Serpentine Belt Removal on Saturn

On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 13:43:14 -0700 (PDT), [email protected] wrote:

>Does anyone have any tips on removing a serpentine belt on my 97
>Saturn SL2? There's like less than 1 inch working room to get to the
>tensioner...am I missing something obvious or is it just a pain?
>Thanks in advance!
>Jay

I had a 2000 for a while. On that model you could put a wrench on the
pulley bolt and easily move the tensioner assembly to release the belt
and put a new one on. No way a socket w/ratchet would have fit, but
the wrench had not trouble at all. Your mileage may vary.

Steve B.

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:50:30 -0400, Steve B. <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Tue, 1 Jul 2008 13:43:14 -0700 (PDT), [email protected] wrote:
>
>>Does anyone have any tips on removing a serpentine belt on my 97
>>Saturn SL2? There's like less than 1 inch working room to get to the
>>tensioner...am I missing something obvious or is it just a pain?
>>Thanks in advance!
>>Jay
>
>I had a 2000 for a while. On that model you could put a wrench on the
>pulley bolt and easily move the tensioner assembly to release the belt
>and put a new one on. No way a socket w/ratchet would have fit, but
>the wrench had not trouble at all. Your mileage may vary.
>
> Steve B.

On most vehicles with serpentine belt systems (IMO, of course..) it is usually a good idea to replace the tensioner as
well. I am assuming that the belt is being replaced for normal wear with the car having usually 50k+ miles on the current
belt. The bearings in the tensioner receive a fair bit of wear and get very warm in regular use and are not designed to
last forever. Some OEM parts sources offer belt and tensioner as a kit. Joe.