has anyone ever had difficulty with adjusting the tension on the a/c/alternator belt after changing it? Also, for those that have bought said belt from a parts store, is the replacement belt a little longer or is it just me?
Oh yeah. changing belts on a Max is a MAJOR pita.

 

the belt adjustment is on a guide that goes up and down. sometimes the bolt that holds the pulley that is part of the whole belt adjustment assembly is to tight not allowing the belt adjustment to move freely. loosen it up just a tad and you sould be able to slide it up and down with no belt on it

 

Cool, thanks. I think I'm going to replace the pulley as well while I'm lurking around under there.

 

Here is a a image of what needs to be done. im not that good when it comes to wording things out

 

Yeah. I have the FSM and a Chiltons as well. It's not like there's much tension adjustment you can do before adjusting the pulley. I think the idler adjustment is frozen. The nut turns just fine, but there does not appear to be much movement. When I change the pulley, I'll take a look at it...

 

I picked up a goodyear gatorback belt, and yes, it was a bit larger than my well worn OEM belt.

I completely loosened the idler pulley so it was moving up and down freely but still ended up snapping the tensioner bolt. Be careful because they are easy to break, and the only place you can get them new are from the dealer. Lucky for me the dealer around here was really cool and just sold me the tensioner nut and bolt without the pulley for $30.

If I had to do it again with the bolt being so old, I'd take the pulley off, remove the tensioner in one piece and give it a good spray of penetrating lubricant.

 

Thanks, jstew.I'll make sure to pay attention to that when I work on it.

 

I'm reviving this...Sorry. I cannot for the life of me get my belt adjusted properly. I get the squeal on startup, and when I turn the air on. It goes away after a while, but the noise is very irritating and just plain embarrassing.
Neither the stickies nor the book provide a very clear way for adjustment.
Firstly, which direction tightens the tensioner? Clockwise or counter?
Can TOO MUCH tension cause the squealing?

Thanks for any advice.

 

did you try some belt dressing? you can get it from any parts store...

 

The belt dressing is a temporary solution, IMHO, and doesn't really address the issue with the belt tension.
The old belts had almost 100,000 miles on them with no noise whatsoever. I only changed them because of a guilty conscience, but there was some cracking in the ribs of the alternator belt. I just think I'm not getting the belt tight enough before adjusting the tension. What I'm doing is:
loosening (I think) the tensioner bolt
releasing the pulley so it'll slide
remove belt and replace
push down on pulley to establish tension and tighten
adjust tension with tensioner bolt
I don't think I'm getting enough pressure on the pulley to establish the tension. You have to have the belt pretty tight before you can adjust the tension, right?
I don't think the tensioner bolt is broken, but I need a way to get and maintain more pressure on the pulley first...
If I'm wrong, please correct me...

 

[quote=Sounbwoy;6453741]
push down on pulley to establish tension and tighten
adjust tension with tensioner bolt
quote]

when you do your adjustments you want the bolt on the tensioner loose so you can make the adjustment. it wont tighten if that bolt is tightened cause it will pretty much keep that pully in place no matter what yo do

 

[QUOTE=locknuts;6453765]I understand the first sentence. Not too sure about your second sentence..but thanks for the response tho!

 

[quote=Sounbwoy;6453821]sorry let me clairfy that. say the bolt on the pulley itself is tight(the one that you have to loosen to take off the belt) you wont be able to adjust the belt with the bolt that is above the pulley because it wont beable to slide up and down on that bolt since that bolt is tight and wont go anywhere.

hope that helps a little more

 

[QUOTE=locknuts;6453847]AHA!!! I get you now. You seem to have good knowledge of how this is supposed to work. Once I get the belt on then, what should I do? If I don't at least PARTIALLY tighten the pulley (slider) bolt, how can I get the tensioner working? See what I'm saying?? Or am I making it more difficult than it needs to be (wouldn't be the first time )..

 

counter clockwise=loosen
clockwise= tighten

 

[quote=Sounbwoy;6453855]you should hand tighten that bolt for the pulley so the pulley can still go up and down. then thats when you should adjust the tensioner for the pulley. then after you get your disired tension then tighten down that nut on the pulley. then give a shot. and if you need to adjust again or its sqeeling. do it in this order

1 loosen the nut on the pulley
2 adjust as needed
3 re tighten the pulley nut.

eh your not making things difficult trust me i am good for confusing conversations myself

 

Thanks. I'll be working on that once it gets cooler later this evening. 100 degrees out!!

 

This should be pretty simple, especially if you aren't supercharged. Loosen the nut on the adjuster pulley first. Then loosen the adjuster nut from above. Remove old belt. Place the new belt on, routed properly. I know you said the new belt is looser but it really should be a little tighter as belts stretch over time. The adjuster pulley should slide up and down the track easily. If it doesn't it's because the square peg might have come out of the track or turned 90^. Make sure it's in the track correctly. Now, tighten the adjuster nut from above until you can just barely turn the belt (from the AC to PS) in a corkscrew fashion to 90^. Now tighten the adjuster pulley nut.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Went back out and tried it. Ended up breaking the tensioner shaft, by cranking too hard on the tensioner bolt (BOOO!).
Yes, you can call me stupid, but here's why it happened.

In looking at the design of the tension, how does it work? I can't find a decent pic to tell me. From what I can see, the flange of the TENSIONER bolt should be right against the UNDERSIDE of the top of the assembly. Otherwise, how does it adjust tension?? Feel me?
In my case, the flange was NOWHERE near the top (more like an inch below). Sooo, even tho there was some resistance to tightening, I continued and it actually seemed to be working; then CRACK! So, I'll have to order up a new assembly anyway. I got the tension as tight as I could and tightened the pully bolt. That's essentially how the car was running anyway since I replaced the belts...

