Bradel26

Hey everyone. I just was wondering if anyone had an idea on how to change the idler pulley on a 2008 honda civic lx. I wanted to change the serpentine belt and the idler but I can not figure out how to remove the idler. It looks like it has a torx bolt holding it in but the space is too narrow to fit a socket wrench. Does anyone know the size of the torx bit or have suggestions on removing it?

ezone

WHY would you want to change an idler?
(Do you mean the whole tensioner-#5 in the pic above? Honda doesn't sell just the pulley for it.)

Is it noisy or has a bad bearing or something?


I don't replace the belts for turning brown, that's normal for those belts. The factory belts usually last well past 100,000 miles.

Bradel26

I apologize for the lack of information from the original post. I am by no means an expert at any of this but I have recently been having a minor issue with a squeaking noise while the car is idling. As soon as I touch the gas pedal the noise stops until the next time I come to a complete stop. Based on what I researched some people said it could be a throwout bearing but since I have an automatic transmission I thought my car wouldn't have that? On a relatives vehicle they were experiencing a similar issue and we're told by a mechanic to change the idler pulley and belt tensioner which were two separate pulleys. So I changed it for them and it fixed the issue along with changing the serpentine belt. I purchased the dura last idler pulley from autozone which says it is a fir for my vehicle so I assumed I could just loosen tension on the belt and remove that bearing but I may be wrong.

ezone

That was on a completely different car. No comparison most of the time.




Ok so you have a noise and you think it's in the belt area? First I'd try to make damn sure the problem is in the area you are wanting to mess with. Dribble water on the belt while it's running and see if the noise changes, that should at least tell you if you are on the right path.



I'd say to try replacing just the belt first (use OEM!!) ----- before removing perfectly good parts and installing junk from the zone.



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Autozone: Turning your Honda into a Kia one part at a time.

Bradel26

Haha I can definitely try to figure out more. The only problem is when the car is in park there is no noise so it is very difficult to identify the exact cause. I did inspect the belt and it looks to be in pretty good condition so I don't think I will even be changing that at this point anymore. From the diagram you gave it looks like honda civics don't even have the separate idler pulley and it is just on the tensioner as you mentioned. Do you know if there is anything else I should be looking for that could cause that type of squealing noise? I know it's pretty hard to tell without seeing/hearing it but just from past experiences? Thank you for the patience and help I really appreciate it.

ezone

Ok so get someone to sit in the car and make the noise while you look for it.

That's how Honda sells it, one big chunk.


If it's squealing then I'd try the water thing on the belt. If it changes you know that's at least where you need to be. If no change then maybe look elsewhere.


PCV popped into my head.... but that's not common.



Really I haven't run into many problems at all with this at my shop..... Maybe other places have more trouble than we do? IDK.


Use a stethoscope----long rubber hose --- hold one end to your ear and move the other around to listen for where noise is the loudest

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If belt related...
Use wrench to apply extra tension on the belt tensioner, see if that changes the noise? Remove the belt and run it (BRIEFLY, no more than 15 seconds) see if noise is gone?




Does the tensioner vibrate a lot? It's not supposed to....
Remove belt, wrench on the tensioner to move it through its full travel 3 full strokes to purge out any air from the little tiny shock absorber, then retry the installing the belt? If no joy then replace tensioner



When did this start?

Does it already have a non-factory belt on it?

speedy25

With that info I would say the belt and associated components are NOT the problem. But I dont have any good ideas on what else it might be.

To prove it you CAN drive your car a short distance without the belt on and see if the noise is still there or not.

-SP

ezone

Disagree!

The water pump is driven by the serpentine belt on this engine, it will not be turning and you can cause severe engine damage in a VERY short time by doing this.