Quote:
Originally Posted by raybyduhbay
so did u happen to find what the problem was? you just push the bolt down to loosen the belt and you can take it off right? after that you have to push down on it agian to put the belt back on? were y ou able to do this yourself or do you need a buddy?
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Yes, you have to push the tensioner when removing the belt and putting it back on. I was able to do it on my own but a buddy might have been helpful since holding the tensioner with one arm and manipulating the belt with the other was awkward. It might help to have the car lifted to get the belt around the crankshaft pulley with a minimum of trouble since it's pretty tight. Also having long thin prybars to use to push the belt around would've been helpful.
My advice for putting it back on:
- Get the belt wrapped around everything but the alternator pulley, and pull it up so that the back of the belt is touching the alternator pulley. Manually create enough tension so that the belt is securely around all the other pulleys in the correct orientation.
- Then, with one hand, press on the tensioner to release tension. At the same time, pull harder on the belt with your other hand so that the belt does not become loose. If it becomes loose, it can move off one of the other pulleys.
- Do not pull the belt to the side to slide it around and onto the alt pulley. Instead, twist it 90 degrees so that it stays in line with the pulleys as much as possible. I tried pulling it to the left to get it on the alt pulley several times, and each time is slipped halfway off the power steering pulley. Big PITA. Twist it, keep it in line with the pulleys, and it'll slide on nice and easy.
I know other people here have taken off their serp belts before, using the tensioner and I'm still curious as to whether anyone here has seen (or not seen) the shearing on the bolt like in my photo.