Coming home from an interview I heard a loud rattle. Figured it was the crappy old tackwelded heatshields so I got it home. Popped the hood and I see the timing belt idler pulley very wobbly. The passenger side motor mount bracket we all hate HELD THE PULLEY ON!! So thankfully the belt didnt fall off track. Car was just now towed to my buddys shop. Damn RS, I need a BMW!

I had a rattle that I thought was also a heat shield... Same idler pulley! This one didn't back it's way out though, it was just shot.

Good catch!

Damn thats crazy...you caught a big break man.


http://www.dsmregistry.com/detail.php?carid=1185

youre telling me. Im just so pissed at the car i dont feel like touching it. Thats why i just had it towed to his shop.

Same thing happened to a local guy here back in the day. idler failed, the bracket held the pulley in place. Drove it like that for a few days, wondering what that noise was, but the belt never came off.

Just got a call from my friend, compression checked out. 220 across the board. The head of the bolt holding the idler on sheared almost completely off. He said it was held on by a 3mm shread of steel, WOW!

that's just awesome.

post a pic too, I want to hang it on my wall as a reminder that the DSM gods are watching over some of us

its already broken down and dissasembled, sorry, no pic. ill send you the pulley if you want, lol

Originally posted by SILVERNT
its already broken down and dissasembled, sorry, no pic. ill send you the pulley if you want, lol

LOL are you serious? ha ha, then send it to me. hey so when did you last do the 60k tb change anyway? specifically - when was the pulley changed last.

Originally posted by ez

Originally posted by SILVERNT its already broken down and dissasembled, sorry, no pic. ill send you the pulley if you want, lol

LOL are you serious? ha ha, then send it to me. hey so when did you last do the 60k tb change anyway? specifically - when was the pulley changed last.

pulley was changed with the timing belt at 65,000

Got the Silver Bitch back! My buddy had never seen a car survive something like this. He had a 6 pack of Guinness waiting for me when I went and got it, haha

same thing happened to me. when i took the car in to get the head gasket changed, they said the tensioner was bad, and completly came apart when he went to loosen it. luckily the tb cover kept the belt from coming off the gears

Originally posted by hazardeclipse
same thing happened to me. when i took the car in to get the head gasket changed, they said the tensioner was bad, and completly came apart when he went to loosen it. luckily the tb cover kept the belt from coming off the gears

<no belt cover, hehe