New Serpentine Belt

Hi All,

Serpentine belt broke today while I was on the highway and power steering went, all that good stuff, so when I finally got it stopped and checked, found the thing broken... I'd checked it recently and thought it was okay but I guess I was wrong... anyway its a 92 LT1 engine and we have the repair manual so we're going to give it a shot tomorrow after we pick up the belt... my only question was to see if anyone had anything that I should look out for that makes the belt harder than it would seem? I have a bad feeling about going into something in the manual that seems so simple (basically 3 steps, remove old belt [already done, doh], open tensioner and put on belt, release tensioner so its tight)

Dillon

[Ken]

Replacing the belt is quite simple: Insert a 1/2" breaker bar or wratchet into the square hole in the tensioner and release the tension on the belt, which is already done in your case, but you still have to lift the tensioner to slip the new belt in place.

When you lost your belt, I hope you learned the valuable lesson of keeping a spare belt with you, especially in the case of a serpentine arrangement when you lose everything if you lose the belt.

_ken

thanks ken, that really relieves my fears of something hiding in there to make it more difficult :p and yes, I definately learned that the belt controls a heck of a lot of stuff in the vette, not to mention the water pump, which was odd because I would have thought the engine temperature would have gone up pretty fast and overheated, but I watched it and it didn't move... maybe I didn't drive it far enough to do anything bad, but that was why I really had no idea what was going on at the time...

anyway, tx again

Dillon

You have an LT1. I don't think there is a hole for the breaker bar in your tensioner. If it is like mine it has a hex head on it. There is not room enough for a standard socket and breaker bar. There is an easy solution tho. Go to Advance Auto, Pep Boys ,or wherever and get a tensioner tool. It's a flat bar with a couple of short sockets and a couple of crow foot ends. One of the sockets will fit and you don't need the bar extention. It makes the job a snap. I think it cost around $12.

[Ken]

Thanks for the help Whitey, I wasn't aware of the difference.

_ken

[vigman]

I didn't know there was a diff etiher.
My 88 has a square in the cast that a breaker bar nose will fit into... but it's a bit to tight to get the tensioner all the way down with the breaker bar ( frame lack of clearence).

I bought the serp belt tool from Sears and now the job is a breeze less than 10 min from hood pop to final beer pop & guzzle.

The new belt will require a little more OOMPH to get it on being new & all and extra hands are a good thing for this job.



Mike