bad luck...or good luck??
 

was driving home and heard some unusual rattling (not like your typical Z rattles :rofl2: ) i look in my rear view mirror and saw an old truck so thought maybe it's from the truck.

i made a left turn and realized the metal clunking/rattling was my car, but i was already on my street almost home. I made it into my garage, got out of the car and heard a loud CLUNK and the damn pulley fell straight to the ground!

https://i.ibb.co/wM3THZV/IMG-2413.jpg

now i cant drive the Z, but it's safely parked in my garage LOL. :ugh2:

Luck,

If it was bad luck, you’d have run over the pulley, blown a tire and hit the concrete median.

Ask me how I know…

How does that even happen?

Wow, this looks scary. Which pulley wheel is it, and how did this happen? Don't tell me this is a known fault...

Wow, glad you made it back to your garage!

I imagined the drive belts would be all tangled up.

it was the idler pulley between the crank shaft and compressor.

Surprisingly the belt was not tangled at all!

i have no service records of this car so i have no idea if the previous owners ever replaced any of these. it seems like i got lucky and nothing got seriously destroyed and i made it home haha

Was the bolt stripped/sheared or did it just back out?

Amazing.

how many miles on your car? I suspected that it was reinstalled improperly.

i think the bolt just backed out? doesn't seem stripped.

about 83k on the car, yeah could be not properly installed from previous owners haha

If the bearing isn't seized, seems the bolt simply backed out for who knows what reason. Glad you weren't stranded, definitely good luck!

One of the biggest mistakes is installing a fluid line or a blind bolt and only finger tightening it and walking away for whatever reason.

The person comes back to see the said part is assembled (so it appears) and closes up.

3 steps you can take to minimize the potential hazard.

1. Don't install it until you are absolutley ready to tighten it.

2. If you must install it losely but need to walk away, place a warning tag or bright ribbon on the part to show it needs torque.

3. use torque seal/witness seal or paint pen to indicate you have torqued it. Good for future inspection to see if bolts have turned.

Good suggestions, thank you! I’m still debating if I’m going to DIY this or tow it to a shop. I’ve watched a few videos and it seems doable. But also may not have a lot of time haha. If I diy it though I’ll definitely make sure it’s tightened!