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Could have been worse

Flyn

Go ahead. I'll catch up.
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Mar 1, 2004
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Selling homes on the Gulf Coast of Florida
I'm driving with Amy today in the pouring rain. Lots of traffic and see a puddle ahead. No way to avoid it so I slow some and discover it's deep. After getting through it, my volt meter comes on and I lose power steering. Darn. Lost a belt.

I pull over into a gas station and, sure enough, the main serpentine belt is off. No tools or flash light in the car and the house is a mile and a half away so I decide to go for it. Half a mile from the house, the temp. gauge comes on. No water pump = no cooling. I speed up to around 60 in a 35, put the car in neutral and turn it off. Coasted the last almost half mile. Thank goodness for the slight downhill stretch in front of my house.

That's when I discovered it's a little harder to put a belt on a Park Avenue than a Cobra. Cobra takes half a minute. Park Avenue took half an hour of searching the web for the serpentine pattern and figuring out how to get the tensioner to move. On the Cobra you just stick a breaker bar in it and pull. With the Buick, you have to first put the belt over the tensioner, taking it off the top pulley, then put a socket/breaker bar on it to release the tension and put it over the pulley. there's no room to work with all the accessories and the blower belt as well as the serpentine belt.

I'm glad the belt didn't break because you have to LOOSEN A MOTOR MOUNT AND JACK UP THE MOTOR to replace the belt. Great design there, GM.

At least the car's up and running with no harm done. Could have been worse.
 

syP

Not Banned
May 24, 2007
30,096
357
Downers Grove, Illinois
That must be different setup than a gtp because I can do sc gtp belts quick as shit...

park ave doesnt use dog bone motor mounts..


they use a motor mount in the pulley side that attaches to the frame.. Kind of like the 3.4/3.1 GM engines.

7005483495_a330dbc2e6_z.jpg
 

Turbocharged400sbc

3800 & 4T80E > ALL
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Jun 16, 2007
32,542
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hangover park IL
all you have to do is remove the lower stud and sleeve, dont even need a jack to support the engine. the hardest part is probably unplugging the crank sensor so the sleeve slides out easier...and thats just a 90* pick

how the hell is this stuff difficult?

if you wanna make it super retarded easy, replace the WP (requires removal of bracket) and slot the lower hole and grind a 45* on the ends of the sleeve and it comes apart even faster
 

Turbocharged400sbc

3800 & 4T80E > ALL
TCG Premium
Jun 16, 2007
32,542
15,849
hangover park IL
serpentine belt pulley setups dont work as well with pantyhose as they do with Vbelt setups but there are a few ways to keep you on the road till the next service station....twine or a heavy string run 2-4 individual loops at the least, pull each one tight and just square knot them and cut the tassels and you can get pretty far....
i got a jeep out of the woods and 4 miles to his house with just hay bail twine.

its also never a bad idea to keep an essential toolkit in your car and i always keep the old belt (if its not completly fucked) when replacing belts, toss it in the sleeve and leave it in the trunk.

keep in mind im a guy who keeps everything lol
 

Flyn

Go ahead. I'll catch up.
Moderator
TCG Premium
Mar 1, 2004
68,052
27,984
Selling homes on the Gulf Coast of Florida
I do have basic tools in the car but gave my flashlight to my daughter when she went up to Illinois and haven't replaced it. Hard to get a belt back on when you can't see, don't have the routing pattern and are getting rained on.

It's easy to 2nd guess the situation but I got the car home and got the belt back on so I'm happy.
 
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