To address PTATOHED's response, the pulley slid easily, and nope, not supercharged. Also, the new belt IS longer than the OEM belt. I bought two replacement belts and they are longer than the OEM (which I still have for comparison). There are a couple of other posters who can attest to that as well.
Here's where you can play the losing music trombone on the Price is Right...

 

Ok dude, I am going to try and break this down for you to make sure you are doing it right; hopefully I am clear about it. If you are breaking parts trying to adjust belt tension, you are doing something wrong...

So, take a look at the picture below and follow the directions in order;



The following procedure assumes you already have the old belt off and the new one installed, but the tensioner is still loose - BOTH #1 and #2 bolts are loose...

Step 1) Make sure belt is lined up on all pulleys...
Step 2) FINGER tighten bolt #1 and then back it off maybe 1/16th of a turn; just enough to ensure that the pulley will go up and down without issue...
3) begin to tighten bolt #2 so that the pulley is forced down and likewise the belt gets tighter. Do this until the desired belt tention is achieved. YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE PUSH/PULL ON ANYTHING WITH YOUR HANDS TO GET TENSION ON THE BELT. Bolt #2 will do this for you as you TIGHTEN it...
4) Once you have the desired amount of belt tension, tighten bolt #1.
5) Go back and make sure bolt #2 is fairly tight, but do NOT try and tighten it anymore...

It sounds to me like you were trying to tighten bolt #2 when bolt #1 was still tight, and that's why you broke the assembly. Either that or you tightened bolt #2 too far.

I hope that helps,

-Matt

 

Thanks for the directions. I DID try it that way, based on a couple of the other posts, BUT the tension never changed or got tighter, which is why I questioned where the flange on the bolt was supposed to be. Like I asked; HOW does the tensioner work? I broke it in trying to figure that out.

 

So you have the pulley nut loose while adjusting the tension from above, right?

 

I just wanted to make sure they were clear...

Anyway, the tensioner works by pushing down on the pulley when you tighten bolt #2 in the pic. THat's pretty much all there is too it. When you loosen bolt #2, it doesn't actually pull the pulley up, it just backs the bolt off the applies pressure to the pulley so that you can move it up and take the belt off.

Ofcourse; this is assuming you have bolt #1 loose

-Matt

 

that what i was getting at. damn i really suck at this explaining stuff

 

I dont think this has been said but the bolt to you turn on the tensioner is reverse threaded. To tighten the belts have your socket wrench set on 'on'. This turns the bolt clockwise but it is actually taking the bolt off.

Hope I didnt add confusion.

 

You all have been more than helpful. I'd like to request that this be stickied, because the one that is there doesn't give much information (IMHO).
MadMax, your explanation is why I believe that my tensioner was messed up. There was no change in tension, after adjusting the tensioner bolt. It would travel up or down the shaft, but there was no change in tension, and I'm still convinced that the flange on the tensioner has to be right up against the underside of the top of the assembly in order to apply downward pressure. See how it looks in the diagram? Mine never looked like that.
I'll be checking for the part and prices next.

 

Can you post up a pic of how much bolt #2 was threaded down into the adjuster?

-Matt

 

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it. All I can say is that the flange on the tensioner bolt was about half-an-inch or a little more below the underside of the top of the assembly. If the diagram was drawn accurately, I wasn't even close.
To Black_maxed95: I was actually turning the bolt in the clockwise direction when I snapped the shaft.

EDIT: At least the part is only $47 and change from Courtesy. I'll order it later this week.

 

Matt. Just go ahead and call me slow/one track mind...whatever.
pics... http://www.flickr.com/photos/sounbwoy/2573951759/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sounbwoy/2574774518/

 

the pulley thats at the bottom where both belts go is bent! wher do i get it? auto parts dont have it! my car is in the shop waitn because my power steering belt touches the block or whatever because its bent! help! 95 SE 5 spd! help.

 

are you talking about? I was just trying to help you out w/ your problem...

Harmonic balancer/pulley can be found at NAPA ($120) - that's where I got mine. Discount/Advance Auto Parts should have it as well. If that fails, you could always go to teh dealer

-Matt

 

You asked me for a pic of where the bolt was...I told you I didn't have a pic and gave a drawn out explanation. In actuality, I had the bolt RIGHT THERE on my desk and it would have shown you exactly what you asked for. I didn't really get what you asked. No need for all of that, sir.

 

[/quote]Harmonic balancer/pulley can be found at NAPA ($120) - that's where I got mine. Discount/Advance Auto Parts should have it as well. If that fails, you could always go to teh dealer

-Matt[/quote]
$120? i wish! napa was 199.76 with tax and courtesy nissan in tx was asking for 235.00+tax! but oh well im all done with that now

 

man ill sell you my harmonic pulley off my dek. 50 shipped

 

i wish u had offered b4! all my parts came out to $603.37 but atleast im running beutiful now. jus need my VC gaskets and clean my TB and IACV and ill be done getting the car back to perfect running conditions. oh and i need a catback...

 

Yeah, I get 10% above cost at NAPA; sorry, my bad

-Matt

 

oh dat would explain it. lol

 

At $120 or $199 or whatever, wouldn't it be a good time to go with a upgrade from Motostorm? Just purchased one myself for $109.

http://motostorm.com/gpage2.html1.html

 

I thought I'd heard some VERY bad things about the Motostorm pullies(oil leaks/pulley falling apart/vibration/ect.)???

-Matt

 

Can't imagine it falling apart because it's machined from a single aluminum block. They advertise a guarantee of no oil leaks and they're tested computer balanced before being shipped.

I dunno. I suppose only time will tell on mine.