I finally narrowed down the grinding noise coming from my engine. Turns out it was nothing more than the pulley that's on the alternator housing. Just wanted to know if anybody here knew of a specific name for it, so I'll know exactly what to order.

 

Alternator pully. You probably cant order it. The bearing inside must be junk. You need a new alternator. Whats gonna happen is that bearing is gonna seize up and stop. Then the belt will shred, your car will die and you will be unhappy stuckon the side of the highway during rush hour traffic with your car full of ice Cream that needs to get to the church for ladies bingo. Then some trucker will stop and help you by giving you a ride to the church and eat all your ice cream. I would just buy a new alternator.

 

It's not the alternator, I already mistakenly replaced that. The alternator is held in place by a metal housing and toward the top of this housing is a pulley or more of a guide for the belt. I've already pulled it off and several bearings are missing with chunks of them floating around.

 

Thats called a "Tentioner". And if it seizes it will also burn your belt and leave you on the side of the road. Change it ASAP.

 

I already have it off and plan on replacing it tomorrow. I just want to know if I'll need to get a specific one or simply take it in with me and compare it to the one I'm buying. Never had to replace one before and not sure how specific they get.