If tention pully was loose would it make a steel on steele sound i nothing is rattling 97 cavalier

Likely a loose heat shield. Trace the exhaust system from the engine to the back, check all heat shields to be tight and not bent close enough to exhaust or body to cause the rattle while running.

check for loose pully on ac

yeah it'll be ok for you to drive it as long as its not sloppy loose or super tight you'll be ok. but if you still have doubts replace your tensioner pulley

could be a rocker arm loose or a lifter ticking

The best way to find the noise is to remove the belt
and check each pully by hand. If a pully locks up it
will make more of a screeching sound. A rattle sound makes me think your idler pully is loose.
Hope this helps. Good luck.

no they can't

No the pulley grooves are a sleeve around the crank. this sleeve will break loose.

Sounds like you need a timing chain and gears. They get loose and rattle against the cover.

It sounds like you have a broken serpentine belt tensioner. The tensioner should always be tight, it is spring loaded and you would have had to release the tension on it to have put the new belt on.Depending on what engine that is in yours, this could be an easy fix or a hard fix. The tensioner on a 2.2L is made into a large plate bracket that is attached to the front on the engine and several other items have to come off to replace it.The tensioner on the 3.1L v6 is smaller and has one bolt that holds it on.Either one is available at the local auto parts store.

Hope this helps

Steel wheels or aluminum wheels? Steel-85 ftlbls. Aluminum- 100ftlbs