97 chevy lumina belt problem

[Rschrei518]

Had problem with car when first i noticed i was driving AC started blowing hot and noticed blower got a little slower. then when driving home volt light was coming up on dash. Battery is about 1 year old. when i got home i shut car off and on about twice and the third time wouldn't start. I jumped it checked voltage going to battery and it was very low so i assumed it was the alternator. I took it out by loosening belt tentioner and slit it back and took it to autozone they tested it on machine and it failed the guy said it was putting out 0 volts. I was a little suprised it went bad it may be 10 years old but car only has 20,000 miles on it.

The problem is i am trying to figure out how to tighten the belt. I tried putting tentioner tight againist belt and tightening bolt on tentioner. How tight do i make this bolt i have a torque wrench is there a torque spec. and am i suppose to put the tentioner tight againist belt and tighten. Belt stays on but makes noise i made it a little tighter and noise at idle mostly went away but when i gave it gas i heard it making noise. After i tried to readjust and i may have made it too tight and i heard a crack or a pop and now a piece of metal cracked off tentioner so tomorrow i am buying another one so please instruct me how to put it on. Thank You

[Rschrei518]

I forgot to write it is the 3.1 engine.

Also how tight should the belt feel when done?

[john51md]

Originally Posted by Rschrei518

I forgot to write it is the 3.1 engine.

Also how tight should the belt feel when done?

If tensioner is like my older 3.1 the "bolt" you are talking about is the one that holds the tensioner to the engine, that isnt the adjustment bolt, it just holds the thing to the engine. The tensioner is spring loaded, once bolted onto engine, you turn the whole assembly which is under internal spring tension away from the belt, put belt over the pulley, and release it. There is usually a 3/8 or 1/2 square hole in the tensioner top end where you insert the approprate ratchet/breaker bar end so you can move the tensioner away from belt to take belt on/off

[jeffcoslacker]

Like he said, you work the tensioner by lifting the arm, not messing with the mounting bolt, the mounting point is fixed, spring tension holds the belt tight. Sounds like you need a new tensioner arm now.

When putting the belt back on, it works best to slip the belt over one of the flat pulleys that run on the backside of the belt, like the water pump, rather than the grooved ones which have a lip on them and require the tensioner to be really forced to the stop before the belt will go on..

Make sure the belt is seated in all the grooved pulleys including the crank at the bottom, feeling around to make sure it is laying flush down in them...if you are one groove off somewhere, it'll shred the belt pretty quickly when you start it up..

[Rschrei518]

I understand what i did i released the tention by loosening the mounting bolt and ended up breaking it my question is when i put the new one on is there a special way to position it do i lock it in so the pulley is tight againist the belt or is there suppose to be a distance between them and there is a way to make them get tight?

I didn't see the bolt on the tentioner to release tention or make it tighter where would it be?

Please direct me on how to mount it i really appreciate it

[jeffcoslacker]

There is nothing to release... the arm is just held in place by spring tension, and is free-floating..it's not a fixed tensioner...When you replace it, the new arm will have features on it that locate it properly in the corresponding features on the mount surface...it only goes in one position...you don't mess with the belt while installing the tensioner...

Once it's installed, THEN you thread the belt, leaving it ready to go over the last pulley (the water pump, like I said), and put a socket wrench in the square hole in the tip of the tensioner arm, and lift (or push down, whichever goes away from the belt), the belt will now slip over the last pulley...then release your push on the tesioner arm, and it'll come into contact and tension the belt...

[jeffcoslacker]

If it's this type, this is how you move the arm...if it has the square hole, you use the socket wrench directly in the hole...

[jeffcoslacker]

Fig. 14: in. breaker bar to rotate the tensioner


I just looked at mine (also '97)...you should have the square hole in the pulley end of the arm...just use a socket wrench pushed directly into the hole to lift on the arm...