How To: Serp belt tensioner pulley replacement

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 5:49 am

http://chronoscender.freeservers.com/ne ... ptens.html
http://chronoscender.freeservers.com/ne ... gbelt.html
Also note the update, with pulley #36156 the mods in the topic are no longer needed as this new pulley number is a direct fit

Reading the above few pages will help you on how to remove the tensioner assembly from the car.
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Disconnect negative battery cable.
Remove fastener securing ground strap to engine mount bracket.
Remove upper torque strut
Remove power steering/air conditioning compressor drive belt
Raise vehicle on hoist.
Remove accessory drive belt splash shield
Remove lower torque strut
Lower vehicle.
Position a jack under engine. Raise jack enough to support engine weight.
Remove engine mount through bolt access plug

Remove right engine mount to engine mount bracket through bolt

Lower engine enough with jack to remove lower engine mount bracket bolt.
Raise engine with jack to allow engine-to-body clearance for engine mount bracket removal.
Remove fasteners securing power steering pump to engine mount bracket. Do Not disconnect lines from pump.

Remove the two remaining bolts securing engine mount bracket to engine. Remove engine mount bracket

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Post by **occasional demons** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 7:32 am

Also IIRC, the torx bolt for the pulley is a T40.

Swordfish2Cowboy · Post by **Swordfish2Cowboy** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:05 am

I need to do this. I am not happy about it.

jT · Post by jT » Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:10 am

These are the instructions for removal and installation of the torque struts, just in case. I don't know how important the torque strut adjustment procedure is.. all it sounds like is putting the torque struts back on because the bolts will only line up one way! I've also got to do this and the tensioner is being delivered today!

Torque Strut
UPPER TORQUE STRUT

REMOVAL

Fig. 10
1. Remove bolts attaching strut to shock tower bracket and engine mount bracket (Fig. 10).
2. Remove the upper torque strut.
INSTALLATION
1. Position the upper torque strut into mounting locations.
2. Install the mounting bolts and perform the torque strut adjustment procedure.

LOWER TORQUE STRUT

REMOVAL
1. Raise vehicle on hoist.
2. Remove right side splash shield.
3. Remove bolts attaching lower strut to crossmember and strut bracket (Fig. 10).
4. Remove lower torque strut.

INSTALLATION
1. Position lower torque strut into mounting locations.
2. Install mounting bolts and perform torque strut adjustment procedure.
3. Install splash shield and lower vehicle

TORQUE STRUT ADJUSTMENT
The upper and lower torque struts need to be adjusted together to assure proper engine positioning and engine mount loading. Whenever a torque
strut bolt(s) is loosened, this procedure must be performed.
1. Loosen the upper and lower torque strut attaching bolt at the suspension crossmember and shock tower bracket.
Fig. 11
2. The engine position may now be adjusted by positioning a suitable floor jack on the forward edge of the transmission bell housing (Fig. 11).
NOTE: The floor jack must be positioned as shown in (Fig. 11) to prevent minimal upward lifting of the engine.
Fig. 12
3. Carefully apply upward force, allowing the upper engine to rotate rearward until the distance between the center of the rearmost attaching stud
on the engine mount bracket (point "A") and the center of the hole for the washer hose clip on the shock tower bracket (point "B") is 119 mm
(4.70 inch) (Fig. 12).
4. With the engine held at the proper position, tighten both the upper and lower torque strut bolts to 118 Nm (87 ft. lbs.) (Fig. 10).
5. Remove the floor jack.

jT · Post by jT » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:36 pm

Confirmed the pulley torx is T40.

a T55 however for the bolt removed through the access plug!?!?

and how the hell do you get the 3 bracket bolts out!?!? theres enough room really for 1 to come out semi-easily, the others!??!?!!??!

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:18 pm

You need to put a floor jack under the engine, and move it up or down, depending on the bolt. It needs to go fairly high to get the one to slide all the way out. I managed to do it without disconnecting the exhaust, but it may be easier if it is unhooked from the down pipe. Depends on which part you want to struggle with.

jT · Post by jT » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:23 pm

occasional demons wrote:It needs to go fairly high to get the one to slide all the way out.

and that's safe to do? oh man... i don't like that!

looking at it i didn't really see a need to remove the lower torque strut.. but i guess it has to be removed to lift the engine up significantly? i tried to remove the front torque strut bolt and the whole engine shifted!! need to put a impact gun on it i think.

Post by **occasional demons** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 1:35 pm

Yes both struts need removed, just leave the trans mount on, and it will go up/down without too much issue. The exhaust will help stabilize it if you leave it hooked up. Just watch that when the pipe hits the tunnel, you don't keep lifting. I put a 3/4" piece of wood between the jack and oil pan to spread the weight. Just break loose as many bolts as you can first, so the engine doesn't want to rock so much. If you don't rush it, it should go smoothly. The first time usually gets the WTF! instincts going about lifting and lowering it, to get those bolts out. Just remember what spot they go in. Because getting them back in is just as much fun. And keep an eye on the jack too.

MoparFreek · Post by **MoparFreek** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 6:08 pm

I didn't have any trouble with the engine mount plate once the engine was up a little, had more trouble with the PS pump.

jT · Post by jT » Mon Sep 28, 2009 11:27 am

does the PS pulley need to be removed to get the mount plate off?!!? i dont see a way of pulling the plate out enough to clear the bolt-holes without taking the PS pulley off and pulling it out from the front

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 12:05 pm

IIRC, there is a hole in the pulley to access the bolt(s)?

