2002-2006 Camry Serpentine Belt Replacement Help, Lots of Torque?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

I have a 2005 Camry with about 192,000 miles on it. I was trying to identify a loud humming noise that I could hear while accelerating only at lower than highway speeds. I suspected it was one of the pulleys. I have the original serpentine belt tensioner on my car. The belt was replaced at around 50,000 miles ago. I removed the serpentine belt, had to apply an extreme amount of torque on the tensioner, but I was able to get it off. I spined all the pullies, and found the tensioner pulley to be the bad pulley. Loud ringing like noise when I spun it with my hands. I suspect the bearing for it has worn out. I was happy that I identified the problem. I was going to just simply reinstall the belt and order the tensioner assembly (pulley, strut) off the internet to save some money.

However, when I went to reinstall the belt, apparently I applied to much torque and the “dummy” bolt broke off the tensioner. So now I have to replace the whole tensioner. No big deal, but I will still have the same issue of getting the belt back on once I reinstall it.

I know the correct routing diagram, and I’m following it. I was using the alternator pulley as the last pulley that I would put the belt on with my hand while releasing the tension on the tensioner. I don’t know if another pulley might be easier? I was going to do this pulley as the last one, because it’s the closest one to me and easiest to get to when releasing the tension. It is right on top. Maybe there’s another one that would be easier? Not to sure though, maybe the water pump pulley? The water pump pulley is not grooved though.

Maybe it’s because my tensioner was really old, I had to apply more torque? However, I thought with time the strut would become less tight as it could not withstand the force as good, and not stiffer?

I broke a 3/8 drive ratchet in the process, to much torque, it broke around the square drive anvil. So I used a 3/8 drive breaker bar with a cheater pipe to allow for more torque, and that’s when I broke the “dummy” bolt off.

There seems to be an extreme amount of torque required. Almost like I’m doing something wrong or there’s something wrong with the original tensioner on there. Anyone have any tips and tricks on doing this on this car? I see people on YouTube removing and reinstalling the belt so easily on this car, with just simply a ratchet and no cheater pipe. Mine seems so much stiffer.

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I removed the dog bone mount, the mounting brackets for it, as well as the black bar going to it to give me more clearance (highlighted in yellow). But I’ve seen YouTube videos of people doing this without doing that. It gave me more room for sure, but still required lots of torque.
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The dummy bolt is a 19 mm. I was using a 3/8 drive tool because I don’t have a 1/2 drive tool (ratchet or breaker bar) and socket combination that would allow me to get between the engine bay and tensioner. Tried a couple of different sockets, along with both my ratchet and breaker bar, because it was taking up to much space to get in-between the engine bay and tensioner, I couldn’t use one. So I had to use a 3/8 drive tool. I know a 1/2 drive tool would be stronger because of a bigger anvil. Although it seems like at this point my issue is not applying enough torque (I broke the dummy bolt off).

I’m sitting here looking at the replacement tensioner I got from AutoZone, and noticed oil leaking around the strut =(. The box it came in also has this weird stain on it. I find this extremally odd for a brand new strut. I take it, I have to return it and get a different one? Why would a new strut leak like this? I picked it up and found an oil substance on my hand saw an oily substance around the strut. Then noticed the stain on the box. That’s when I connected the two.

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It looks brand new and still has the tag on it.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

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Yeah, lots of torque with a 1/2 drive breaker bar has been my experience the few times I’ve done this on Chrysler minivans. I might have put a extension pipe - don’t remember. Big thing is to avoid torquing in the wrong direction.

3

Did your wrist and elbow let out a crack before the hex broke off?

The tensioner’s frozen.

Tester

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Well it’s good to know that it’s a problem with the part. Here’s the hex stuck in the socket.

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And here’s what the tensioner looks like at this point.
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So I ran into some issues with removing the tensioner.

I removed the left nut on the engine mount (not transmission) and the lower nut on the tensioner

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I put a floor jack with a book underneath the oil pan. Despite pumping it up a bit, the engine would not lift off the motor mount at all. Meaning the distance between these two parts did not increase at all.

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This is despite me loosening the bolt on the front engine mount a bit to allow for some movement to occur in the front. I also had the dog bone removed, as mentioned earlier it was removed to increase space to relieve the tension on the belt.

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Not really sure how to get around the issue of the engine seeming to be seized to the engine mount. I guess I could spray some liquid wrench on the stud and let it sit overnight, maybe tap the metal part of the mount mounted directly to the engine with a rubber mallet, to try and loosen it up.

I guess I’ll give that a try first.

5

Drive belt removal instructions; “Slowly turn the belt tensioner clockwise for more than 3 seconds.”

Lost in the translation; retract the tensioner slowly allowing at least 3 seconds for the hydraulic damper in the tensioner to compress.

While the jack is applying lifting pressure under the engine, strike the side of the engine bracket where the numbers 12315 appear with a 3-pound steel hammer.

6

Actually not a part problem, it’s a technique problem. Either the trying to compress the hydraulic tensioner too quickly (as mentioned above) or trying to force it to compress more than it can.
Just as an aside @YoshiMoshi3, is there any automotive task you don’t/can’t turn into a cluster f@&k?

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I’m trying. I’ll try following the instructions and pulling on the tensioner more slowly once I get the new one installed. Just out of curiosity, why it required to do it slowly? When I relieve the tension (expand the strut?) going slowly somehow requires less force than going faster I guess? Just trying to understand conceptually why going slow matters, I’ll definitely go slower. Yea, I never seen anyone mention going slowly in the YouTube videos I watched, but have seen in the instructions for the part to go slowly.

8

Because if you try to collapse the hydraulic tensioner to fast, you’ll snap of the “Dummy Bolt”

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Also despite my best efforts of tapping that area and letting it soak in liquid wrench over night, it doesn’t seem to want to be lifted off of the mount. Any ideas?

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Yes , stop working on vehicles .

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Well I noticed that there’s an AC line directly beneath the black piece of metal with 12315 on it (the mounting bracket mounted on the engine). There’s not to much space underneath it. I suppose I could leave the top nut on, and remove the three bottom ones? Don’t know if that would work? Then the mount would lift up with the engine.

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Stay on the toyotanation forum where there is only one person from this thread that will be mean to you.

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I was thinking there were at least 2. But ToyotaNation with the other children is an option.

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it almost appears that there is a washer of some sort on that motor mount- right at the bottom of where the bolt would snug up to. Is that unscrewable? I don’t think it looks strong enough to secure the motor mount under driving conditions, but it may be enough of a wedge to keep the motor from lifting off the mount in your circumstance.