How to change poly-V belt on a 98' E320 Wagon
 

Although I doubt the Wagon is any different than the sedan. I'm not particularly a gearhead, but my belt slipped off undamaged and I'm *this* close to getting it back on right, and I'd rather not pay to have it towed.

The owner's manual only has the proper belt alignment rather than how to get it back on. Given that the belt doesn't stretch, I assume one of the pulley's moves around, and the automatic tensioner pulley doesn't seem to move the right way to help me out.

Help would be appreciated.

Theres a reason your belt fell off, I'd try to figure out why first. Either your belt is no good or your tensioner needs to be replaced. Look at the tensioner, if its still the early style, thats probabaly the cause. the early ones had a inverted torx (size E10) sticking out of the middle of the pulley. the later ones had a 17mm 'nut' molded into the housing below the belt on the left side of the tensioner. If the tensioner does anything but sit perfectly still with the belt on and engine running, replace it.

The tensioner is located a little to the left and in the center of the powersteering and a/c compressor pulleys.

Thanks for responding. I know it's kinda rude to just show up in a forum and demand answers like this. I've got the torx and 100,000 miles, so I probably need to replace the tensioner. I can't do that myself.

I can't actually get the belt back on the pulleys, is one problem I'm having. I was planning on driving it to a service station, but that seems like a bad idea with no power steering pulley or alternator.

That is, how do I get the belt back on? Is there some trick I'm missing? The tensioner's range of motion doesn't let me get the belt back on at any point. It makes it seem like the belt is about 1 or 2 inches too short.