My serp belt tensioner has rust coming out of it and is throwing rusty residue onto the reservoir bottle and water pump. It looks to be rusty water. No, my radiator fluid is not rusty. Is this a replacement situation or can I remove it and lube? Doesn't appear to be coming from the idler bearing, but rather the tension part.

Spray some spray oil on it and then wipe it down to see what it shows later on?

I hope it's not a sign of bigger problems.

Joe, was that you on Thursday at a stoplight on Beavercreek rd? You were towing a flat deck trailer right in front of Berryhill shopping center. It looked like you truck anyway.

Edited June 21, 201411 yr by JAG1

Prolly was me. I come through that area twice a day.

I thought on an outside chance that might be you.

I was headed toward 205 trying do anything that would get me out of this streak of laziness.

Might be a good time to just pull it off the truck inspect it properly and then you could dip the tensioner into a small container of diesel fuel or waste engine oil to lube it up and see if that stops that problem.

How many miles on it? They do wear out. A little tilt from wear and they will throw the belt right off. The one on my 1994 went bad at 125K and really left me stranded in the mountains, so now I change them at 125k whether needed or not.

185k. Replace the whole thing with idler wheel or just the tensioner?

231k miles and still factory OE tensioner.

Ok. Maybe I'll do the remove and soak in diesel. I shot some aerosol lube in there. But I'll soak it anyway.

Not the pulley or bearing just the tensioner.

Yep, gotcha.