crashmanmike

Im trying to change the drivebelts in my '96. Got the primary serpantine off with little problem. The power steering belt is the killer.

I followed the Hayne's manual to the letter. Loosened the PSP pivot bolt. Loosened what appears to be a tensioner lock nut. Started to loosen the tensioner. All great

Now the pump wiggles in place. the belt is loose, but not enough to slip off. I can see by the track the tensioner slides on there is plenty of room for the pump to go. But I cant get it to budge more than 1/4" inch!! Took a hammer to it too! Cant break it free. the tensioner bolt is extremely hard to turn... I may have even broke a craftsman 3/8" ratched!

Am I missing anything?? Ideas? thanks

Mike

gen4maxima536

iTrader: (14)

well here is the part out of the fsm, you should loosen the two bolt circled in red. then turn the adjuster. but it sounds like you've done that. might just need to spray some pb-blaster in there to loosen things up

crashmanmike

Finally got it... sort of.

I ended up disassembling the tensioner bold assembly with the pump still in place. A feat I would not recommend as the re-assembly of those parts, in tight spaces without a good vision line, was VERY difficult!

Even with the tensioner gone, the pump still just wiggled. With enough muscle though, it finally budged just enough to swap the belts.

Not sure what went wrong, but it should last another couple years, hopefully. Thanks for the help

Mike