Hi everyone! I was going to try to replace my serpentine belt. I had the inner wheel liner removed, and was trying to take tension off of the belt to remove it. I read that I was supossed to loosen the bolt that sits just under the belt and then use a 1/2" breaker bar to rotate the tensioner clockwise to take off the tension. When I tried to move the tensioner it seemed to be frozen stuck. Does this mean this tensioner is bad? If I need to remove it, is that bolt below the belt the only thing holding the the tensioner on? I took a quick look and can't seem to find a tensioner short of going to a dealer. I appreciate any help or suggestions you may have.

 

There's a locking bolt and a pivot bolt. You have loosened the pivot bolt. Find the locking bolt above the pulley, loosen it and you'll be able to pivot the tensioner and finish the job. With a good light and some contortioning, you can see the locking bolt from above. "See" does not suggest "get to" however.

 

Thanks for the info dcotter0579. I will try again next weekend when I get a chance. Hopefully I will be able to get to it. Than after that, I will try to figure out the power steering belt loosening/adjustment.

 

It is probably a dumb question, but does this tensioner have it's own spring, so I only have to lock it down after the spring puts the belt into position? Only because the tensioners I have seen before have the spring alone keep the belt tight.

 

You supply the tension using that 1/2 inch square hole and your breaker bar or wrench. While holding the tension, tighten the locking bolt and pivot bolt.

 

Thanks again for your help Dcotter0579.

 

I found and loosened the lock bolt (left of the pulley) and got the belt off to find the one I got from the store was too long. After getting a closer fit I got the new belt on and all is fine The old belt had a lot of cracks and one point where they all lined up so I was glad to get it replaced. The power steering belt did not look too bad, so I thought I would wait a while for when I check to see if I needed to retension the large belt to maybe see about it . I also took a picture of the power steering, and will have to figure out what bolts need to be loosened to get that belt off.

 

Good pix and write-up. If you feel ambitious, you might create an album here on the forum in the form of a "How-to" for others to find and follow. These threads tend to get lost after a while. Maybe if enough people create "how-to" albums, the Admins might set up a special place in the albums for them.

 

i wish i could see the pictures this thread sounds pretty to me, i hhave the same problem and its pissing my off haha