Bought new belts.
As you read this I am trying to install the moth@#$%^#?@ a/c belt.

No matter what I do I can't seem to squeeze the belt onto the pulleys.

To clarify. I have it on the harmonic balancer pulley, and on the compressor. I can put it under the upper guide pulley or over the tensioner pulley but not both. I have pushed the tensioner as far as it will go. I am positive I have the right belt and I've tried every combination of which pulley to put on last.

I NEED HELP.

Any guidance you guys can give me would be much appreciated. I've left enough blood in the engine compartment to make the folks at CSI pass out.

 

The ac belt is best changed from under the car; have the front on ramps. There is a tensioner that you can get to but it is more difficult if you have an A4 since they have the cooler lines right where the wrench fits the tensioner.

 

Finally someone who knows about those stupid lines. I posted about those a few days ago. I guess people owning A4's are a true minority. I figured out how to get the socket inbetween the lines. That took a while but I did it. I also tried from underneath to no avail. I am wondering just how far to push that tensioner. I have a long and not so pretty history or muscling things into place. Typically that turns into me replacing whatever I break. I would really like to avoid that this time.

Any other ideas? How easy should this be? I can do the serpentine belt with my easy closed. (which seems to be the best way to do it anyway)
Should this be so hard?

 

I changed my belts out just last week and it was pretty simple and straightforward, but I have an MN6 and as mentioned above I don't have the cooler lines to work around.

If you haven't already done so, compare the old belt with the new one and make sure they're the same size. I've read in the past where people were sold the wrong belt... just a suggestion and good luck getting her put back together and on the road!

 

Thanks,

I just checked again. For reference in case the web site is wrong. I am using a Gatorback belt PN 4040420. If this is the wrong part feel free to scream.

Ok, I am heading back out to try again. This is nuts. I could have pulled the engine by now. LOL

 

Got it.

I needed to push that stupid tensioner about 1/8 of inch further. Belt slipped right on. Who in the world thought it was a wise idea to put those two cooling lines directly in front of that pulley.

Thanks for all the input.

 

Probably the same person who thought the battery should be located right above the PCM!

 

Or the person who thought it would go unoticed to force you to shift from 2nd to 4th all the time.

 

Could you explain in a little more detail (don't hurt yourself) on how you did that. I've got the belts sitting in the garage and would love a little more on the procedure. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

Sure, I'd be happy to help.

I have an A4 which seems to have a different setup than the M6. The only real difference is the cooling lines that cross infront of the a/c tension pully. I used a 15 MM socket to do all of the work. I also did everything from the top of the motor. You will need an offset socket handle to deal with the a/c belt. A regular socket wrench hits the water pump pulley so you need a flexible wrench.

The first step is to remove the large serpentine belt this is pretty straight forward. Simply put the socket wrench on the belt tension pulley located on the passenger side at the top of the motor. Push the wrench towards the drivers side of the motor and the belt will slip off pretty easy. Remove the belt from the motor. I have a 2000 which has a large ABS pump so I had to do some twisting of the belt to get it out from between the power steering pulley and the abs pump.

With that out of the way it is time to tackle the a/c belt. The belt runs from the a/c compressor and the drive shaft pulley and is squeezed tight between two pulley's. The lower pulley is the one that needs to be moved to relieve the tension.

On mine there are two steel cooling lines that cross right in front of the tension pulley bolt. There is a clip holds the two lines together. I popped the clip off one of the lines and was able to spread them apart enough to get the socket onto the bold. I had to put the socket on the bolt first and then insert the handle.

This is where you need to use the offset handle. Put the handle on and push the wrench towards the drivers side. The tension will relieve and you will be able to slip the belt off with relative ease. (the keyword being relative).

Ok that's the easy part. at the point you should have all the belts off.

At this point I took a wire brush and cleaned all the pulleys. This seems to be one of the key reasons why belts squeal. GM also advises against belt dressing. So I didn't use any.

Putting the a/c belt on is where the challenge came.

Slip the a/c belt onto the drive shaft pulley first. I then put the belt OVER the tensioner pulley. I also put the belt OVER the upper guide pulley. this allowed enough tension for me to slip the belt over the ac compressor.

Now after much trial and error I learned that it was smart to close my eyes and use my fingers to follow the path of the belt and make sure that it is on the drive shaft pulley all the way around. There is NO room for error. If it is off by the smallest amount the rest of this project is a nightmare.

Once you are sure that the belt is on its track it's time to reattach the socket and handle. Relieve the tension again and start to work the belt under the upper pulley. To visualize this the belt will be in an hourglass shape as it follows its path. This is where I had my biggest problem. I thought I had pushed the tensioner as far as it would go, but I still couldn't get enough slack to slip the upper part of the belt into place. Finally I pushed just a little further. The belt slipped into place and that was all she wrote. Once you are happy with the position of the belt. I would start the engine briefly and check to make sure the belt is tracking properly.

Then be sure to put the coolant lines back together and replace the clip so that they are back the way they were from the start.

Next it is time to put the serpentine belt back in place. Start at the alternator and then over the power steering pump etc. Finally back to the upper tensioner. Relieve the tension as before and slip the new belt into place.

That's it. Start it up and you are done. I have attached a picture of the belt path just in case you don't have one. I hope this helps. If you have any questions please feel free to PM me or post here. I am happy to help.

[IMG]c:\documents and settings\rich\desktop\belt 1.gif[/IMG]

 

Hey! Thanks a lot! Thats great info and I think I'll tackle it this weekend. Thanks again.

 

could not see the pic, can you email it to me?

Thanks

Cajun