Tension pully question...

coming home from work this morning at 0330, I lost my poewr steerring on the interstate, then the heat started rising, I knew it was the belt. So I got off the nearest exit, and pulled into a gas station. Further investigation showed the little plastic wheel on the tension arm was almost eaten off! Through an educated guess I asume that the bearing has locked up? At any rate, my question is, how the hell do I get that bearing/wheel off? Do I need to put some weight on it to get to a nut behind it? or does this bolt thread counter-clockwise?
Side note, two weeks ago I put a gator belt on, do you think it was something I did wrong ( if there is something to skrew up I would do it)?
Any feed back would be greatly appreciated genltmen.

JP (auto mech newb)

P.S. You dont realize how awesome power steering is till it goes out! I got one hell of a work out with that gone!

If I were you I wouldn't even try to remove the wheel if it is on the tensioner. I would simply buy a complete unit and replace the tensioner and pulley at the same time. This will be far quicker and you won't have to worry about the tensioner going bad later.

Is thas something that can be done in about an hour, in 20 degree weather? Or is this something aa profesional should do? I did find this in Ch1 of my trusty Haynes Manual :). Unclear on the matter of draining the coolant though. I have a 97' SE 106,000 miles on it. It looks like there are just 4 bolts to a brachet that holds it on, then pull it out, and do the reverse, as the manual says. Is this really that simple? I get nervious around big springs is all.
Really can't see why I would have to drain the coolant, any feedback on that?
Can it be done with a cresent wrench, a really big skrewdriver, and a muffler from a briggs and stratton (cheater bar)? Just kidding had to throw some dummy hummor in there (lots of coffee already).

Thanks for the feedback though GTP Dad!

P.S. They should make one of those "Grand Prix Repairs for Dummies", they would make a few bucks off me:)

JP

was spelling tensioner wrong in search, found all sorts of info, looks like a fairly easy job :)
let you know how bad I messed it up later today.

JP

P.S. that annoying squeal went away!

Is thas something that can be done in about an hour, in 20 degree weather? Or is this something aa profesional should do? I did find this in Ch1 of my trusty Haynes Manual :). Unclear on the matter of draining the coolant though. I have a 97' SE 106,000 miles on it. It looks like there are just 4 bolts to a brachet that holds it on, then pull it out, and do the reverse, as the manual says. Is this really that simple? I get nervious around big springs is all.
Really can't see why I would have to drain the coolant, any feedback on that?
Can it be done with a cresent wrench, a really big skrewdriver, and a muffler from a briggs and stratton (cheater bar)? Just kidding had to throw some dummy hummor in there (lots of coffee already).

Thanks for the feedback though GTP Dad!

P.S. They should make one of those "Grand Prix Repairs for Dummies", they would make a few bucks off me:)

JP


In 20 degree weather, putting gas in the car should be done by someone else.

And its warm out this week!

Got the part a few min ago, 73 bucks at O'rileys, not to bad I guess. Looks like I gotta make a mess with the coolant though :(

JP

Job done with no injuries! Took me a little under 2 hours, but I spent an hour looking for that little plastic elbow that I managed to break off in the block...
At anyrate, easy repair, and it only ended up costing about 90 clams.

JP

Glad I could help you although I only told you what to look for. It would have been much easier taking it to a garage but would have cost a lot more. But then how would you be able to tell all your friends that you fixed it yourself, especially in 20 degree weather. Welcome to the brotherhood of DIY'ers.

Man, shouldve saved yourself 70 bux and 1hr45m and just bought the pulley.

Pulley = $20
Reverse Threaded bolt 15 minutes

nah the experiance was worth it, plus like he said now I wont have to worry about the assembly going anytime soon. really only took me about 35-40 min to do, the rest of the time I spent looking for that damn plastic elbow...which you can get at a dealer, or make yourself at Home Depot :)

JP

nah the experiance was worth it, plus like he said now I wont have to worry about the assembly going anytime soon. really only took me about 35-40 min to do, the rest of the time I spent looking for that damn plastic elbow...which you can get at a dealer, or make yourself at Home Depot :)

JP


Funny thing is i changed my pulley when I first bought the car three years ago and still have the same assymbly.

Completely shattered the old pulley and shreaded serp belt in VA winter
I made the dealer come fix it.=)
:naughty:

Exactly, not much to that assembly.

Only time Ive had to remove that assembly was to remove the snout and rotors w/out taking the whole supercharger off.

Its cool that you tore it down though. Alot of people would scared of doing that.