[s-cars] ReA-B-C's of serpentine belt installation- Job done

[Tom Green]

It's good to see you have retained your sense of humor after the trial,
Tom.

It can be difficult for the uninitiated to grasp just how difficult  
this simple
alternator belt replacement can be.

One important note:  Lubricate that tensioner spring, preferably with  
some
high-temp grease like you use on calipers.  The stiffness is probably  
caused
by a rusty spring in the housing and you may restore proper operation  
with a
good cleaning and lubrication and prevent breakage of the spring that  
is a
clear danger right now.  These things have been known to fail with  
grenade-
like force, throwing shrapnel into radiators and timing belt covers-- 
not good.

Tom

----Original message----
> Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2007 18:38:20 -0600
> From: Tom Winter <tom at freeskier.com>
> Subject: [s-cars] A-B-C's of serpentine belt installation - Job done
> To: <s-car-list at audifans.com>
> Message-ID: <C239A11C.B030%tom at freeskier.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
> Hi all, well just finished the job and want to thank everyone who  
> gave me
> pointers. And a special thanks to Tom Green who sent me a nice little
> diagram of how the belt fits around all the hardware in there.
>
> A few items that I found made the job easier:
>
> Remove the metal strip that runs above both lights, across the top  
> of the
> radiator for easier access. It's fast and easy to do, all 10mm  
> screws with
> two philips screws above the lights. Gives much better access.
>
> I also ended up removing the tensioner. I could not, seriously, get  
> the
> thing to move a millimeter. I ended up suspending it between two  
> blocks of
> wood and using my entire body weight to get the bastard to move,  
> slipping in
> a thin wire rope through the two holes to hold it open. I ended up  
> having to
> hacksaw the rope to remove it, after bolting the tensioner back  
> onto the
> engine. Difficult and frustrating, to say the least, but it worked.
>
> To position the belt, I used a long, thick piece of wire, bent at  
> the end in
> a J. It made it very, very easy to get the belt around the fan and  
> where it
> needed to be. Highly recommended.
>
> Oh, and the 1 hour bike ride to the auto parts store in a headwind  
> was also
> nice! LOL! At least it wasn't raining.
>
> Thanks again, everyone.
>
> Tom
> '95 S6 Avant