Serpentine belt woes

This was JustinC's comment on doing the job back in 2008.

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You CAN change the belt without removing the fan but it is fiddly. A 15mm long handled ring spanner will be req for the tensioner.
I would suggest removing the fan anyway, as there are times when you WILL need to get it off, IE main belt tensioner replacement etc, and it is best done early on and refitted gently with antisieze on the thread to make it easier next time

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Fiddly vs a couple of minutes with a fan spanner. The choice is yours.

you guys must be talking about rattlers,,
cos on the real engine its a doddle,,,,

I asked the question because I was wondering (1) if the fan could be removed without the special tool (2) if the belt could be changed without removing the fan. The reason being if the answer to both was no I would order the fan tool when I ordered the belt. The first reply I got back was that the belt could be changed without removing the fan and I thank you for that in fact I thank all for your replies. I ordered the belt only and that is how I will now proceed, I will let you know how I got on. I will post a pic of the original belt taken before I remove it today and yes I believe mine is much worse than the one in the pic.
Alan

Hi Alan, Lotsa luck and hope it all works out OK. :)

Removing the fan of SWMBO's D2 Td5 was not a simple job for me when I did it a couple of weeks ago. It's real easy to say 'grap a 36mm viscous fan spanner, give it a tap and bobs your uncle', but in reality it was nowhere near this simple.:( The fan had not been undone since new and was extremely tight. In the end I took the car to my local radiator repair man who had a 'special tool' like a claw which grabbed hold of the four bolt heads on the drive pulley whilst I pulled on the viscous fan spanner. It was a two man job with 18" extensions on both tools and a great amount of 'foot lbs' to crack the nut.

So whilst it might be a bit fiddly and the potential for bad language and skinned knuckles is higher with the fan on it could still be the simpler solution. :)

Deano :)

I had a belt chew itself to about 10mm wide.

Turned out the water pump bearing had collapsed.

This is not proving to be easy at all, I removed the damaged belt "easy" using the knife suggestion. I had to feed the belt under the crankshaft pulley then between the crankshaft and fan pulleys, I managed to run it over the idler, alternator and tensioner pulleys also over the power steering and idler pulleys but no matter how much tension I take off the belt with the tensioner I cannot get it all the way over the final compressor pulley. Any suggestions ?

I have added some pics of the condition of the belt upon removal, The damage was done prior to removal and I also found that one of the loose strands had wrapped itself around one of the hose clamps and nearly pulled the hose off it,s position
Attachment 56943Attachment 56940
Attachment 56942
Regards Alan

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Originally Posted by alanio

................................. Any suggestions ?
Regards Alan

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When I did mine I had a similiar problem. What I did was to fit the belt as tightly as possible over the pulleys etc on the ribbed side of the belt and with the tensioner as loose as possible slide the belt over the viscous fan pulley which runs on the smooth side of the belt last. Having three hands is a benefit here :) This meant that I didn't have to have 'slack' in the belt to get it over the ridge on a ribbed pulley but could just slide the smooth side of the belt onto a smooth pulley with no rib/edge etc.


Hope this makes sense.

Deano :)

The third hand did the trick, The only difference from Your advice ( DeanoH ) was that the flat surface I used was the passenger side idler pulley ( same difference I suppose ) I cannot believe the difference.
Regards Alan

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Originally Posted by DeanoH

Hi Alan, Lotsa luck and hope it all works out OK. :)

Removing the fan of SWMBO's D2 Td5 was not a simple job for me when I did it a couple of weeks ago. It's real easy to say 'grap a 36mm viscous fan spanner, give it a tap and bobs your uncle', but in reality it was nowhere near this simple.:( The fan had not been undone since new and was extremely tight. In the end I took the car to my local radiator repair man who had a 'special tool' like a claw which grabbed hold of the four bolt heads on the drive pulley whilst I pulled on the viscous fan spanner. It was a two man job with 18" extensions on both tools and a great amount of 'foot lbs' to crack the nut.

So whilst it might be a bit fiddly and the potential for bad language and skinned knuckles is higher with the fan on it could still be the simpler solution. :)

Deano :)

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What I have is this set:

DIFFLOCK - TD5 & V8 Viscous Fan Wrench Set

These are long enough that a whack or two with a mallet is enough to move a stubborn fan first time you take it off. After that, it's a matter of using the spanner and giving a quick whack to loosen the fan.

I have an aversion to needless ****ing around when it comes to working on cars. I put it down to countless hours spent helping my Dad in the garage when I was a kid - we usually only got called in when things had gone pear shaped and there was always large amount of cursing and tool throwing involved.