commando45

I'm having trouble with removal of the belt tensioner. is there any diy in this forum?
i'm at the point where i can see the bracket for the belt tensioner which is sandwiched
between the ac compressor. i have no ideaa where the third bolt is, or how many bolts total i have to take off. please, if anyone knows
a great way to take off the belt tensioner without taking off the ac compressor and discharging
the system of refrigerant. or if i even have to do that at all (crossing fingers that i hope i dont have to)as for now, i cannot also find a tutorial or diagram on alldata, so it is
frustrating for me at the moment. i thank everyone in advance for looking at this, any ideas and suggestions are appreciated. thanks

CARspec

Tensioner bolt locations

There are 5 bolts. You need to remove the A/C compressor to get back there. You'll be working around the crank sensor harness as well - don't break it!

commando45

ThaNk so much CARspec

Do you completely remove the compressor?

How many bolts for compressor removal?

As far as relieving pressure, is that easy?

I have easy access to everything since I removed the cover under the car

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

You might be able to get away with just disconnecting the compressor from the bracket holding it in place and moving it away just enough to get a swivel-socket in there w/o removing any of the A/C lines.

Good luck!

CARspec

It is so silly tight in there you have to pull the whole compressor out.

Pay a shop to discharge and recharge your R-134a instead of just venting it. The ozone thanks you ahead of time.

commando45

Thanks guys for the advice. It is a 130K mile car which is still going strong. I appreciate it so much

im going to try tomorrow. im surprised that there isnt a diy on here, out of all the great things

we have on the website. maybe i should cook up a diy on this for other IS owners

kamileon

You can just move the compressor to the side and sneek the bolts out? Why you replacing it? You most likely have a bad alternator clutch pulley. It looks like a bad tensioner since you will hear noise and tensioner rocking back and forth. If you pull the cover off the alternator pulley, you will see rust. The pulley is not a diy since you need a special dealer tool. Might want to compare prices of a reman oem alternator versus pulley replacement at dealer.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

^You bring up a good point, why is the entire tensioner being replaced? Usually it is entire the belt itself causing noises or the water pump or the alternator. I've only read of one other thread where someone had to replace the tensioner itself.

commando45

i suspected it was the tensioner since it would chirp at idle, and plus i already bought it and cannot return the tensioner assembly. for now i took off the old tensioner pulley and replaced with the new one, so the chirp at idle went away. but when i turn off the car, i hear a chirp as the engine shuts off. i was thinking the mechanism inside the tensioner assembly would be the cause of the noise.

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Did you replace the belt?

commando45

yes i replaced the idler pulley, tensioner pulley and the belt

Gville350

iTrader: (10)

Give the new parts time to wear-in. If the chirp doesn't go away then perhaps it might be the alternator pulley or clutch inside?

jsibayan

Hey Commando45, did you replace the entire tensioner pulley assembly?

commando45

no sir i havent had time to replace the assembly yet? i just bought a set of o rings so i can discharge

the ac system and proceed with the removal of the compressor to access the tensioner. then if i do

that, i can finally tell whether its something else. eitherway, i dont think its been replaced since it is

already at 130k Miles.what do people do when they know its the alternator clutch assembly//pulley?

does that mean take it to the stealership? of course my IS is already out of warranty

jsibayan

I have 118K on my IS and it sounds like a flock under the hood. You gotta let me know when you install it. I like to hear what kind of mess I'm going to get into.