serpentine belt replacement

[TDB]

How do I replace serpentine belt on 1989 Buick electra (park ave) with 3.8 engine ?

[tman]

locate the belt tensioner pully, it should be below the alternator. use a ratchet, and I think a 15mm socket, make sure the ratchet is set to go off, I believe. put the socket and ratchet on the tensioner pully, and lift up, sliding the belt off of one pully. remove the belt, and route the new belt around as many pullys as you can. then lift on the ratchet again, and get the belt around the last one or two pullys. use a flashlight, or drop light to make sure that the belt is on all of the pullys properly. Make sure the ridges of the belt ar in the correct slots on the pullys. make sure that the routing is correct by looking on the front crossmember for a routing diagram. then start your car, and if the belt stays, good job. If it flys off, shut off the engine and try again. Make sure you do it right the first time

[TDB]

Thanks for the info. A 5 min. job that saved me $30
You were correct on all but socket size a 18mm not 15mm . I used a breaker bar w/18mm socket .
Thank You for the help. TDB

[husker1]

Originally Posted by TDB

Thanks for the info. A 5 min. job that saved me $30
You were correct on all but socket size a 18mm not 15mm . I used a breaker bar w/18mm socket .
Thank You for the help. TDB

I'm sorry, but this was not a five minute job for me. I had to remove two engine mount bolts (one at a time) to get the new belt inside the brackets. what do you know that I don't know?

[kaspr]

Husker, I'm not certain about this, but I'm guessing you have a '95+ Park Avenue, which features the Series II 3800. For some reason that I'm not aware of, they changed the routing to go around those engine mounts.