Write-Up: Replacing Belts and Pulleys

Sweepspear wrote:

It looked like for ease of assembly, GM placed a short section of hose on the radiator before it was placed into the car, then it was mated up with the hose from the block once the radiator was installed. 4 clamps total for 1 hose.

glad you saw that too. I was trying to describe the multiple hose sections I needed for my lower hose to the dealer and they had no idea what I was talking about.

Sweepspear wrote:

It looked like for ease of assembly, GM placed a short section of hose on the radiator before it was placed into the car, then it was mated up with the hose from the block once the radiator was installed. 4 clamps total for 1 hose.

I removed that short section completely when I changed my hoses.
It is not available on anyone's parts list either.
Unless you get a length of hose the same diameter and cut it to length. But it is not needed anyway.

Derek,
This is the tool and happens to be priced right. $26.76 + shipping
Tooltopia.com I've bought a few things from them. Quick shipping.
I've seen them at Sears for under $50.00
Originally (some years ago ) they were closer to $100.00. That's what i paid for it.

http://www.tooltopia.com/ProductImages/3m-cla/ap-9409.jpg

Rickw wrote:

Derek,
This is the tool and happens to be priced right. $26.76 + shipping
Tooltopia.com I've bought a few things from them. Quick shipping.
I've seen them at Sears for under $50.00
Originally (some years ago ) they were closer to $100.00. That's what i paid for it.

http://www.tooltopia.com/ProductImages/3m-cla/ap-9409.jpg

I found a tool at Advance Auto that resembles that one. It is for removing the pinch clamps. I cant remember the price but it was worth it.

I also have eyeballed the two piece lower hose on the 99 Riv and wondered about replacing it. I assume the replacement hose will replace the lower hose and the short section as well.

Bert

ibmoses wrote:

I also have eyeballed the two piece lower hose on the 99 Riv and wondered about replacing it. I assume the replacement hose will replace the lower hose and the short section as well.

Bert

Yes Bert.
Just remove all the non-sense down there and the new hose is long enough to go directly to the radiator.
Yours is 10 years old, probably due for some preventive replacement and save the embarrassment of being stuck on the side of the road because of a hose.!!!!!
My hoses still looked good but I knew they were original by looking at them, so I got new from the local auto parts stores.
Napa only showed one of them as available in their computer and the other independent parts store nearby only showed the other one.
So, don't give up if a store tells you "Dealer Only" because they don't have a listing for it. They are available in the aftermarket.
Same thing for the molded heater hoses.

I got both hoses from RockAuto last year, will probably replace them next year.

I bought a Goodyear hose from Autozone. $15.99.
The label on the hose read Goodyear part# 62152, and it is made longer at the bottom to replace the 2 piece section.
None of the parts stores in my area had it on the shelf.


I've always gotten by using a channel lock pliers on those spring clamps. with this one, that tool would have made life easier I think.
I had to walk away and come back to it the following evening. The bastard! Needles to say, a worm gear clamp went in it's place.

If I remember correctly, my lower clamp was positioned just like yours was, at the bottom. Must have been easier at the factory that way.
Was not overly difficult to remove with the hose clamp tool.
I eliminated the spacer and short length of hose and reused one of the spring type clamps only because I have that tool. Otherwise I definitely would have changed to a worm clamp also.

I think the gm hoses I got from monsterpartsonline were only 12 and 18 for the upper and lower. I'll see if I can find the actual price paid, but do check em out for oem hoses at aftermarket prices.

I have had those hoses on back order from Monsterpartsonline for two months now.
He has one but cannot get the second one. They are discontinued from GM and he has been requesting one from other dealers stock but has only received either incorrectly marked parts or damaged parts.
So on Friday we agreed that he will ship the one hose only and give up trying to get the second one.
I'll go to the aftermarket for that one. I saw a listing for them online through Advanced Auto Parts.
It looks like the Deekster got the last one in the world.

OOP's, I'm a bonehead sometimes. It looks like Derek was talking about Upper and Lower Radiator hoses that may be available through Monsterparts.
Considering that was what everyone was discussing. Duh.
They may indeed be available from GM, I don't know.
I was referring to the 2 molded heater hoses that Derek had ordered from them and received after a delay in shipping.
I tried ordering them 2 months ago and now find they are obsolete items.

This site is a God send! Last year I had one of the accessory idler pulleys self destruct taking the belt with it. Utilizing the information here, I was able to replace the pulley and the belt in an afternoon.

Last week, the lower SC idler pulley evaporated taking the belt with it. I purchased the belt, tensioner pulley, and the upper ribbed idler pulley. After removing the motor mount and engine bracket, I made an interesting discovery. I did not remove the power steering pump to get the engine bracket out! It did take a bit of finagling to remove it though. That's when I discovered that the lower idler pulley was missing.

So after making another trip to the parts store to get the lower idler pulley (GATES 38001), I decided to also replace the year old accessory belt as well. I felt that since I already had everything apart, I may as well replace it to.

Does anyone have the part number for the rear engine bracket spacer?

Thank everyone for their posts!

Rickw wrote:

I have had those hoses on back order from Monsterpartsonline for two months now.
He has one but cannot get the second one. They are discontinued from GM and he has been requesting one from other dealers stock but has only received either incorrectly marked parts or damaged parts.
So on Friday we agreed that he will ship the one hose only and give up trying to get the second one.
I'll go to the aftermarket for that one. I saw a listing for them online through Advanced Auto Parts.
It looks like the Deekster got the last one in the world.