I know I removed mine without too much difficulty, once I figured it out, but it has been a few years...

jT · Post by jT » Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:37 pm

What I ended up doing, and basically it seemed necessary to have to do, was to take off the power steering pump in order to pull the plate out from around it... it was just the 2 mounting bolts on the inside of it so it wasnt a big deal.. but I didnt see any other way of being able to pull the plate off.

Also I only unbolted the front bolt from the lower torque strut.. didnt see any reason to remove it entirely. The rear isnt attached to the engine.

other than that it mostly went smoothly...

quick test drive-- i seem to have a louder growling noise now while accelerating.. any ideas?

just a pic..... this is how high the engine was raised!! and actually i went a little higher in the end in order to put the bottom most bolt back in since for whatever reason i couldnt get it from the bottom.. (the power steering pump is attached, that was before taking it off)

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 2:14 pm

Way Cool.... It's about time someone made a how-to with nice diagrams.

Thank you, Chris.

- Nick

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:14 am

^^^^
Engine up for PS removal and tensioner bracket bolt removal

^^^^
Engine down for lower tensioner bracket bolt removal

Mopar65 · Post by **Mopar65** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 2:50 pm

After how many miles should the belts be replaced anyway? My car is getting up 70k and i don't know if the previous owner ever did it

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Thu Oct 08, 2009 6:19 pm

your getting to the point, 90k is service interval....

Hudson_Neon · Post by **Hudson_Neon** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 4:50 pm

just did this... but ended up having to replace the whole motor mount. my bolt through the pulley was seized in and in the end the tensioner broke off of the mount. live and learn

Kezzo123 · Post by **Kezzo123** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 7:01 pm

Just for the record this doesnt work on RHD neons. Tried it last weekend and the motor cant go high enough due to the master cylinder. Had to send the car into the garage where they pulled the axels and moved the engine and trans over to get to it.

Oh and you cant get the pulley in the UK so I had to machine the pully so I could press the bearing out. Pressed and glued a new bearing into it. So far so good.

Regards all!

nerox · Post by **nerox** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 8:09 am

Kezzo123 wrote:Just for the record this doesnt work on RHD neons. Tried it last weekend and the motor cant go high enough due to the master cylinder. Had to send the car into the garage where they pulled the axels and moved the engine and trans over to get to it.

Oh and you cant get the pulley in the UK so I had to machine the pully so I could press the bearing out. Pressed and glued a new bearing into it. So far so good.

Regards all!

I'm not sure what you did but I managed it fine.
I think you may have been jacking the engine too close to the front causing it to rotate backwards onto the master cylinder.
Jacking in the middle it goes straight up and you can get to them bolts.

Also that pulley you can get from RockAuto for about £5-6 and they ship internationally. The shipping will be expensive but, if like me you got the timing belt, water pump, tensioner etc from them too, the amount you save on the cheaper parts offsets the shipping and could even save you money.

Jenni · Post by **Jenni** » Tue May 21, 2013 11:11 am

need to da that soon. tensioner is not doing its job anymore. i suspect a broken spring. dammit!

my87csx481 · Post by **my87csx481** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:37 am

Anybody replace just the pulley and bearing, or just the tensioner arm with spring, pulley and bearing?

These sub-assemblies are available from rockauto, napa, etc.

Mine is making some horrible noise and I don't have a $400 wad of cash burning a hole in my wallet.

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 10:54 pm

my87csx481 wrote:Anybody replace just the pulley and bearing, or just the tensioner arm with spring, pulley and bearing?

These sub-assemblies are available from rockauto, napa, etc.

Mine is making some horrible noise and I don't have a $400 wad of cash burning a hole in my wallet.

It is possible to replace just the pulley and bearing.

( assuming that's where the issue lies )

However ..... IF the tension arm spring has gone bad, and it can no longer 'tension' the belt, you'll need to replace the whole assembly.

I don't know of a way to replace ^ that. It would be nice if someone found a way....

- Nick

my87csx481 · Post by **my87csx481** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 9:37 am

Napa lists the arm with a spring, pulley, and bearing already on it (Gates part). They also have just the pulley with a bearing in it.

My issue is just the bearing....it's screaming now.

Gonna' attempt the job tomorrow. I was just wondering if anyone has had any success getting the pulley off and installing a new one....and what troubles were run into, etc./how bad was the job. (It looks like it's gonna' be a nightmare getting my hands and tools in there....power steering pump and bracket have to come off....I'm not even sure if the pulley/arm will swing out enough to get at the pulley bolt without having to take the whole cover assembly off the front of the engine???)

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 2:30 pm

From what I remember, the whole MM plate needs to be removed.

The separate arm is not the correct part. But I have played with the idea of adapting one to the MM plate. (If I could get a used one to play with) Not paying ~$85 for a new tension arm.

Even a sliding tensioner like the alternator uses, would be good with me. The 300M's use two sliding tensioners, vs the spring loaded type.

moe8555 · Post by **moe8555** » Sun Nov 17, 2013 10:35 am

Hi,
I just did this job twice in one month. Now I'm an expert

Once to swap out the pulley, and then again to swap out both torque struts and the motor mount.

All I can say is that the second time around took less than half the time and I was a lot less stressed out. I think a third time would go even faster!

My biggest hang-up was that the screw holding the pulley in was all worn out and seized in. I had to take the whole mount plate to a garage and pay $5 for someone to unseize the screw.

Post by **occasional demons** » Sun Nov 17, 2013 5:10 pm

LOL, $5 can be a bargain, depending on what your patience level is that day, and what tools you have available.