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

YoshiMoshi3
Sun, 15 Jan 2023 23:16:37 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

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.

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.

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.

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

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

15 posts - 10 participants