Quote:
Originally Posted by zakh
Thanks for posting the pics, much appreciated. How much roughly do those belt tensioners cost. Also is it a fairly straighforward job to change?
Should my mechanic take responsibility, or should i put it down to just one of those things and bear the cost myself?
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I paid $196.40 plus tax for the last one several months ago. I can do mine pretty fast, maybe 15 minutes tops. I do my own repairs anyway. As far as responsibility, it's one of those things that you don't know until you get in there and start removing the belt. It could have been on its way out when you took the car in.
Check yours first. Mine was easy to tell that it was bad because when I went to tighten the belt after replacing the A/C compressor, the adjusting rod started coming to the top of the adjusting nut....never a good sign. The rubber was torn and the assembly kept turning.
If your belt tightens and you can push down on the belt and the tensioner returns to its original tightened position, then it should be OK.
One important thing about the tensioner is that you have to make sure you unloosen the lock down bolt first before turning the adjustment nut, and re-tighten the lock down bolt when finished. The plastic tab in front is for reference, move it to the small mark on the left of the tensioner housing when the belt is loose, then tighten the belt until it reaches the wide mark.
I stop mine just before the wide mark...I don't like putting too much tension on the rubber if I don't have to, and I've never had a loose/squeaking belt problem.
Dave
