Story is like this....

Im selling my car, found a buyer who got it inspected by RACQ, one of the things in the RACQ report was that my car had a noisy idler bearing. Going to get it replaced on monday hopefully when I get the RWC done. What I would like to know is roughly how expensive are idler bearings to replace? Has any one else had an idler bearing replaced before? And where exactly are the idler bearings located, from what I know Im know they're located on the timing belt end of the engine, other then that I have no idea. Any info would be great.

Edit: Just called mitsubishi service department, they said that there are 2 idler bearings, one on the timing bele and one on the alternator belt. A while ago I pulled my Alternator/AC belt off and the noise stopped, so Im guessing its the Alternator/AC belt idler bearing. Still not sure which pully is the actual bearing though?

Its the one not attached to the crank, or the alternator or the air con compressor. It simply has a bolt in the middle holding it on just above and to the right of the crank.

This may be important information that may save you money:

A couple of years ago in a rental car company I used to work for, we used to have a TF wagon (3.0l V6) that had a strange noise that was coming from the engine. We had no idea what it was at that stage, but like you we had sold the vehicle and to get it fixed. Turned out it was the idler pulley bearing which had s**t itself. Now which one it was I could'nt tell you, but I know it was one that was not actually needed! sounds strange, but mitsu actually removed the whole idler pulley, re-tensioned the belt and bobs your uncle. The tech states that for some reason the engine was designed with two idler pulleys, but one of them did'nt serve any purpose. He also stated that it was a voluntary recall item and they were fixing them as the cars come through.

I'm thinking yours might be one of those. Worth checking with mitsu about this, but knowing what mitsu service centres are like they wont have a clue what your talking about. If they, dont, do some ringing about to other dealerships and see if they know what its about.

Anybody else heard of this as I have'nt actually heard anyone mention it on here before???

What sound does the idler pulley make? is it all the time or only when its cold or something?
My car makes a funny sound when its cold in the morning which COULD be it.... Its kind of a hollow rattling sound that ghoes in rhythme with when u accelerate. goes away after say 20km/h......

What sound does the idler pulley make? is it all the time or only when its cold or something?
My car makes a funny sound when its cold in the morning which COULD be it.... Its kind of a hollow rattling sound that ghoes in rhythme with when u accelerate. goes away after say 20km/h......

My sound is a grinding/rattling sound, hard to explain, doesnt sound healthy though. Mark H, is there any more info you have on this idler bearing which isnt needed? Do you know if it was the one on the alternator belt?

ur bearing could have very well carked it, my alternator bearing did (well the whole goddam thing died on me) not much to replace if its just a bearing that doesnt do much at all whereas mine died, nut came off pully, pully came off, bent alternator shaft dead alternator, no belt cost 600 to fix

:(

My sound is a grinding/rattling sound, hard to explain, doesnt sound healthy though. Mark H, is there any more info you have on this idler bearing which isnt needed? Do you know if it was the one on the alternator belt?The noise as best as I could explain it would be like a low rumble/rattle noise when you start accelerating. Once moving its gone.

SexedTF'n, I'm afraid I dont have any further information. I know that the pulley in question was not included in the 3.5 engine according to mitsu service advisor. I have looked in my haynes manual to check this out and on the picture they are showing two camshaft sprockets, an idler pulley in between the camshaft sprockets, one tensioner pulley, a crankshaft sprocket and another idler pulley on the alternator side. I can see in the picture two possible places where an extra idler pulley could have been located, one on either side of the V (for a total of three??). I guess that dont help much does it? But if you find you have more than 6 sprockets pulleys under timing belt cover, then one of them has to go. If you have an Idler pulley on the rear bank of the engine in addition to the tensioner pulley, then that would be the one thats not needed I reckon. I have attached a pic so you can see the belt arrangement. Notice the single idler pulley on the right hand side. This is the pulley closest to the alternator and looking at it closely, it does'nt seem to serve a whole lot of purpose :confused: So, maybe, this pic is of a 3.0L engine?? Anyway, I'm not really sure to be honest, as I suggested earlier, probably best to check with mitsu.

Sorry about poor quality pic, took it with my camera :)

on early magnas, te-tf etc.. pop the bonnet and look down into the engine bay... look to your left side ( driver side ) of engine bay.. if u see a pulley there, sticking out for the a/c + alt.. remove it, its the offending noisy idler pulley... remove the drive belt.. and rip off the 14mm head bolt, and chuck the pulley away... also, remove the 2 13mm head bolts holding the bracket, and toss it away as well.. now tension the drive belt real tight, and it should be ok!

hmm, I have a noise as well, sounds like a chain ratling - even though it doesnt have a chain (TJ Wagon 3.5), BUT only when it has warmed up, not cold, I do know I have slight noise in the tappets (car has done 52000), but this noise cant be tappets...has anyone heard of a idler pulley only making noise when the engine is warm?

hmm, I have a noise as well, sounds like a chain ratling - even though it doesnt have a chain (TJ Wagon 3.5), BUT only when it has warmed up, not cold, I do know I have slight noise in the tappets (car has done 52000), but this noise cant be tappets...has anyone heard of a idler pulley only making noise when the engine is warm?

I have this noise too :cry: Any ideas what it could be?

I got this noise also.

i got this rattling noise also, when i accelerate from standstill with about 1100rpm to 1300rpm, after that its gone. some mechanic reckons its the air con with my car, however the air con works perfectly.

The noise as best as I could explain it would be like a low rumble/rattle noise when you start accelerating. Once moving its gone.



Thats EXACTLY the noise I got! When its cold, its especially bad, It will make that sound when I put it in drive and its cold. But when its warm, its only barely noticeable when you push the accelerator ever so lightly. After a certain speed its gone.

Im sure its that..........

