How to Replace Idler Pulley 2011-17 Toyota Camry

Hey, everyone. Sue here from 1A Auto. Today I have a 2013 Toyota Camry in the shop with a V6 3.5 liter. I'm going to show you how to remove and replace a serp belt idler pulley. If you need that part or any other part for your car, click on the link below and head on over to 1aauto.com.

To remove the serpentine belt, you need a special tool or a really long wrench. On this case it's a 14 millimeter head on a tensioner bolt. So I've got the open end on our extended handle. And we sell this tool on 1A Auto site, and it comes with several other sockets and an extension for angles and I can use it just with this one with the crow's foot. Slide it right on the bolt of the tensioner and you're going to go counter clockwise. So I'm going to go back like this. Now you can see the belt has no tension on it. I'm just going to reach down and take the belt off. It does cause to be a little careful because heaven forbid the tool should slip and your fingers are down there.

So once the belt is off, just take the tension off and take the tool so you don't have to worry about it. Take it off all the pulleys. The crank is probably going to be the hardest one to reach from up on top here. So now I have the belt off of every pulley except for the crank and the actual tensioner. And you can't get the tool out because the tension's all the way down, and it's bottoming out on the top radiator rail, so what I do is I leave the belt on the crank and I'm going to hold the belt. And I'm going to pull this pulley up, and I'm going to hold onto the belt as fast as I can and as strong as I can to take the tool off. And it came off the crank. So I took the belt that's around the crank, around the pulley, and I brought it out back here under this wishbone mount motor support. So now I can take that tensioner right off and slowly let go of the belt.

And I just slide the belt out off the crank. Pull it right out. So we have the drive belt idler pulley right here. Now, we're doing the tensioner and the drive belt pulley at the same time. You do not need to take the alternator, the A/C compressor out, or the bottom serp belt tensioner to get to this. But we just took the tensioner out, so now I just want to show you real quick everything would still be in here and all you would need is a 14 millimeter socket shallow and an ex ratchet. Counterclockwise. Break that bolt free and then just pull this pulley out.

So now I'm going to install the new idler pulley for the serpentine belt and the new one comes with this bushing. It's a spacer to make up for the difference of the new size, oversized bearing. You're going to put that in the back like that. Then you're going to use the old bolt with the extra wide washer for the front here, and it's going to pop right through like that. And see how it makes up the difference on the size of the bolt in the diameter. Now we're going to find the mounting hole and I'm going to put it right in there. Hand tighten it down. It's still the same bolt, so it's a 14 millimeter socket, and the manufacturer's specs is 40 foot-pounds on this. Okay, I bottomed it out, now I'm going to get my torque wrench and torque it to 40 foot-pounds.

Access the harmonic balancer. We took the tire off. You might be able to turn it to the side if you don't want to take your tire off, but for us and for you visual, we took the tire off--make it easier. Then you have this splash shield right here with two bolts holding it in. That's a little 10 millimeter socket. I'm going to take that off. Now, Toyota usually has one more in there, it might be a clip. Let's see what we got. Yep, just a clip. It's a nice little push-pin like most of Toyota's things are. And there we go. Take that cover right off.

Now we're going to install our serpentine belt, aka drive belt, on a Camry. So I'm going to bring it down through the top here and I'm going to show you a diagram of how the belt goes in case you don't have access to one or if you didn't take a good picture. Just make it easier for you. So it's going to look down over the harmonic balancer, around the tensioner, and then come off the harmonic balancer. Sorry. So let's do that together. See if we can get both of them all down there together.

So now that the serp belt is put on, everything looks good. Check it and make sure it's all in line with the pulleys, not off by one gear, one line of tooth. Before I put the shield on in the fender well, I like to run the car because I want to run it and make sure it goes around several times, make sure it doesn't slide off or I can't foresee something and it is off a rib. You don't want to have it all back together and then you gotta do it all over again. So we'll start her up and make sure it looks good.

Now that we've run our vehicle I'm going to put the fender shield on. Remember that had that nose piece that went up in the front here that's got that little plastic push pin. So first thing I'm going to do is put one of the top bolts on. Then I'll put my second bolt. And now I can look up through here and put my push pin in. 10 millimeter socket.

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