Subaru Forester Owners Forum banner

AC Belt Tensioner

40K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  jimstolz76 
#1 ·
This may seem like a stupid question but is AC Belt & Tensioner hard to replace?

My Ac belt Broke and the i then noticed the ADJUSTER FOR AC IDLER PULLEY was also broken, dealership says that i cant buy just the adjuster, i need a new pulley system because it is a new part now. Also that it is not covered by my Classic added Security service agreement and neither dealership in my area can see me until next week!

so instead of 226 bucks for then to do it i am thinking i am going to try it myself for 56 bucks. i know i need to remove the serpentine belt ..but does anyone have any tips, tricks or pointers to make this a little easier?
 
#2 ·
What year is your Forester? I always thought that there were just two accessory belts and no serpentine belt. I have instructions for a 2008.

Also, put your vehicle info into your signature field (look under the User CP menu item).

Regards,
paul...
 
#4 ·
I've had to do this a couple times on my 02 wrx.

This is from memory so I might be off slightly....

loosen ac idler pulley adjuster (not sure what situation your in now)
there is a nut that holds the pulley in place, and a bolt from the top that tensions that pully

loosen alternator to lower it and allow the belts to be removed, similar to the ac pully. You want to lower the alternator, you might need to push down on it some, mine seemed pretty tight until i put some weight on it to lower it.

once the alternator is lowered you can pull off the belts and replace the ac pulley setup. it might be a good time to replace the belts as well.

put the belts back tighten up the alternator and the ac pully adjustment and your set.

good luck
dm


replace your ac
 
#7 ·
there is a thread on this Forum complete with pictures I think from Peaty which might send you over to "scooby mods"

Anyway try a search with the topic " ac belt " or "power steering belt" should get you everything you need to know.

Good luck and don't bust your knuckles on the radiator fan shroud. It will make strange words come out of your mouth.
 
#8 ·
so i got her working!!! it was a generally easy fix, however it seems the real problem was the screw fitting on the tension expander. it seems the the plastic around it melted itself to the screw so when you want to move the pully up it actually causes it to break.

The part is common at the Subaru dealerships and cost me $13, and from what i am told is only available at subaru parts stores.

So that cost with the 20 dollar belt, my total cost was 33 dollars and a couple of hours of poking around sure bets the $225 fix the garage offered
 
#13 · (Edited)
Well the same thing happened to us while changing the timing belt. My friend was working like hell to loosen that thing and just snapped it into oblivion. We tensioned the AC belt by hand but after a few weeks it's already loose again and the AC clutch is chirping (i'm assuming that's the noise).

So you can pick up just the plastic part from the dealer? Do they sell the entire metal piece as well? Problem is we're going out of town on Thursday and I either need to do a hack job of re-tensioning the belt or preferrably just replace the broken part.

Edit - I think I found them: http://www.trademotion.com/parts/20...leid=1426788&diagram=7602045&diagramCallOut=7
Hope they're in stock!
 
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top