05 MCS - 113500 miles on the clock - earlier this week I had a grinding sound from the passenger side of the engine compartment. Couldn't see anything out of place, but knew that time would help bring the problem to light. Wednesday morning - pow - serpentine belt breaks after something locks up. Limped to work and raised the hood. Nothing to really "see" other than the remnant of the belt. I drug her home this morning and started the process of getting things "visible"... when I used my home made tension tool, I found that the tension roller was shot - would not spin at all and I could see a very inconsistent gap around the center. I'm assuming the bearing went away and that caused the tensioner to clamp down on the belt - breaking it...

OK- my question is, what is the simplest way to remove the tensioner and replace it? Four bolts and pull the old one out? I already see that room is non-existent, so what do I need to move or remove in order to install a new tensioner?

Thanks in advance,

Rhys

 

best if you can take the inner fender well out, so you can get up in there.
There are 3 bolts that hold down the tensioner, it is tight but not too bad.
I would inspect the crank pulley and see if the tensioner clashed with it and ground up the grooves.

I would also get a tensioner limiter from WMW, and that little part will prevent that clash from happening. Lastly, spin all of your idler pulleys, they are cheap and available from auto zone, and easy to replace. My idlers were junk at 80K.
Even check the a/c compressor, that it spins nice too.

 

You will need 16mm and 10mm wrenches (ratcheting preferred) and its like a puzzle box getting the old one out and the new one in. Mod Mini on YouTube shows its "easy removal" during his supercharger pulley video. with the motor free on the right/passenger side, its a breeze to get the tensioner out and the new one in.

 

I'm just about to undertake this as well - found a write up by Pelican, too - but they go through all sorts of stuff with airbox removal, transmission mounts or something, etc.

However, someone in the comments wrote in about removing the 'shock' (tensioner shock, that is) and they were then able to swing it out without dismantling the whole car.

Hope that's true!

 

So far, all I see is the tensioner roller being shot. The crank pulley looks okay - no apparent damage. I have parts ordered and will see how the replacement process works out. If I run across some super easy replacement trick, I'll be sure to post up.

 

Well, project completed... kudos to Mudhen - the tip from Pelican made all the difference. I pulled the damper, took out the bolts, rolled the tensioner as suggested (to the front)and it came right out (the bottom through the wheel well). Replacement was pretty straightforward - come in from the wheel well, roll up and back, line up the holes, bolt on and the replace the damper on the new part. In the end it took about 2 hours, but most of that was lining up the belt (took several attempts), putting my front end back together, tires on and getting down of the jack stands... for no more of a mechanic than what I am, it was a fair challenge. Ratchet wrenches and patience are the key!

 

AWESOME!! Thanks for the follow up - will be attempting this in the next week (along with 50 other things). Good to know at least that part will [hopefully] go ok!

Pat

 

Great tip about the limiter; I wasn't aware of that issue but will include it with my ATI crank pulley project. One complaint on the WMW site was it rattles but I'd think two nylon washers would help.

 

huh, I never heard a rattle from it.
maybe it's because my car spends it's miserable life from 4-7K RPM…..

but even at idle, nothin'.