94' Taurus drive belt

[nzmillsy]

I am trying to figure out how to remove the drive belt on my 94' Taurus. The diagram under the hood shows the tensioner position but I cannot figure out how to "release" the tensioner? It seems to have a 15mm attahment bolt which I should grip and then rotate the pulley to release the tension?

Any advice is appreciated.

[sahib]

The arm that the tensioner pulley is on should swing up with pulley and all to release tension on belt. I'm pretty sure it is up but can't verify as my '94 is off to work with my wife right now.

[zoey]

Put a 15mm wrench on the pulley bolt then swing the pulley up to release the tension. Be carefull not to let the wrench slip off the bolt while you have your fingers in there with the belt. Have a good look at the routing of the old belt first before you remove it and then it will be a snap to install the new one . The whole job should take you about 5 minutes.

[Larry in CA]

Check the rear side of the tensioner. On the '94 Sable, there is a spot on the rear of the tensioner for a 1/2" drive. If you use a 1/2" breaker bar, you just pull the bar towards the front of the car to release tension on the belt and slide the belt off of the idler pulley between the alternator and the power steering pulley.

I found this much easier than using the bolt.

It is also much easier to re-install the belt.

[nzmillsy]

The tensioner won't seem to move at all... I cannot seem to swing it any direction - how hard should it be to move it? Could the tensioner itself be broken?

[sahib]

The tensioner will pull hard out of necessity. If it were a weak spring the belt would tend to flop and slip past the pulleys instead of driving them. I don't know what the exact torque is but I would guess you would use about the same amount of energy on the end of 12" breaker bar as you would to lift a 20 or 30 lb sack of potatoes. It's possible the tensioner is faulty (seized) and will not come as easily as it should. They are made of aluminum and they tend to oxidize making them no longer usable. If it is in that condition I would be replacing it with a new one.