sootie007

So I decided to do my first serpentine belt replacement on my 92k mile xB2 . I tried to put the new belt on and it only stretched to the 1/2 way point on the alternator pulley....so I measured it next to the original belt and this new Car Quest belt I have had for about 6 months in my trunk for a backup in case mine broke on the highway was about 3/8 inch shorter???..So I thought oh boy cheap belt , wrong length , so I ran to the parts store and bought a new DAYCO Vbelt ….same exact story ….I tried removing the alternator bolt NO WAY ...it started to strip out and wouldn't budge even after hitting it with PB Blaster etc several times ….so I ended up heating the belt with a heat gun to get some stretch and pliability and after about 2 hrs of fighting it with a tensioner tool bar I was able to get it on...NOW I see why the dealer wanted $280 to put one on . Absolutely RIDICULOUS - the engineer should be fired who came up with the placement of that tensioner setup.


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62Fender

I noticed there are 3 serpentine belts for the 1st Gen tC. The longest belt is obviously for superchargers. The other two are within a half in length of each other. After reading your post, I'll probably get the longer of the two. Not sure why the short belt is even listed, unless it's for manual steering or no air conditioning. There's no technical info to differentiate.