606 serpentine belt & last pulley
 

Which pulley do you pull the belt over last?

Spring is completely off the idler pulley, upper bolt off damper, belt looped around idler, and idler pulley pressed down against two other pulleys. Belt looped around alternator pulley, crank pulley, & AC clutch, and the other looped over water pump pulley. Can't get it over PS pulley.

It is the original belt on the car. The 601 in my 190D is easy to do, but I'm struggling with the 606.

Thanks.

When I did mine, I don't recall any major issues, although I do recall pulling out the owner's manual and looking at the diagram of the belt in it. I was trying to make the belt go somewhere it wasn't supposed to go. Once I compared things to the manual, all went well. I know I didn't have to dismantle anything - just took the tension off the belt.

On my '95, I use a coat hanger to fish the belt through the gap between the two pulleys which are close together (can't view my car at the moment to say which two pulleys, but it should be obvious). It is a rather fiddly job and takes some persistence to pull the U through a small gap. But with the tensioner released, I've never had any issue at all with having enough slack to change the belt easily.

I do it with the fan intact, and only remove the fan shroud.

This is one of those jobs which, once I'm finished, I could do it again in one third the time. But since it is always about 3 years since I did it last time, it takes me time to remember / relearn the tricks.

Rgds,
Chris W.
'95 E300D, 372K

IIRC, I do the a/c compressor last. Never a struggle, though, do you have an error in your routing? I always have to check the diagram.

Jeremy

Thanks for replies. The routing is correct, and it's the 2140mm belt not the 2130mm belt. And it's been on the car for a while so "stretched" by use.

I've done this numerous times on the 601, same mechanism, and I have small hands, so no troubles getting the belt over the idler pulley between the crank and water pump pulleys. When doing the 601 belt, it slips over the last pulley with just a slight bit of tension but goes on.

The 606 will not slip over. I'll try the AC clutch pulley last now. A child should be able to do this, so I may have to go find a child:o

Belt on ok
 

So even though I've done this on other cars w/o taking the fan off, I took the fan off, found a 14 y.o. boy who likes cars, started the job all over as if I was teaching him how to do it, and sure enough......belt on as it should and tensioner ok. I don't know what to say:o

the 606 is probably the easiest belt jobs I have ever encountered in any car.

my sausage fingers technique is to start by draping the belt over the crank and idler, then over and under the water pump to alternator and finish on the PS pulley. use a rag to protect your hand from burning on the cylinder head.