upper idler pulley replacement?

Unfortunately, this is a pretty major job. The reason is, you have very little clearance between the wheel well and the pulley assembly as you will not be able to get it off with the motor in place. I changed mine several days ago in my garage and this is what I did. It was a major pain in the ****...but I gotter done... Not too sure if the ASE guys out there reccommend this or not, but it worked for me and saved me 400 bucks. The pulley itself is 22 dollars at your local auto parts store. You will probably need a nut too, my pulley locked up and somehow the nut backed itself off... The nut is a #10 metric (make sure you get the metric for Asian makes). Jack the car up and put on jackstands. Here's the hard part... you are going to have to pull all three motor mounts and jack the engine up and (6-7 inches high). Once you get them out, you will have access to the pulley. Replacing the pulley is cake, one bolt in the block, put the pulley on and tighten with the #10. Now the hardest part, getting the motor back in the mounts. I had a large screwdriver and another jack to get them in. So yes, you will need two jacks. Jack up the drivers side so the mount is level with the base. Then leave that jack in place. Take the other jack and jack the passenger side so it is barely off the base. Then have your assistant very, very slowly let the pressure off the jack while you are prying the motor forward to get it back into the base. After 30 minutes I was able to get mine in and whooomp, it dropped right in place. I placed the passenger bolt and nut in then the rest of the mounts were easy. Once you have all three in, you can then reassemble. Don't be scared of this job, it will take some muscle but you can get it doen with a little patience... Good luck!!!!

Thank you for the great help and advises .

In my case , i was able remove the Idler pulley , but the replacement pully does not have the washer , and in my car i did not seem to see the Washer , do you know where i could buy the bolt and washer ? Altima Nissan 2001 2.4L

Thank you

I've read every response concerning this top idler pulley and you seem to know what's going on. Please tell me this where is the 3rd motor mounts? I removed the top passenger the bottom front
. Where is the other one, I managed to get the pulley off, but it was a pain because the engine needed another half inch clearance Thanks. JC