sepentine belt

how do you get a sepentine belt out of the 01 alero? must you take the motor mount off?? they sure dont make things easy anymore do they

You do need to remove the engine mount. You can do this by placing a jack under the engine with a block of wood and *slightly* lifting the engine after removing the bolts on the mount. If I were you however, I would just take it to the dealer. I think its only about $60. I tried doing this on my Malibu, but I ended up cracking the oil pan :-(

Jeremy

thanks for the help, i kind of figured the worst but wanted to be sure, i could change 20 belts on my old 89 f150 by now, igotta do front brakes and rotors to are they a big pain in the ass also

Pads and rotors are pretty simple on the Alero's. I honestly don't think they could be any more simple. My dad and I did them on my Malibu (Dad helped since it was my first time), and they were easy. Do you have rear disks or drums? To me, drum brakes suck, but I guess thats a personal preference.

Jeremy

When I went to replace the LIM gasket, I also found it a prime opportunity to replace the Serpentine belt. Since I had the top half of the engine ripped apart and a "cherry picker" standing by, why not. My advice is if you plan on keeping the car a while spend the extra money and get the new "gator back" design. I got my belt from Autozone, apparently it's a new design that helps prevent cracking over time. It's about $35 in michigan.
As for brake rotors, I believe I read in another post in this forum that Alero's have a tendency to wrap rotors? Is this true? In my case I believe so, I would buy cheap/expensive rotors and end replacing them every 1/1.5 years, if your going to do rotors don't spend a huge amount on a expensive rotor. They just end up warping on you if the post is true.

JAR

The only rotors/brakes that warp are the the crappy GM ones...I'm planning on getting a set of the Power Slot rotors because they look good and because they're not supposed to warp. Another thing is that many people or shops tighten their lug nuts way too much and don't follow the torque specifications. This will also lead to warped rotors.

Jeremy