Serpentine belt broke a few miles from home, and noticed the battery charge go down and steering power fail. Just replaced serpentine belt, and now have a huge amount of noise. During the install I noticed the idler pulley is frozen to the touch, but does spin when engine is running. Question is: should the idler pulley spin freely to the touch.

Also any tips on how to diagnose the new pulley related sounds after replacing the belt would be helpful. I don't think its simply belt noise-(ie..squealing.)

 

Yes, the idler should spin freely. Sounds like you already found the source of the problem.

 

Replaced the belt tensioner pulley (was chipped) and the idler pulley and sounds amazing now. Idler pulleys bearing was destroyed, seal falling off, and bearings missing. Got the Duralast pulleys from autozone - $30 for everything and about 15 min of my labor.

Now on to front wheel bearings (humming) - yea!

 

I replaced my idler pulley on my 98 blazer ,there was a thin lock washer on the backside that i broke. is this a spacer or just simply keeping everything together? If need does anybody know what size or where i can get a new one.

 

If you are referring to the thin washer that the bolt goes through on the back side of the pulley that has splits in it where the bolt goes through it is only used to keep the bolt from falling out during handeling. You can go without it. If you look how it sets in a recess it should not affect the spacing. They are usually ruined if you take them off anyway.

 

$250 for each front end hub, enjoy! lol