Thanks for the responses! Some of you are quite emphatic about diy jobs, so again, thanks for the morale boosts. In this case, my work schedule got quite busy and the days arent long enough yet to really get into an evening attempt.

For various reasons, i had to rent a car yesterday, a cavalier. what a difference, the seats on the cav were made to not support your upper back, the steering was over-responsive like a hair trigger, its ride was very light yet lacked the road feel one expects from a compact. I stopped by the 300e to try to put the belt on, and it was like coming home: the exterior and interior, even after 16 years, simply looked better.

Ok, got the fan shroud off. how does one get the fan off? ive got a 3mm allen key, an 8 mm allen key and a 8mm hex; i tried a few things, then it got too dark to really continue; I tired to route the belt without taking the fan off, but my knuckles paid the price; whether one takes the tensioner off or not, i think that fan should come off.

Also, excuse my igonroace, what is PITA? an acronym obviously, but my attempts end up using foul language.