was was lucky enough to be by an Advanced Auto. I replaced it right there in the parking lot.

That was on my 99 Silverado that had 250k miles on it at that time.

It was a good thing they put the belt instructions on the fan shroud!

not helpful, I know, but you need this guy:

I had my wife's car in to track down an emissions error code problem and I asked them how much to change one of the idler pulleys that was starting to get noisy. They quoted me $100. The part is about $40, and labor is 5 minutes if that and involves removing the accessory belt.

The price wasn't unreasonable if that's the only work they were going to perform, but they were getting about $1600 out of me for the emissions work (new secondary air pump and valves were needed). I don't understand why they can't see the value add to discount "while we're in there" work. All it does is make me less likely to use the mechanic. I'm at the point where my vehicles only see a professional if I don't have the proper tool to diagnose or fix the issue. My boat dealer lost my business after spending $8500 on an engine replacement, my throttle was bad (they diagnosed during testing the new engine). The part was $800 and they wanted $250 to install. I bought the throttle and (having never swapped one out) had it changed out in 10 minutes.

I've hot swapped VW belts with a shop towel.

quote:

Originally posted by DJ_Boston:
not helpful, I know, but you need this guy:

[FLASH_VIDEO]<iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BQhfcdQf1QA?start=18" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe>[/FLASH_VIDEO]