sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Hello community, I have a question concerning the removal of the tensioner. I can't remember if the power steering pulley has to be removed to get tensioner off. In my mind I Know there is no way to slide the A/C compressor forward with the pulley in the way. Has anyone removed the tensioner on a 98-00 model without doing any other maintenance? What's the easiest way to do this?

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

When I made this thread I kind of figured that I would not get many responses but I was in a rush and I did not think the process through.I took a lil time to think it through and got he work done.

I searched the forum and google and did not findany info on just changing the tensioner out by itself. I remove t before but that was in the process of changing the timing belt.I thought I would be able to change it without repeating some of those steps ut it was not going to happen

Let me state that this is for the 98-00 LS. It should ne similiar for the 95-97 but I'm not sure. I read some posts that on the first gen that you could just remove the 2 nuts and the 1 bolt and just slide it off but that does not apply to the 98-00 model.

On the 98-00 you must remove the power steering pulley to have enough room to unbolt the 1 nut and 1 bolt to slide the A/C compressor forward and to the side since the tensioner sits on the same top stud in back of the compressor. You must remove the passenger side timing belt cover and use some creative wiggling to get it off.You also hve to remove the timing belt dust cover underneath the thermostat housing and wiggle that out of the way. I found it easier to remove the idler pulley to get that dust cover off. After that you can remove the 2 nuts and 1 bolt and slide the tensioner off and up through the fan blades.

The new OEM tensioner is a different design than the old tensioner. The pulley is also smaller on the new tensioner. My car was squealng upon cold startup and I originally bought a new belt but the squeal was still present so I figured it was either the idler or tensioner pulley since both bearings were shot. I pressed the tensioner bearing out with a 22mm socket and rubber mallet and that helped some but the noise was still present but I noticed that if I moved the pulley slightly to the right that the noise went away. his convinced me that the tensioner itself was bad.I found one on ebay for $42 shipped and for now the noise is gone. I have not had a chance to drive the car so I'll see how it goes in a couple of days. I still have to either change the bearing in the idler or buy a new one. I updated my thread so if anyone else searches this in the future they will have a clear answer on how to change out the tensioner for a 98-00 LS.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

Pics of old and new tensioner.

AandSC

Thanks very much for sharing your experience and providing the information. As these cars get older I'm sure there will be others that can benefit from this.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

I searched extensively and came across lots of post but some were for first gen cars which seems to be a lot easier and the posts for second gen were not detailed enough IMO.