How do you loosen an air conditioner belt on a 1999 Nissan Sentra?

Answer 1

I've read in a few articles that first you need to get the power steering belt off. I have a 98 Sentra, and I too need to change my alternator belt (same belt as AC). After reading the articles, they say to loosen the Power Steering belt, you first loosen a bolt that holds the power steering pulley in place. Loosening this bolt will allow the pulley to swing closer to the engine. To cause the pulley to swing closer, there is an adjusting bolt above the pulley. The bolt has two parts. A nut on the driver side of it needs to be loosened first. Then the actual bolt (12mm) can be loosened. Loosening that bolt is supposed to swing the pulley inward which loosens the power steering belt. With the power steering belt off, you can then loosen the nut that holds the idler pulley on the alternator. (14mm) I am speaking of the idler pulley that is to the left of the AC compressor pulley. You'll see the idler pulley as being smooth. The alternator/AC belt uses its smooth side to slide along this pulley, not it's ribbed side. With that loose, the tension on the alternator belt will loosen, and you can then slip that off. That is how I have been told to do it, but I warn you, I tried this for 5 hours yesterday and could not get the power steering belt to loosen. I'm not sure what part I missed. I must have loosened the wrong bolt for the joint. It is difficult to see with the wheel well in the way. I found it easy, though, to reach my hands in there from underneathe the car with the passenger side hoisted up via a jack. My legs stuck out the front of the car. There is much easier access down there instead of from on top. Oh, don't forget, to get in there from below, you'll need to remove the splash guard which is the plastic cover. Once that is off, you'll have ready access to the alternator and power steering pulleys/belts. Best of luck on finding the step that I missed.

Oh, I forgot to add, once you loosen the idler pulley, the pulley sits upon a tensioner rod. The rod is 8mm, so an 8mm wrench is what you'll need for that. Udjusting the rod will loosen the alternator/AC belt. Just remember that you'll need to get the power steering belt off first to replace the AC/alternator belt.