buick park avenue

[heywato]

Can somebody tell me how to change the serpentine belt on a 97 park avenue?

[wrightz28]

Mr Chilton's, or Mr Haynes would be my recommendations

[dgshore]

Mr Haynes, and Mr Chilton's most certainly have NO answers to this issue. You DO have to remove the motor mount that the serpentine belt is looped through. This is accomplished, by placing a jack under the enjine applying slight pressure up. remove the vertical bolts along the side of the engine, remove the mounting bolts that enter the block, lower the engine just enough to allow rethreading the serpentine belt in (I did not lower it farther than the vertical studs on the side, that way they stayed in alignment) through the mount, carefully run belt over proper pulleys, then jack the motor back up and replace all bolts. This procedure can be found in the GM service guide for the 1997 PA. Good Luck, allow 3 ohours or so to allow for your learning curve. I know it seems unreal, but that is the way it is done.

[dgshore]

I apologize, I left a key ingredient. The reason you lower the engine is that the lowest mounting bolt that enters the block cannot be removed due to the side wall of the engine compartmen. When you lower the engine below the lowest point of the side wall (again, JUST enough lower to do the job), you can then fully extract the bolt and move the mount. Sorry I left this out of the main post.