Hi All:

2003 4.2L XK8; 140,750 miles. I intend to replace the serpentine belt, the idler pulley/bearing and the tensioner pulley/bearing. Unknown when last done. I bought car with 124,000 miles on the clock. Getting a whirring noise from the front of the engine.

I have searched through the forum discussions on changing the serpentine belt, but have a few remaining questions and want to be sure I have this right. Will buy the parts and do it this week.

1.) Part number for the belt for the 2003 4.2L engine? Same as the earlier 4.0L engines? Seems from the discussions that there are a couple of different belts available, each with slight length variations. Recommendation?

2.) Is the Tensioner pulley and bearing a single piece, or does one buy 2 separate parts? Not talking about the larger swing arm tensioner mechanism, but the wheel that the belt runs on. Is the Bearing a part of that? Or do I buy a pulley and a bearing separately if want to change it? I do understand it is a CCW tighten thread. I have also heard recommendations to just replace the entire tensioner swing arm mechanism. At 20 years and 140,000 miles, this might make sense....?

3.) Same question for the idler over by the Alternator. 1 piece to purchase? Or a separate pulley and bearing? I understand that this is a CW tighten thread.

Thank you for any assistance you may have on this!

Pete

 

Pete, I have a 98 so don't want to assume. My idler pulley was 1 piece. Wow, it could make a scary racquet when its bearings went bad.

An idea for you. Release belt tension, try turning idler by hand. It should be smooth easy. When mine was bad, it was like turning a ma ual coffe grinder.

Hey maybe you only need 1 thing?

John