First, is that duct tape on the wood?

Second remove your injectors and send them to member greazzer....he does fine work!

Third, buy a double cup holder, that allows you to screw it down and stick it in the collect all tray in the center!

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Thanks! It went pretty well (for the most part).

This is the belt that was causing the most concern and needed to be replaced ASAP. As you can see, it was in very poor condition. Considering that this is also the belt that runs the highest risk of hitting the oil cooler lines if it sags/snaps, it needed to go before tomorrow's drive to D.C.

It's an OEM Continental belt, and has 4/94 stamped on the side. Shockingly, I don't find it hard to believe that this is a 20 year old belt.



Working on the power steering pump:



Since we had three new belts (P.O. got rid of the AC belt and we're not inclined to dive into that just yet), we decided we'd change the alternator belts as well.

Car on ramps, ready to get to the bolts behind the alternator:



All was going well, until I got to the adjustment bolt on the alternator itself. It was a little stiff, but seemed to be going OK, so I kept loosening it--until:



Clearly, I now have a broken alternator belt tension adjustment bolt. Since the alternator belts were in much better shape than the power steering belt (i.e. basically fine), we decided to just keep them on for now. Obviously, I wasn't able to get the tension quite back to where it's supposed to be, but I hadn't been able to loosen it too much before it snapped. I tightened the three alternator mounts, and it looks like everything is more or less OK with the engine running (aside from a faint squeal at idle).

How do I get around to replacing this? It'll be OK for quite a while, as the alternator belts have a lot of life left in them and they're almost as tight as they need to be, but I'll need to eventually replace that bolt and adjust the tension back to its proper level.

For consolation, we took her for a good wash, inside and out (clay bar, wax, polish, etc). I'm pretty sure she hadn't been properly cleaned in years, but she turned out pretty well (interior smells/looks/feels much better, too--especially with the new carpet). The deep wash somewhat accentuated the unfortunate reality that not a single body panel seems to be entirely straight or dent-free, but city cars = city scars...

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Ah! That's an excellent suggestion! Thank you! I hadn't considered that the nut would be a possible leak source. That's definitely next on the list. I'll report back with my findings.

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Masking tape from a Japanese company called mtTape. Lots of free samples from work + stuck in traffic + boredom = interior decoration.

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Those alt bolts are difficult to deal with, seems a PO has had enough.

They are available new, but pricey.

Someone has a cheap work around, try the difficult search function.

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83 SD

84 CD