haynes's manual is poorly written on this one. do i do this?

1. loosen the idler pulley adjuster bolt
2. loosen the bolt at the back of the power steering pump
3. loosen the belt tension at the adjuster bolt above the oil filter.

 

Get under your car and look around to familiarize yourself a bit, and it also depends on which belt you're going to do.

 

you need to loosen the bolt holding on the idler pulley itself before cranking on the adjuster.

the power steering belt part of this job is by far the worst...just cause access is pretty tight to the bolts in question. You have to loosen the pivot bolt (opposite the belt side of pump). After that is loose then you can proceed to crank away on the adjusting bolt itself. you may want to loosen the bolt that hold the adjuster block to the power steering pump on the belt side as well....

There are a couple brackets in the general area of the power steering pump that are easier to remove than work around.

enjoy....

 

mine were B!TCHES to do... that was the first time I worked on my car when I first bought it

 

is it more than one day of work?

 

just wondering how much a shop would charge for both belts--parts and labor included?
Other thing is --do both of the belts--power steering and drive belt need to be change at 60K? or later on?
I noticed some cracks on mine and my car is almost at 60K...

 

LOL - OK I've done a lot of maintenance on my 98SE w/87k but when it came to the belts, I asked around to some friends and EVERYONE complained about doing them. I ended up taking it to a local mechanic and gladly paid $124.00 for the belts and labor.... I think the belts came to $50 which I think was a bit pricey since they were cheap-o belts. I would ask your mechanic how much it would be if you provided your own belts and have him do it.

Just my 2 cents...

 

I had both of mine replaced at a Nissan dealer for 99 bucks (including parts).... at 120k I intend to have the same dealer do that piece of maintenance again.

 

i bought gatorbacks from autozone for ($30-40 i think for both) and had meinieke put them in for $60 labor

round trip time from my house

to autozone: 5 minutes
to meinieke: 2 minutes
wait for my car's turn: 20 minutes
open heart surgery: 30 minutes
to home: 5 minutes

1hr 5minutes to change belts wasn't so bad

 

well, being that my car is a 97-- and was manufacturered in 96--I am looking at 8 years or so with the belts. They do make a high pitched noise when it is wet...but because I drive in the city, my mileage don't "apprear" that high, but certainly...there is the wear and tear to just 60K.

I was wondering if this is also a 60K maintenance item? the guy charged me $115--parts and labor included...which was about an hour of labor.
sounds fair enough.

 

Yes - belts should be replaced at 60k intervals. As long as you are happy with the price you paid, thats all that matters. People who have can do it themselves may think its too expensive and others that may have paid more than you for the same work might think its a great deal - so like I said, if you are happy with the work and the price paid, thats all that matters.

 

nah it only took about an hour or so

 

well, it took him about 45 minutes to do it...but it didn't look easy cause the car had to be up on the lift and moved up and down...but it would certainly have driven me nuts if I did it. LOL.
But yeup. I did it as my 60K tuneup...

 

do you folks have write-ups? you folks must be experience. doing this less than 1 hr.