How to replace a 2002 town and country serpentine belt?

Answer 1

I just went through this repair. It was not bad. Took 30 minutes and very few tools. Get the correct belt. Have the belt diagram from the engine compartment or elsewhere. This job is done from under the car.

1. Turn the wheel to the RIGHT as far as it will go.

2. Raise the right front side of the car if possible. This is NOT nessesary, but makes the job a little easier. Be safe and use a jack stand.

3. Remove 2 of the lower inner plastic fender/splash guards. They have several of those plastic push buttons. I used a claw hammer and fat screwdriver blade to pry them out. The lower guard has a small metal screw. I used pliers on that one. Set them aside.

4. Now you can see the serpentine belt, the tensioner and all of the pulleys. You will need a light of some kind. Take a good look at the belt and note the route it takes. The idea is to take the tension off the belt and easily remove it. The reality is somewhat different.

5. The tensioner is designed to be moved with a 1/2 (or is it 3/8) square drive socket wrench. It has a square hole in it that you should be able to insert a tool and pull down to move the tensioner and make belt removal easy. The frame of the van is in the way of the square hole. However the spring box end of the tensioner has a rectangular lug on it. The lug is about 3/8 inch thick and 3/4 inch long. I put a 12 inch adjustable wrench on it and pushed up. The tensioner pulley then comes down allowing the belt to come off easily.

6. I recommend putting the new belt on the furthest highest pulley first. That would be the Power Steering pump. Then continue along the bottom following the diagram. But skip the AC pump for now. This allows you to put the belt in all the tight remote places.

7. When you are ready to put pressure on the tensioner again the AC pump will be easy to get to. Good luck.