Well, I was driving down the road and heard a strange noise. It sounded like running over glass and having it kicked up under the car. The dash lights indicated a problem with the charging system (i.e. the battery light turned on). I figured my alternator died. I parked the car and poped the hood. The damn alternator belt is nowhere to be found. Looked closer...The idler pulley is missing. The sound I heard must have been the pulley and nut flying around the bottom of my engine compartment. Prognosis - negative. I was able to drive the car home (on battery) but must wait to order a new pulley before the Max is back on its feet.

Question: I don't slack on maintenance, but is this something I should have kept my eye on?

 

same thing happened to mine when my shop installed my underdrive pulley, nothing like cruising at 70mph and hear a loud thud and your charging light comes one....

Unless you just replaced the belts or did something with the underdrive pulley, I don't think it's normal to "fall off" but the belts are something that you definetly want to inspect every so often.

 

same exact thing happened to me.. except i found it... and weird thing is.. bout a week ago.. Nissan dealership replaced my alternator.. now my idler pulley falls off while driving.. i also drove home on the battery.. lights also came on.. replaced it today.. but i think i did it wrong.. don't know if i did it right.. the belt is loose.. and right when i star the car.. (everytime) it makes a EEEEEEEEEEEEEE... noise for about a second and is fine.. until i turn it off and do it again.. not sure what i did wrong.. how do you install it the right way anyways.. thanx!

 

same exact thing happened to me.. except i found it... and weird thing is.. bout a week ago.. Nissan dealership replaced my alternator.. now my idler pulley falls off while driving.. i also drove home on the battery.. lights also came on.. replaced it today.. but i think i did it wrong.. don't know if i did it right.. the belt is loose.. and right when i star the car.. (everytime) it makes a EEEEEEEEEEEEEE... noise for about a second and is fine.. until i turn it off and do it again.. not sure what i did wrong.. how do you install it the right way anyways.. thanx!

 

I had my shop do it, since the were the ones who caused it to fall off. Sorry I couldn't help you anymore.

 

As Nelly would say "Im scurred."

 

Happened to me too - I had installed my SC and forgot to torque down the pulley correctly....

i was racing a GT Mustang and THUD - battery light goes on. I pulled over, and dince it was a relatively traffic free street, I spent 30 minutes looking for the pulley - only found the washer, and nothing else.

Anyway, I went to a junkyard and got a pulley for $30.00, and put it back on - no problems since.

 

Not that this matters but, i did not know the car would start without alt not working.And can you give me a idea on how far you drove with just the battery and if it still had energy left to go farther. I have a ongoing debate with somone about this .thank you

 

I didn't know that this was such a common problem! This happened to my neighbor's car a couple months ago.