How do you replace the drive belt on a Chevrolet Tracker?

Answer 1

Draw a diagram of how the belt is routed around the pulleys. There should be two belts. One is a serpentine and loops around all the accessories. The other is a small one that runs the fan. Looking down at the engine from the top front you will notice that there are two pulleys that are smooth (no grooves). The lower pulley that is slightly to the left is the tensioner. Attach the correct size socket to the nut here with a long handled wrench. The handle should be sticking up into the air towards the hood. Now pull the handle to the right turning the socket clockwise. This will move the pulley and release the tension on the belt. Quickly slide the belt off here and slowly release the socket and handle. Remove the rest of the belt from all the pulleys and slide it forward towards and over and around the fan. Using the diagram you drew put in the new belt in the reverse order. The instructions above helped me--took less than 20 minutes. Thanks. However, for a 2003 Chevy Tracker with a 4 cylinder engine, you should know that the Serpentine belt can be replaced without having to deal with the fan belt (which is clever engineering--the fan belt is entirely within the circumventing of the serpentine belt). On my Tracker, the pulleys and belt travel are arranged starting at the top left (facing the engine): steering pump pulley, idler pulley, water pump pulley, A/C pulley,(dual) crankshaft pulleys (with fan belt pulley attached), tensioner pulley, idler pulley (back to steering pulley). To deal with the tensioner, I put a 14mm socket on a rachet (with an old VW tire tool on the ratchet handle as a short extension--you could also use a small but stout pipe) and followed the instructions above. The belt loosened easily. It took some wiggling to get it out from under the upper idler pulley. Notice which way the printing goes on the old belt and put the new one in the same (if you think it is correct). Re: Fan Belt (2003 Chevy Tracker with a 4 cylinder engine)--took about 30 minutes. The fan belt is a small three-ribbed belt that rides the smaller Crankshaft pulley and turns the Fan only. The belt cannot be removed over the plastic fan (poor engineering, as opposed to superior engineering on the serpentine belt). If you look down at the front of the engine where the water pump ordinarily sits, the fan pulley is there instead. The water pump pulley is to the right on our 2003 Chevy Tracker and can be discerned because it has a large radiator hose attached. The fan pulley has no water couplings. It's attachment to the engine is offset to the right with two bolts (14 mm socket; upper and lower) that have adjustment cutouts (I marked their positions with chalk). The third bolt (in the middle, it does not attach to the engine) as best I could tell is to help you adjust the tension of the fan belt by putting a 14 mmm socket on it and pressing to the right. When you loosen the upper and lower bolts (both of which have washers), the fan belt loosens (leave the middle bolt alone). Take out both top and bottom bolts. The fan, it's shaft, and the fan shaft bearing housing ("fan assembly" let's call it) all come off together (don't take anything apart). Then exchange the old belt for the new one (slip over the back of the bearing housing). Notice which way the printing is oriented on the old belt and put the new one in the same way (if you think the old one was on correctly). Let it hang on the fan shaft. Re-install the fan assembly and its two bolts (with washers), align and fit the belt on the Crankshaft and Fan pulleys, and use the middle bolt to tighten the belt (not too much, I have no torques to give you).