Things I learned:
A: You can't put the belt on with the tensioner spring on the tensioner B:You can put the belt on without the spring but then it's impossible to put the spring back on by hand
C:The belt needs to be looped around the tensioner before and not last, the steering pump should be last.
(picture of serpentine belt setup)
D: You can only loop the belt around the tensioner from underneath the car
so what did I learn? If you've never done this before please follow along and you might want to print the pictures out.
1: The tensioner works like a "teeter-totter" pivot point in the midle, shock absorber on the left and tensioner spring on the right.
2: With a screwdriver or vise grips, pry the tensioner spring off. Becarefull it's under tension.
3: Place a medium to large flathead screwdriver between the water pump and lower shock absorber mount.
--3a: pry the tensioner absorber upwards leverageing against the water pump. Do not use excessive force. Just a steady slow pressure will push the absorber upwards, remember absorbers are made to reduce shock so it's nice, slow and steady until the oil passes through those little tiny passages it must have inside.
--3b: This will release the pressure both on the excisting belt to remove and allow you to wrap the new one around.
4: Loop the belt around the Alternator and Crank first, then the tensioner which by now should be sufficiently de-tensioned then the AC and last the steering pump which should be nearly impossible.
5: This is tricky and it's best to have a buddy applying pressure to that screwdriver-absorber bit as you pull the belt around the power steering and AC unit. Wrap everything so the only thing left is the power steering and do that last.
Now you have the belt on but no spring and no tension on the tensioner. This was the trickiest part. An hour of sitting on the toilet contemplating the problem gave me the solution but you'll need a special tool you may or may not have.
It's called "brake spring pliers" and It looks like two sticks of metal attached at the middle by a ribbet. One end has a hook and an arch. and the other is fairly straight with a hook. If you've ever done brake drums you know what I'm talking about because that's what it's used for.
Hope this picture helps. Notice (on yours
not the picture) that one of the ends has a hollow groove in it. This is
to hook the end of the spring hook and create tension using a folcrum point.
6: Hook the tensioner spring back on the bottom of the tensioner (right side of the teeter-toter).
7: Gently push or pry down as far as you can on the tensioner. You wont get too far. You're trying to release or extend the shock absorber now as far as it will go. The more tension you can create manually the easier, or less the spring has to strech. You're pushing down on left of the teeter-toter so the right or spring side goes up.
8: Hook a pair of vice grips on the side of the top hook on the tensioner spring in case you have to grab it.
9: Hook the end of the brake plier handle with the hollow groove and hook to the peak end of the top tensioner spring hook.
10: USING THE TENSIONER LEVER (PART 10 IN ABOVE PICTURE) AS YOUR FOLCRUM POINT PUSH DOWN ON THE BRAKE PLIERS CREATING(STRECHING) TENSION ON THE SPRING. PUSH DOWN TO ABOUT THE 8 O'CLOCK POSITION OR AS FAR AS IT TAKES FOR THE SPRING TO COME ABOVE THE TENSIONER LEVER.
--IF YOU DID IT RIGHT, THE TIP OF THE BRAKE PLIER THAT YOU'RE USING TO STRECH IT SHOULD BE SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE TENSIONER LEVER AND THE SPRING.
11: Using the vise grips to secure the spring doesn't snap out of place, gently remove the brake pliers slowly and wala!
Good luck and hope this will help the next guy like me that couldn't find help.