Hi

My car decided to throw a fit yesterday and the recovery agent discovered the serpentine belt had come off and the idler pulley had melted (quite annoying bearing in mind it was serviced a month ago).

Anyhow, the recovery agent thought I could replace this all myself and so i'm going to give it a go.

Has anyone else tried/got any tips?

V6?

Click image to enlarge

Thanks Bardley

Yeah, it's the V6. I'd just decided to edit my post to say that but you beat me to it.

I'm just about to go and pick the parts up but have no skills at all...worried is the word but it's already broken...i'm guessing I can't make it any worse!

Fitting the pully - 2 mins

Fitting the belt - 2 mins

However, I can't find the right size socket head for the belt tensioner...hours! Anyone have any idea what size? I've tried a 10mm and its too fat to fit, 9mm got wedged in, 8mm fit in but doesn't seem to grab anything.

They often have a square hole which takes the square peg of an extension bar from a socket set. You plonk it in, and use the extension bar to pull back against the tension to release the pressure on the belt.

( Is that what you're asking about ? ) V8 or else ...