serpintine belt

[tammyo]

Has any one installed a serpintine belt on a 98 lesabre?
my husband usually does his own auto work, but he isnt sure about this belt,, it seems the motor mount must be removed, and he dont want to go there, but is there another way?, or should we just take it to a garage? and has anyone changed the shocks themselves, ours are shot with only 46000 miles, its like we have no shocks.
thanks
tammyo

[Soapm]

Isn't that something, we just paid $600 to change the front struts on my wifes Alero. 46K miles? Suer don't make um like they used to.

[mrrob]

I don't think the Serp Belt will be a problem as long as he has the tools, but I think the shocks might be a differnt story!, specials tools are needed, (eg a tool to compress the springs just to remove the strut), so talk to your friends find out who they use as a mechanic and don't be afraid to get a few quotes.

Good Luck

Mr.Rob

Lic Mech Auto/Truck/Trailer Ect...

[papason]

Originally Posted by tammyo

Has any one installed a serpintine belt on a 98 lesabre?
my husband usually does his own auto work, but he isnt sure about this belt,, it seems the motor mount must be removed, and he dont want to go there, but is there another way?, or should we just take it to a garage? and has anyone changed the shocks themselves, ours are shot with only 46000 miles, its like we have no shocks.
thanks
tammyo

As for the belt, it is doable, easay enough. do a search and you will find other threads on this. You just take out the bolt from the lower bracket.

I dont know about the front shocks, I have 36000 miles and still seem fine.

[auto trainy]

The bracket mentioned is near the air. cond. compressor and is reached from the wheel well area.Make a drawing of your belt before you remove it and it will make life easier when its time to reinstall it.The ride of a buick is not the same as a Toyota or a Ford so make sure your shocks(struts)are bad before replacing them.

[tammyo]

well I ll tell my hubby that it looks as if he can change the belt himself.
Ill do more research. the shocks are supposed to be doable IF we take the whole assembly off the car and take it to the auto parts place where we will purchase them, they have a machine that compreses the old ones removes them and installs the new ones free of charge, providing we get the shocks from them, o.k. by me, they were the cheapest around anyway,all 4 for about 230 bucks. and I trust this auto parts place, we've dealt with them for years. by the way what is a good way to know if they are bad?I thought they should last longer too but we dont know how the previouse owner drove, we've only had the car a year, and when I go on dippy rural roads I have to be carefull on dips because the car bounces up and down so easy. and going over rr tracks is rough if you go too fast.
the last car I drove for 7 years, was a ford tauras wagon.
thanks again,
tam

[Lasota]

One way to check the shocks is to get one corner of the car bouncing by pressing on the fender. Get is going pretty good and then let it go. The car should stop bouncing in about one bounce, if it keeps going there is a good chance they are done. But like someone else said before a Buick ride is a lot different from a Tauras wagon. If you do change the shocks make sure that you get a four wheel alignment done, don't let anyone talk you into a two wheel, as the car will not track properly.

[richtazz]

LAsota's test is good for a LeSabre or any car. The shocks and struts are a dampener for spring oscillation. When the struts/shocks go bad, they lose there ability to stop the car from continuing to bounce after hitting a bump. I never understood why GM changed the motor mount on the 3800 to require it to be removed to change a belt. The older ones were so simple it was laughable what some garages tried to charge to change one. It's not difficult, just support the front of the engine from beneath with jack and piece of wood to disperse the load and you should have no problem. Once you get the struts changed, you will need to get an alignment.

[tammyo]

thank you all for your speedy advice.
I do have another question, considering I am a new and comparably younger, Im 42, owner of a buick,{my son calls it an ugly grandpa car, yea wait till he gets behind the wheel of a car with only 4 ft of front and virtually no rear end to protect him and see how ugly it is then!} I have this weird little lack of gas, about 15 feet after I pull out from a stop sign or red lite,, sort of panic a sec, feeling like I have stalled in front of oncoming traffic, so I give it more gas, weve changed the gas filter, and had the recall work done, but I still get the odd 'pause' from stops any clue?
thanks all again

[creslevi]

Hi
I have a 94 lesabre and changed the belt myself, The Tension pulley is spring loaded which makes it very easy to replace the belt, Just lift it with a ?15mm socket /breaker bar enough to get it off the alternator then lower it and remove the rest.
But I would suggest looking for the deal under the hood that shows the belt routeing, or make a pencil drawing before you remove it, I have never heard of having to remove the mount to change a belt, If you need picture e-mail me and I think I can E-mail you a picture of my 94 belt routeing [email protected]
Hope this helps.
Rick

[highlandlake]

I had to change a belt on my 97 a couple of months ago. The motor mount is in the way and you do have to jack up the engine, and pull back the under fender skirt to reach the motor mount bolts. They were rusty and uncooperative on mine. The worst part was that the belt tensioner pulley bolt was stripped. That was a messy nightmare. See the post from a couple of months ago. I cursed the GM engineers for making an otherwise good engine with such faults as the cheap metal tensioner and the location of the motor mount. If you are gonna do the job yourself, keep the kids far far away, or they might learn some new words. Next time a pro would do it for me. Good luck

[tammyo]

o.k thanks for that warning, Ill tell my hubby, he hates it when bolts are froze up, tool throwing time, and he has little desire to repair cars these days.

[creslevi]

Hi Tammyo
Please read your private messages, about the belt

[tammyo]

I dont know how to view private messages, what do I click on?
I cant find any info on how to read them either,sorry.
tam

[tammyo]

O.K. just got my son to tell me how to view the private message, Im not real familiar with web forums.
no we have not had two seconds to change the belt yet, I will tell my hubby about your post, creslevi,
no his name is not will ,sorry ,and I wasnt aware that I couldnt receive private emails because I am not familiar with all these icons and junk.
so I will put in my addess for a picture.thanks
tammyo