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.
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.