Idler pulley center nut fell off...

[Brookes]

After driving about an hour on the highway then exiting to city, car started making horrible grinding noise when rpm dropped below 2.5 k. As far as I can tell, the idler pulley and the bolt vibrated off or something. The pulley is thankfully still there, but the adjusting bolt is gone too. So I need to know:

1) Could driving on highway before I could hear the problem have messed up anything else?
2) What are all the parts/tools I need to put pulley back on and how to do that?
3) How do I tell if I need to replace pulley too?

thanks in advance

 

[Joe Mason]

There's probably nothing "messed up". The belt doesn't effect timing or anything like that. You'll need to pull off the wheel and fender liner to get access. You can tell if the pulley is bad bad taking it off the car and spinning it in your hand. Listen and feel for funky noises and/or vibrations. It's probably not too much to replace it so you may just want to go that route for peace of mind. You don't need a lot of tools. A decent socket set with some extensions. Also a good idea to replace the belt(s) since you're going in there. Good luck.