I just purchased a belt for my 1995 E320 and got ready to change it, but I am not sure what adjusts the tension. I do not see a tensioner, at least not one thats obvious to me. It looks tricky getting the belt in and out. Any help would be greatly appreciated before I start tearing apart my car...lol. Thanks

I removed the fan shroud and the fan for access to the belt and found the tensioner. I searched past threads and read that a bolt needs to be loosened to ease the belt tension. Not sure which one that is. I see a bolt in the center of the tensioner, but when I loosen that, it doesn't appear to ease the tension....not sure what I'm missing here.

While the bolt that goes thru the center of the tensioner is loose now look for a 13 mm hex that is in the vertical position that is behind the tensioner. I don't remember exactly which way it goes but you turn it and that should start allowing the tension on the belt to relax enough to allow you to replace it. Draw out the pattern for the routing of the belt before you remove it. The way the tensioner works is kinda whacky until you have used it a time or two.

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Jim

Finished with the job thank you. This was an automatic tensioner. All I had to do was tighten the bolt to ease the tension on the belt. Appreciate the response. Next time I will do a little searching through the forum before I post as I found everything I needed to know.

Derek,
My question is how do you put tension on the belt again?Counterclockwise on the tensioner?Thanks.

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96' E320