AC and Serpentine Belt Diy doityourself

[danewilson77]

So....I looked through the diy section and didn't see a diy for belt replacement so I made one and decided to post if it would help someone...

THIS DIY IS FOR MECHANICAL SERPENTINE TENSIONER. SEE BELOW PIC. AC tensioner is mechanical as well.



Time elapsed...about 2 hours..taking my time and taking pics for the diy.

***As a side note....I recommend performing tensioner and deflection pulley changeout at this time also.

1) Gather tools and get parts.

TOOLS


PARTS (1 AC belt, and 1 Serpentine Belt for the water pump, PS, and alternator)






2) Remove interference to include:
-Fan Shroud and fan.
-Airbox (Intake air filter housing)
-Plastic protective cover from underneathm of engine bay.





3) Remove AC Belt...
...by relaxing tension on AC pulley with a 5/8" socket and turning clockwise. This is the shorter of the two belts and is very easy to remove and install.



-There ya go.....AC belt removed.


3) Make a drawing or refer to these prior to removing serpentine belt. Also recognize that your car may have the upgraded hydraulic tensioner installed already. In order to relax the tension on this type pulley, you will have to use a socket, on the pulley bolt itself, vice the one indicated below. Please see pic below







4) Relax tension, as indicated above, and remove serpentine belt.

5) These are the wear differences between my AC belt and my serpentine belt. Glad I changed it when I did.

AC Belt


Serpentine Belt



6) Belt installation
Once you have removed the belts just reinstall in reverse order and ensure the belts are properly seated. Obviously the serpentine belt must go on prior to installing the AC belt.

[Marcus-SanDiego]

Very nice DIY, Dane.

[danewilson77]

Very nice DIY, Dane.

Thank you Godfather...

[quikryptonite]

I pulled the idler pulley off first. Now, I can't get the tensioner of the accessory belt to release the tension. It looks like I have the hydraulic tensioners. According to the RealOEM, It looks like I need a hex bit to loosen the tensioner. It is supposed to turn counter clockwise to loosen it correct? Does anyone know what size that is?

Am I screwed?

Real OEM for my Car

[danewilson77]

For the Serp belt tensioner, put the torx bit, in the bolt, and turn clockwise to release tension.

Bolt looks like this...


E46 Serp Tensioner Bolt by Dane Wilson77, on Flickr

Sent from SIGFest 2012

[quikryptonite]

Great, thanks Dane. I got the tension released successfully and can get the belts off. I would like to install new pulleys as well while I have the engine torn apart. How do I get them off? I've looked at a few different forums and videos, and no one has an example of removing the pulleys from a hydraulic tensioner.

[danewilson77]

To remove the pulley from the tensioner....you just turn the torx counter-clockwise (The same one you used to relax tension)

[quikryptonite]

Thanks for your patience and guidance Dane, you're a stud. Sorry for my dumb questions. Now, after having done this I look forward to doing it again at 120,000 miles when I can breeze through it because I know what I am doing.

I have got everything off and will be ordering the following items to replace when I get my new alternator:

Idler Pulley - Part # 1128 1748 130
Tensioner Pulley (x2) - Part # 1128 1748 131
A/C Belt - Part # 1128 7512 762
Accessory Belt - Part # 1128 1437 475

[danewilson77]

OK.....good deal. No worries.

[Oli77]

For the Serp belt tensioner, put the torx bit, in the bolt, and turn clockwise to release tension.

Bolt looks like this...


E46 Serp Tensioner Bolt by Dane Wilson77, on Flickr

Sent from SIGFest 2012

Is that bolt for sale Dane? Cause I need a new one.