How To Replace Serpentine Belt Idler Pulley 1997-2001 Ford F-150

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We're going to remove this whole panel. We're going to start by taking off the spare tire jack crank. Take that off and now there's a series of clips they have Phillips head screws in them. We'll show you how to get them out.

There's four across the front. Two more which are missing on this vehicle and then there's two clips back here which are a different style, although I'm pretty sure they should be this Phillips screw style. The way these should come out is you turn them counter-clockwise and very lightly, almost pull up on the screwdriver while you're doing it so they come out. Then once you have that out the whole clip will come up and out. You may run into them where they don't want to come out that easily, in that case you'll probably need a little 90 pick tool, although sometimes you can be successful getting. Sometimes you can get a fingernail under there, but what you'll probably have to do is get a pick tool right in underneath just to pry up a little bit when you turn it and pull it out.

These ones back here are a different style you pry up. Pull the center up and pull it out. Although I'm pretty sure these should be the Phillips screw style. I should have all the clips off, panel lifts up and off. I'm going to remove this cover. Two 10mm bolts on this side and one over on the passenger side. And remove those, 10mm socket and ratchet. Loosen the throttle body clamp with a flat blade screwdriver. Then you just kind of pull up and down on the whole ducting.

There are tubes that go in the side, once you pull it off the throttle body you can twist a little bit and pull those tubes free. Clamp for the air filter, pull that off and there's two connectors. One easy to see here, press down on the tab and disconnect. You may press on the tab, use your screwdriver and pry a little bit to help loosen it up. Connector's off and then there's another connector. Press the tab and disconnect. And the intake tube comes up and out.

Okay, you can see we have a lot of stuff off the front of our engine, which is good so we can show you how the belt routes, but obviously it's going to be more compact for you. Here at the top, the belt's on the alternator, goes down around the power steering pump, back up around your water pump then down and around the crank, up and around your tensioner, back down for your AC pulley and then back up across this idle pulley and to the alternator.

You're going to want to feed a breaker bar up from the bottom. And you're going to have the fan here, but you should be able to reach up and in and get your breaker bar in and grab and pull down. Once you pull down, you can flip it off of one of the pulleys and then release your breaker bar slowly and take it out. And now you can reach down, bring the belt up, flip it off the water pump, and pull it up and out, and then pretty much the hardest part will be get it off your AC compressor, and pull it up through.

The idler pulley has one 13mm bolt. Remove the bolt and the pulley comes off.

And put the new pulley on, put the bolt on, and then tighten this bolt to 15 to 22 foot pounds. Just make sure the pulley goes onto the casing correctly. Torque to 15 to 22 foot pounds. I've got my wrench set to 20.

Obviously we have a lot of stuff removed. This is so we can show you this process easier but you will have to contend with your fan and stuff. Take a loop between the idler and the tensioner pulleys. Push it down in and you can get it from below but push it down in and put a loop over your AC then take your belt, push it down underneath your crank shaft and put a loop around the crank shaft. Okay and then it comes up, over the water pump and down over the alternator and we'll leave it off of the power steering pulley. That'll be the last part we put on.

We're going to use a half in ratchet and the bigger ratchet you have, the better because you're going to want to feed it up into here, get it into your tensioner and keep in mind your fan will be on for some repairs. Get that ratchet as high as you can and then reach through, pull the tensioner down and then pull your belt onto your power steering pulley. It's not working on the power steering pulley, let it come off the water pump pulley, get it on the power steering pulley, sometimes it's easier to push up and onto the smooth pulley but again you'll have your fan in the way in some places. Then release the tensioner and remove your ratchet.

Put your air intake in place. Back in place over here. The tab winds up there and this clamp goes on. Just reach down and make sure nothing's getting pinched. Lock that down into place and your mass air flow connection, reconnect it. Reconnect this connector. Tube down here goes in there. Flat blade screwdriver to tighten up the clamp that holds it onto the throttle body. Throttle body cover back in place. And kind of move it around a little bit, figure out where the bolt hole is. I'm actually cheating, just looking right through here. See there, start it up and then push this side down into place and start my two bolts over here and then tighten them up.

Put the cover back on. It's in place, you can see all the holes. These back clips, just make sure the center's popped up. Push them down in, push the center in and then these ones across the front, clip in first and just push the center right in to lock it. Put your jack handle back in.

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