Well guys and girls as most of you know last week I replaced my belt, idler pulley, and tensioner shock. Well I noticed when installing the new belt the tensioner pulley looked strange. Black strands on the outside that comes in contact with the belt and the metal is showing underneath. I thought maybe this was due to the belt previously on the car since it was seperating and what not. Any how my new two day old belt is showing small amounts of wear in strange spots that correlate with the tensioner pulley. I am looking for advise on what to do. I took it to the dealership and the senior mechanic says the tension is set correctly, but the tensioner is adjusted all the way and is suspect for replacement after next removal. I am thinking this is what I should do: Loosen the altenator, remove tensioner pulley, install new pulley and retighten the alt. Can I do this so as to avoid damage to my tensioner? Should I remove the idler pulley then remove tensioner pulley, install new TP and reinstall idler pulley? Here are some photos. I couldn't get a good position for taking the tensioner pulley but you can see the metal coming through. Thanks for you input.

Pulley...



Belt...

__________________
Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

You need not loosen the alternator, it can stay in place undisturbed. Remove the shroud, lay it back over the fan and remove the fan. It is not too much trouble to remove the radiator, but I say that and mine is a manual transmission, so I don't need to mess with the a/t cooling lines.

Anyway with the radiator out of the way, loosen the big bolt through the middle of the tensioner, then loosen the tensioner with the near vertical bolt near the p/s pump. Back it out enough so you can get the belt off.

Remove the shock bolts on each end and get it out of the way. Carefully remove the crank position sensor to ensure that you don't damage it. It is removed by pulling off the 8mm nut. Loosen the bolt at the engine end of the bracket, you don't need to back it out much.

Remove the big bolt through the middle of the tensioner and the two other bracket bolts. The top bracket bolt has no nut, the bottom, hard to get to one does. To get to the nut for the bottom bolt, remove the air cleaner and you will see a path to that nut. Put a long box end wrench on the nut and hold it while you remove the bolt, then carefully pull the wrench up with the nut in the box end of the wrench.

Swing the front bracket forward and you now will be able to remove the tensioner.

Reverse everything for replacement and if you don't have a belt routing diagram, someone here can probably get one to you. I won't be back in the office 'til Jan. 6, so if you don't have the diagram by then I can fax it to you then.

It's a reasonably good size job, but I'm sure you can do it if you try.

Good luck,

We meet again....

Thanks for the response larry. Sorry if my Post was a bit confusing. What I am trying to do is replace Just the pulley on the tensioner not the complete assembly. It appears to be damaged and worn and is taking a toll on my new belt. I want to replace it but was trying to find a way to relieve tension without using the tensioner since I fear it is on its last leg. I wouldn't think it would damage the tensioner if I Wedge something on the belt just long enough to change out the little pulley. I can get to it easily and It appears I wont even have to take the fan off again. To make a long thread short, I just wanted to make sure that by temporarily releiving tension at the tensioner I wouldn't be damaging anything or possibly making matters worse on my tensioner. What do ya think? do-able?

__________________
Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

If the tensioner is on the way out and you want to replace the pulley why don't you just bite the bullet and replace the whole dam thing? It's a straight forward nuts and bolts job as described by Larry. Cost of the combined assembly is about 150UKP from the dealer but I got one from an importer for half that.

__________________
Mick J
'08 Chrysler 300CRD (MB OM 642 engine)
'95 E220 estate
'89 230TE (R.I.P.)

I was taught a long time ago ---If it aint broke don't fix it...

In fact the tensioner was replaced just a little over a year ago. If I can prolong the life of this thing a year I would like to do just that. If it breaks during this install I will replace it. Otherwise I'm going to try to be as careful as possible and change just the pulley.

Also, In my previous post when I say it appears to be damaged and worn I am speaking of the pulley not the tensioner.

__________________
Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

Since you will be using the same belt, I believe that you should be able to loosen the big bolt through the middle of the tensioner and count the turns of the vertical adjuster nut as you loosen it. Once it is loose enough to change your pulley, and you have changed it, then tighten the adjuster back the same number of turns.

Good luck,

I can't imagine your tensioner going bad after only 1 year. What happens when you turn the hollow 13mm bolt to relieve tension on the belt? Does the tensioner move downward and relieve tension? Does it move at all?

You may have stripped the threads on the pulley rod, creating the appearance that your tensioner has gone bad.

Also, just to check the obvious, does your current tensioner pulley have metal grooves or is it smooth? Since the back of the belt wraps around the tensioner pulley, the TP should have a flat, smooth plastic surface.



Good luck

__________________
-Paul-
'01 E430, Sport 72,000 mi
'98 C280, 126,500 mi

I found it eiasier to remove the radiator and then the tensioner assy. It was easier to R&R the pulley with the tensioner assy on the bench.

Yeah its the flat pulley which is the correct one. Kinda strange, what happened originaly is the top bolt in the tensioner shock came loose.. Sending the bolt into the serp. belt, the bolt wedged inbetweent the fan pulley and the engine warping the fan pulley and therefor damaging the belt. The belt was coming apart and it appears that somehow the belt pieces welded to the tensioner pulley as it went around and around. Very strange, but anyway thankfully its just the pulley. Tomorrow I am gonna pull the belt off of the idler pulley(up top) and replace the tensioner pulley. then pull the belt back on the idler pulley. I think that should do the trick. I'll post you guys a pic of the tensioner pulley it looks very strange..

__________________
Brandon



2008 S550
1957 Dodge D100
1967 VW Microbus 21 Window
2001 Suburban
2004 Beach cruiser bicycle
-----------------GO DUKE!-----------------

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here." Patrick Henry 1776

Hey Brandon, is that hose clamp rubbing on the water pump pulley? It kinda' looks like it is in the picture.