Help getting serpentine belt on…

[jsilva]

To add to my list of questions…

I just got a replacement serpentine belt, the same that was already on there. Dayco, same part number.

I tried really hard to get the new belt on but I can’t seem to. I do the power steering pump last. I’ve done the older belt a few times without issue. Though perhaps it’s stretched?

Does anyone have any tricks for getting the belt on?

 

[jsmith]

I remember putting a wrench on one of the tensioners with everything still on. Had to heat a wrench and bend it to fit in between the frame and the pulley I turned. It went on easily after that.

 

[Easter Bunny]

yea you have to use a wrench to retract the tensioner then it should slip right on

 

[jsilva]

yea you have to use a wrench to retract the tensioner then it should slip right on

Yes that’s what I’ve been doing. I have a narrow ratcheting wrench which fits. The movement of the tensioner is at the max but there just isn’t enough slack to get the belt on the power steering pulley.

Perhaps I should better measure the belts, but it does say the same part number on both.

 

[jsilva]

I ended up returning the belt and putting on the old one. The belt seems ok enough, I was just thinking I’d put on a new one when I had the belt off.

 

[Easter Bunny]

I wonder if the tensioner is messed up and not retracting all the way

 

[Cfoldone]

If you use a tensioner pulley other than oem. Example rockauto has many styles. Plastic or metal pulleys and belts lengths sometimes don't match up on cross reference. I had one belt 5 mm shorter... finally did same and returned old one to service. Found looking at my spares I have 3 different lengths.

 

[jsilva]

I wonder if the tensioner is messed up and not retracting all the way

I can get about 45° of turn with the wrench. I’m not sure if it’s OEM though.

 

[HUSH]

FWIW, I used the method I found on here somewhere - loosen the topmost, frontmost pulley so it can be rotated out to get the belt on. The pulley has 3 bolts, remove the two top ones, and loosen the single bottom one, rotate sideways and out, slip belt on, then move pulley back and bolt back in place. Still was tight, but at do-able.