I'm planning to replace my Aircon' and power steering belts, and the two idler pullies, this weekend. I have all of the associated parts required, a well equipped tool box, jacks and stands all ready to roll. The job seems simple enough but I've never done it before. Anything I need to know before I get halfway through the job and have a non-functioning car?

I'm tackling this job single handedly... literally, as I only have one arm. Am I being realistic here? I'm both confident and stubborn, so reality cheques are welcome. If I'm in over my head I'll book it on with the mechanic.

Only other thing that bothers me is the AC/Alt belt. I have a Gates 6PK1220 on hand. The original part was supposed to be a 6PK1215 but I've been told the extra five will adjust out. Bosch list the belt being a 6PK1195, Dayco as a 6PK1200... which one is right? The old belt is OLD so I can see any numbers on it.

Thanks in advance.

The numbers are in mm, so the longest at 1220 mm and the shortest 1195 mm have a difference of 25 mm, possibly the adjustment will be able to cope. I have a 6PK1200 belt which I haven't fitted yet, fingers crossed.

One armed effort, eh? Jack the front right wheel off the floor, user a jack stand under a solid part of the body and remove the wheel (might be an idea to back off the lug nuts before the wheel is off the ground), then the splash shield.
The front belt is easy, undo the middle nut of the pulley and it just comes off. Wind the adjuster all the way down to make fitting the new belt possible.
The rear pulley is held in by a couple of bolts. There is one bolt there with a really long head, that's holding on the power steering pump, don't need to come off (unless it stops you from removing the pulley).
Fit the new pulleys and belts, then adjust the tension (check first though that all of the belts are sitting in their pulleys on the crank, aircon, alt and power steering pump correctly - a mistake there will shred a belt quickly when you run the car). They need to be really tight, should only move about 1 cm if you press really hard with your thumb in the middle of the bottom run.
Check all bolts and nuts are tight, refit splash guard, refit wheel, remove jack stand and jack, tighten up lug nuts.

Excellent walkthrough mate! Sounds like something I should be able to manage.

I had planned to come in from the bottom and then just hope everything worked out. Getting a heads up on the bolts here and there is a great help.

Much appreciated.

Lift comp front dont twist the car

The alt belt is easy but ps belt can be a little tricky

Belts are pk1195 for alt
4pk900 for ps

Ps tensioner is a little tricky one handed but easy way is to install belt and then tensioner

Lift comp front dont twist the car

The alt belt is easy but ps belt can be a little tricky

Belts are pk1195 for alt
4pk900 for ps

Ps tensioner is a little tricky one handed but easy way is to install belt and then tensioner

Ah, jobs done. Alternator/AC belt = piece of cake... too simple.

F@#KING POWER STEERING BELT!!! WTF!! Horrible. I'm going to have nightmares about that thing for weeks... or at least until I suppress them with alcohol and cheap women.

I changed the idler pullies on both. Once the bracket for the power steering idler came off my nightmares began. Remembering that I did this with one arm - holding that bracket on while I levering the tension on enough to line up the upper bolt would've been hilarious to watch. All feet and swear words.

What may have turned this dream job into the nightmare that it was could've been me removing the lower (long hex head) bolt from the power steering pump. Once I did that, and put a little tension on the belt, I couldnt get it back in. I ended up screwing it in from the other end, to line it all up again, then came at it from the front properly. Fixed.

Its all together now and survived the test drive. Runs great, no noise, no slip and no failures. Yet. Total time 2.5 hours including the test drive. The PS belt probably accounts for 2 hours of that time.

My 6PK1220 belt fitted up without any issues. Though I'd say I'm going to be a bit light on for adjustment in the future.

I had a noisy lifter for a few minutes after doing this job. Front bank somewhere I'm pretty sure. Seems to have faded to almost inaudible now though. How hard could lifters be one handed :eeek:

Also, thanks again for all your help and advice fellas.

What may have turned this dream job into the nightmare that it was could've been me removing the lower (long hex head) bolt from the power steering pump. Once I did that, and put a little tension on the belt, I couldnt get it back in.

I had a noisy lifter for a few minutes after doing this job. Front bank somewhere I'm pretty sure. Seems to have faded to almost inaudible now though. How hard could lifters be one handed :eeek:

Whoops! Did the same thing myself, shoulda warned you! lol

Doing the lifters one handed? Maybe not . . . . .