OOP's, I'm a bonehead sometimes. It looks like Derek was talking about Upper and Lower Radiator hoses that may be available through Monsterparts.
Considering that was what everyone was discussing. Duh.
They may indeed be available from GM, I don't know.
I was referring to the 2 molded heater hoses that Derek had ordered from them and received after a delay in shipping.
I tried ordering them 2 months ago and now find they are obsolete items.

weren't there longer Goodyear, Gates or Dayco molded heater hoses that you then need to cut/trim to fit? I suggest you check rockauto.com... if I recall correctly the game is you get the longer hoses and then like a picture puzzle you match the bends up. I think for one you end up trimming off both ends of the hose or some such.

And besides do you really want NOS *rubber* hoses?

Albertj

Well, at the time I ordered them I did not know they were discontinued.
So, no I would not normally want NOS hoses if they have been sitting on a shelf dry rotting for a period of time.
After finally being able to talk to someone in person and not through e-mail, I found out the Mfg date was too old for me and I was able to cancel the order on the hoses and have him ship all the other parts I had ordered.
I should have updated the post, but did not.
I will get new aftermarket heater hoses soon.

wyomork wrote:

Does anyone have the part number for the rear engine bracket spacer?

Not sure what part you are talking about here. Do you mean a transmission mount?

Rickw wrote:

Well, at the time I ordered them I did not know they were discontinued.
So, no I would not normally want NOS hoses if they have been sitting on a shelf dry rotting for a period of time.
After finally being able to talk to someone in person and not through e-mail, I found out the Mfg date was too old for me and I was able to cancel the order on the hoses and have him ship all the other parts I had ordered.
I should have updated the post, but did not.
I will get new aftermarket heater hoses soon.

I understand better now

Albertj

Whoa... just read through this writeup. Looks like I'll be having a lot of fun when it comes time to do the belts. Geez.... LOL

DEMonte1997 wrote:

Whoa... just read through this writeup. Looks like I'll be having a lot of fun when it comes time to do the belts. Geez.... LOL

I can do it in 15 minutes or less now

No way... Did you remove half of that spacer so that you don't have to remove the bracket anymore? I mean... heck, I can do the belts in the Regal in 10 mins tops but this is a whole other beast.

The reason why I posted was that I heard some squeaking coming from the car today and saw that my acc belt had a tiny tear in it. Just a matter of time.... Ugh.

DEMonte1997 wrote:

No way... Did you remove half of that spacer so that you don't have to remove the bracket anymore? I mean... heck, I can do the belts in the Regal in 10 mins tops but this is a whole other beast.

The reason why I posted was that I heard some squeaking coming from the car today and saw that my acc belt had a tiny tear in it. Just a matter of time.... Ugh.

Well.. i jack up the motor, take off the engine mount bushing, than i take off the top bolt to the engine mount bracket, than the bottom one.. and out comes the spacer.. than put the belts on.. and walla.. start to finsh.. prolly a half an hour.. but it can be done quickly after doing it a whole bunch

Are the pulleys known to go bad in this engine? When I got the oil changed I asked about a whining noise coming from the belt area. The guy said it sounds like a bad idler pulley, and said I'd need to get that replaced and a few other pulleys that are making noise. Ugh, the pain that comes from being so anal and watchful.

GMFreak8 wrote:

Are the pulleys known to go bad in this engine? When I got the oil changed I asked about a whining noise coming from the belt area. The guy said it sounds like a bad idler pulley, and said I'd need to get that replaced and a few other pulleys that are making noise. Ugh, the pain that comes from being so anal and watchful.

Yes, and at about your age/milage.

deekster_caddy wrote:

GMFreak8 wrote:

Are the pulleys known to go bad in this engine? When I got the oil changed I asked about a whining noise coming from the belt area. The guy said it sounds like a bad idler pulley, and said I'd need to get that replaced and a few other pulleys that are making noise. Ugh, the pain that comes from being so anal and watchful.

Yes, and at about your age/milage.

Lovely. And if I don't do anything with it right away what happens?

Well eventually it will throw a belt. The good news is the pullies themselves are pretty cheap, $10 or $15 for the replacements.

deekster_caddy wrote:

Well eventually it will throw a belt. The good news is the pullies themselves are pretty cheap, $10 or $15 for the replacements.

How many do I need to replace again? Sorry for sounding like such an idiot, but I can't remember what my mechanic said.

Quote :

Are the pulleys known to go bad in this engine?

Yes, starting about 85k miles, you can expect them to go one by one. In my case, I got about 150 miles out of each one after they started making noise, which was more like a grinding/chuffing sound at low RPM.

If you wait until they fail, you will probably need to replace the serpentine belt(s) as well, unless you can stop the car immediately. If you notice any of the following, turn the key off and coast to the side of the road immediately, inspect under hood:

• significant loss of power (no supercharger sound)
• steering becomes very hard (power steering loss)
• sudden high coolant temp (no water pump)
• quiet "thump" under the hood (belt has slipped off)
• repeating "tap-tap-tap" sound (part of belt slapping hood)

If you can pull over within 10 secs of the event, could save you the price of a belt(s), and the time of going through belt replacement(s).