Now two questions. I have both this problem and also the ticking noise when its cold.
I understand this is the lifters.

How much will it cost me to fix these items?

THe idler and also the lifters? Has anyone fixed these and the problem now rectified forever?

Thanks

Well as I stated previously, the noise I described was due to an excess idler pully that mitsu removed from a 6G72 engine. Also, they said that the 6g74 engines did'nt have this problem, so why all you guys are getting this noise on your 6g74 engines is a mystery to me. I know I dont have this noise on my TH. I would suggest taking it to your mitsubishi dealer. They will probably know a lot more about this than I would I reckon :confused:

Try this little trick. Open window have car idleing once rattle is apparent press in clutch, noise should go. Then release clutch and noise may return sometimes not for a little while. If you experience this then it's your thrust bearing in your clutch that will need replacing. To me it sounded as though it was coming from around the centre of engine but had my wife operate the clutch and yep re-located sound to gear box area.
This could be prob if it is then depending on how worn your clutch is you may want to throw in a new one to save on labour later

I THINK - could be wrong here, but I think some people might be getting nioses confused - I have been told that my rattle is actually tappet noise - and alot of it - mitsu in Launnie reckon it is totally normal, and wont hurt the car - Mitsu Hobart says it is only considered normal on an engine that has done 100000+ km, and it will hurt the engine...ra ra ra......eventually......who to believe!!!!

The 97 TF 3L auto I just bought makes the rattling noise around 1100rpm, and has for the previous owners (parents) pretty much since new. The noise is quite annoying, so I'll look into the culprit idler very soon too :)

Cheers,

Dave

I THINK - could be wrong here, but I think some people might be getting nioses confused - I have been told that my rattle is actually tappet noise - and alot of it - mitsu in Launnie reckon it is totally normal, and wont hurt the car - Mitsu Hobart says it is only considered normal on an engine that has done 100000+ km, and it will hurt the engine...ra ra ra......eventually......who to believe!!!!


quite honestly dude, launny mitsu's service department wouldnt know a magna if it bit them on the ass, had problems with both my 2nd gen and our 3rd gen there, couldnt even align a handbrake properly. :nuts:

tappet noise means the tappets arent set to the proper clearances and as ours are hydralic that means they arent pumping up properly (ie stuffed) after a while they will wear the cam, but usually this can take quite a while, just make sure you keep your oil topped up and that your using the right viscosity. also make sure you change your oil regularly, otherwise you can run into tapping noise problems.

I THINK - could be wrong here, but I think some people might be getting nioses confused - I have been told that my rattle is actually tappet noise - and alot of it - mitsu in Launnie reckon it is totally normal, and wont hurt the car - Mitsu Hobart says it is only considered normal on an engine that has done 100000+ km, and it will hurt the engine...ra ra ra......eventually......who to believe!!!!


Bro my TF has just rolled over 165000km and beleive me most of those weren't drivin miss daisy, although i have settled down a little now :redface:

Ive been trying to clear this up with my car over the phone to no avail.... My car is ticking much louder and will continue to tick until the car is warm.. I also believe i have this idle bearing that needs replacement...

Now ive called around and explained the probs over the phone and 3 mitsu dealers ive tried have NFI and were being smartasses at the same time which **** me to tears... Now id like to clarify with u guys...

what idler bearing needs replacing? all of them told me "no its a pulley" im like ok then.. then i was told theres the ac pulley teh altenator pulley...

id really like to get some prices over the phone because its really hard for me to make time during the week...... also i get the impression on here that by simply changing ur oils reduces or stops tappet noise altogether... is this right? i hve checked my oil and yes its getting black due for a service..

Ive been trying to clear this up with my car over the phone to no avail.... My car is ticking much louder and will continue to tick until the car is warm.. I also believe i have this idle bearing that needs replacement...

Now ive called around and explained the probs over the phone and 3 mitsu dealers ive tried have NFI and were being smartasses at the same time which **** me to tears... Now id like to clarify with u guys...

what idler bearing needs replacing? all of them told me "no its a pulley" im like ok then.. then i was told theres the ac pulley teh altenator pulley...

id really like to get some prices over the phone because its really hard for me to make time during the week...... also i get the impression on here that by simply changing ur oils reduces or stops tappet noise altogether... is this right? i hve checked my oil and yes its getting black due for a service..

Firstly, there are a lot of bearings at the front of your engine, ie: AC pulley, Alternator pulley, and a number of belt tensioners (aka idler bearings), to figure out exactly which bearing the noise is coming from you can either pull them all off and see if they grind or make noise whilst spinning them( or remove belts one by one, turn the engine on and listen for noise), or u can get either a stethescope or a screw driver (push metal end against object and handle to ear) and listen for noise from different compenents. If something is excessively noisy, you will hear noise from all nearby parts, just find the loudest part, and chances are thats the problem. I had my AC compressor bearing and my alt/AC belt tensioner bearing (idler bearing) replaced for $130 when I recently sold my TF, fixed the noise up.

As far as tappet noise due to engine oil, it depends on what viscosity (thickness) oil you have in there, if you use oil which is too thin at its operating temp viscosity, then your hydraulic tappets will not fully ajdust, hence they will lose contant as the cam spins hence the noise. I use'd shell helix plus I think 15w50 (the one recomended on the shell website) in my 3 litre TF, no tappet noise at all. Also make sure you don't confuse tappet noise with the click of healthy firing injectors, you really have to get your head down near the rocker covers and listen for an odd and some times not constant rattle.

Hope this helps.

Yup, have 15W-50 in mine, Mitsu oil - still rattles like a dog - mainly on the left side of the rear bank.....

Hey thanks yeh it does help... At least I know now what im saying.... Im'a bring my car to a mechanic next week and ill let yas know exaclty what it is