Hello,

Put a new water pump in this car and when I was putting the serp belt back on I could not get the belt to tighten. The tensioner rod seemed to be hitting up against the power steering pump body and the nut on top was seating where it was supposed to...anybody know what I'm doing wrong--besides working on my own car???!

I offer up my experiences on 2 different 300E's. When the belt tensioner won't tighten the belt, you can just about count on the fact that the belt tensioner is toast. Replace it along with new belt dampener shock.

Steve

Did you install it exactly the same way you took it out? The swivel thingy with the adjusting nut can only be installed properly one way, otherwise it won't work. Because the collar swings almost all the way around, it's easy to get it flipped, even if the swing arm and nut are on the proper side of the collar.

Your tensioner could still be toast, but check to make sure the nut is installed properly first.