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trouble finding replacment idler pulley

ubnpast

CEG'er
Joined
Apr 1, 2007
Messages
148
Location
West NJ
I looked almost everywhere, except i couldnt get in tough with ford considering that its saturday and parts is closed.

I have a 96 2.5 mystique, the idler pulley which i believe it is called (the one above the alternator), the bearings are going. I went to a few places and called but they wanted to give me the pulley for the the tensioner.. Does anyone have an OEM part #?

Also I am having a wobbling problem with my crank pulley, I have read somewhere that this could be a broken key in the keyway? Car has 133k miles on it.
 
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I had the p/n but couldn't seem to find it-at least right now. Those idler pulley bearings die on a regular basis. I ordered 1 from Ford but when I found out the price (~$30) I just about crapped my pants! The bearing itself is about $5. However, Ford decided to mold the plastic pulley directly around the bearing so it cannot be removed for a simple bearing replacement. I sent the complete assembly back to Ford and made my own AL pulley and pressed a new bearing in. Long term, it will pay off.

If you're interested the p/n for the bearing (not the assembly) is 6203Z. As a side note, Cougar 2.5's came with a metal pulley which is much heavier than the plastic 1 which came with our cars.
 
I need the idler pulley not the tensioner one, the difference being that the tensioner is a smooth pulley, and the idler has grooves in it (located above the alternator).

Many parts stores were trying to give me their "idler" pulley which was the wrong one, it was the tensioner pulley...

Rockauto also has it wrong.
 
they have the pictures wrong as the part numbers are correct.


If you look under the idler pulley section again, Dayco 89095 is the idler pulley and it will be the grooved one. I double checked it against Dayco's website.
 
they have the pictures wrong as the part numbers are correct.


If you look under the idler pulley section again, Dayco 89095 is the idler pulley and it will be the grooved one. I double checked it against Dayco's website.

Thanks, I will try ordering that part # tommorow.
 
if it is failing, it could cause extra load on the drivetrain. Possibly.

If it's your fuel economy that you're worried about, it is winter now. Fuel use goes up a slight bit because of the cold temps. And fuel with Ethanol is being used which does descrease mpg's.
 
if it is failing, it could cause extra load on the drivetrain. Possibly.

If it's your fuel economy that you're worried about, it is winter now. Fuel use goes up a slight bit because of the cold temps. And fuel with Ethanol is being used which does descrease mpg's.

I have heard of that. I ordered the parts today (idler and belt), when I pull the belt off is it possible to try and move the crank pulley to see if the keyway key is broken?
 
you could turn the crank but it will be extremely difficult in the car. Lack of room and it's still attached to the transmission.

Why do you suspect the key way being broken?
 
you could turn the crank but it will be extremely difficult in the car. Lack of room and it's still attached to the transmission.

Why do you suspect the key way being broken?

Well the crank pulley wobbles pretty bad, enough to make the tensioner pulley move a bit, I have read on someones post:
before you replace the belt start the car and let it idle. take a flashlight and look down at the crankshaft pulley. see if it wobbles back and forth as it spins. if it does you more than likely have a broken keyway key on the crankshaft.
 
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