Have encountered breaking the 14mm vertical bolt inside the engine compartment while trying to take off the belt?

I'm in New England so mine's rusty as **** which is probably why it broke.

I manually tightened the belts, but I know this alternative will only go so far.

I'm guessing a junkyard is my only option?

 

I broke one on a 4th Gen i was working on but I think they get broke because clockwise to loosening the tensioner and counter clockwise is tightening the tensioner IIRC....

 

Yes for the idler pulley. And I did loosen the idler pulley bolt before I tried loosening the vertical nut.

And if it's reverse thread, then that could easily be the reason why I broke it lmao

 

Usually they strip before they break....ask me how I know. They are made out of a really soft metal.

 

Mine just straight up broke because it was so rusty.

I called napa, advanced, autozone, and a junkyard and none of them had one.

And how dare napa tell me it's an "uncommon problem" and they don't carry the piece. SMD napa, you're supposed to have everything because I have a discount there

 

Broke mine 2 weeks ago.no amount of spraying or heating helped to loosen it.77$ from the local dealer when i put the new one on i loaded it with copper based anti sieze lets see it rust up on me this time.

 

You have to loosen the pully nut first though.....

 

You can also give Dave B a call.

 

The pulley nut was loosened first before I even attempted at the vertical nut


..And I'll throw up a WTB ad and see what I get.

 

I had the same problem. Its totally backwards, counter clockwise tightens it and clockwise loosens it. I always go by the old lefty loosie righty tighty rule, however as you have learned the hard way like me, this doesnt apply to our tensioner assembly.

Just get a new OEM assembly from a dealership. I think I paid $80 for mine. I tried welding the threaded rod back together but it looked like **** and didnt work right.
If you get one from a dealer it will come with all new hardwear, pully, bearing etc.
Good Luck.

 

Well now that I have confirmation that it's reverse thread, it makes sense breaking it. Curse you Nissan for your tricky and nearly impossible without breaking plastic retainers and your reverse threads..

 

Been there, done that. I feel your pain! I picked one up from a '95 model Maxima at a junkyard. They charged me $6.00 for the complete assembly, including the tensioner pulley. I got another 50K out of it, and it was still fine when I sold the car. Anti-seize is good! My car was originally from Jersey, so it was just rusted together, and it wouldn't turn at all.

 

Seen it before. Ended up getting new tensioner.