broke my alternator belt on the way back from a hockey game tonight. Do I have to take off the one that runs the water pump to replace it? Any break down of the steps would be appreciated.

 

on the 22re the same belt runs the water pump and alt. u have to take off the power steering belt to replace the alt/water pump belt.

 

3rd Edit: Deleted another dumb question after the answer became clear. just have to loosen up the alternator and I'm done

 

While you've got your hands dirty you may as well replace the other belts as well. They're not much $ and if they're the same age as the alternotor one who knows how much longer they'll last.

 

Ps belt looked really nice- assuming PO replaced it. No ac.

 

as mentioned, if you have to replace one belt, you should probably replace all of them.

but look on the bright side- if you take off a belt that wasn't so bad, you have a spare that can get you down the road a fair bit if the new one breaks.

 

Can anyone explain how to replace the alternator belt and power steering belt on a 3VZE? My alternator belt is beginning to fray and I need to replace it. I also figure that I might as well replace the P/S belt too. I've been doing my valve cover gaskets and noticed the poor shape of the belt.

 

First, you MUST disconnect the negative battery cable before attempting to put a wrench on the alternator. It has a cable that goes directly to the battery and will blow the main ALT fuse if you short the battery terminal of the alternator to ground.

Both the PS pump and the alternator have two bolts that need to be loosened. One is a pivot bolt that the unit rotates on, and a lock bolt that slides inside of a curved slot. Loosen, but do not remove, the two bolts and the pump or alt will pivot and the belt will be loose.

Work the belts over the fan and out.

Install the new belts on the pulleys. Check that the alt belt grooves are correctly positioned on all the pulleys.

The belts are tightened by pushing the pump or alt away from the crank and then the bolts are tightened.

I pull on the PS pump itself toward the passenger side of the truck with a lot of force and then tighten the locking bolt. It helps to have a helper tighten the bolt while you pull on the pump.

A crow bar or pry bar of some sort can be used to pry the alt away from the engine and tighten the belt. I do this from the bottom while a helper tightens the lock bolt from the top. Pry as near to the front of the alt as you can so you don't damage the diodes, etc, at the rear.

The belts should have a 1/2" deflection when you push in the middle after the belts are tight.

Tighten the pivot bolts and check that the lock bolts are tight also.

Reconnect the negative battery cable.

 

Great! Thanks for the instructions, doesn't sound too bad.

 

Belts on the 3VZ-E and 22re are easy mode

 

Thanks for the good explanation!