Serpentine Belt Replacement

[rlent]

...... 'zactly .......

[SewerRatz]

Well at 87700 miles my belt shredded and the parts of the belt wrapped around the water pump pulley while half the belt was still in tack. I noticed the idler pulley to the left of the water pump pulley is missing a piece of the the guide or call it a lip on the front of the pulley. My question is I do not see how to remove this pulley. Is there a dust cap, or is it attached to something that I need to replace the whole thing?

[SewerRatz]

Ok sort of answered my own question reading over the the Sprinter Service manual I found on this wonderful forum. I see it is attached to the water pump but it does have a dust cover over the bolt. Now just need to wait to Monday since none of the auto part stores sell the idler pulley.

[SewerRatz]

So the service manueal says it is a dust cover over the bolt. Is there a trick on getting this covor off?

[rlent]

Originally Posted by SewerRatz

So the service manueal says it is a dust cover over the bolt. Is there a trick on getting this covor off?

Nah ... it just pops off ..... the only trick to is finding something small enough to get down in there to pry it loose. I used the file end/arm on a set of fingernail clippers ... bent the file pretty good, but it got the dustcap off .... I was able to straighten the clippers out afterwards .....

[SewerRatz]

Originally Posted by rlent

Nah ... it just pops off ..... the only trick to is finding something small enough to get down in there to pry it loose. I used the file end/arm on a set of fingernail clippers ... bent the file pretty good, but it got the dustcap off .... I was able to straighten the clippers out afterwards .....

Whoot thanks. I was getting worried that this pulley was press fitted on or something. Its raining now so I guess I try getting it off in the morning.

[DerFahrer]

Again, thanks to this awesome forum for all the great info.

With the FSM picture supplied in the first post, and the suggestion to loosen the tensioner from underneath the vehicle...

... I literally had the belt changed in 10 minutes, and that was including quadruple-checking the routing because I didn't believe that I had done it right. I did it too fast!

AND the engine was still hot!

God I love longitudinally-mounted engines!

Also, attached is a bonus pic of the old belt. It was definitely due for replacement after 115k miles!

[mbsprinter]

I, too want to thank hkpierce for his thorough write up. I changed mine yesterday and yeah, 10 minutes is about right. Would have taken half a day using the instructions in the manual.

[shortshort]

Just did this. With a T-60 socket on the end of a ratchet there is plenty of room to manipulate the tensioner. The guy who wrote the manual is a closet sadist however. Don't try to line everything up except the water pump and put the belt over that pulley last. Do everything except the AC compressor pulley and push the belt over that one last. It's right in your face when you are under the vehicle and there is room in front of it to slip the belt completely off so you have enough slack to get the rest of the pulleys lined up.

[farmtomarket]

If you've got rear air on a 2005 you'll need an E12 female torx to get the accessory V belt off prior to the main belt!
See my post regarding multiple thrown belts and possible cause!

http://sprinter-source.com/forum/sho...082#post106082