What is up with our pulley adjustment bolts?

[98_Q45]

Just spent hours trying to adjust the damn pulley bolt. For some reason, the E-clip on the end would pop backwards and the tension would be lost. This started after changing my fan clutch and one of belts would squeal whenever started from cold. I re-adjusted the alternator one, but the water pump one is especially a pain to reach.

Only way I can get the clip to not fall off, is to hold it against the adjuster bolt with a screwdriver. Then tighten the pulley bolt at the same time. But several times over, whenever I get the bolt screws to the outside of the hole, the clip pops back again. I almost went with removing the whole tensioner for the alternator, just to tighten up the water pump one because it’s so deep in. Scraped up my hands pretty bad in the process.

Eventually I just ended up using the bracket to hold back the pulley with just enough tension, and then tightening the pulley bolt down seems to get it to correct tension. But there’s hardly any room in there to check with a gauge or anything. I just try to use the 1/2” max ruler trick.

I’m just hoping doing it that way doesn’t risk breaking the bolt head at all. I left the clip on, but it’s more like a washer versus an inch down where it normally is.

I wish there was some sort of guide on the bolt saying how tight to do it before tightening it up. I find getting the pulley bolt as loose as possible and then working the adjuster bolt was the best way. But no matter what it keep coming off. I wish I had done it better with the fan removed because that’s the main thing in the way.

But it seems you must tighten the fan bolts, before tightening the belts. Otherwise it can become unbalanced on the water pump shaft.

[fontana dan]

What you are supposed to do is loosen the center bolt a couple of turns so you can then turn the adjuster bolt. You turn the adjuster bolt until you've reached the proper belt tension. After that you tighten the center bolt. There is a spec for the deflection values in service manual.
It is kind of a pain. Especially since the belt gets just a hair tighter after you torque the center bolt. I usually err on the side of looser because I do not want to damage the bearings with too much tension. Sometimes takes some trial and error to get them just tight enough to not squeal.

On this topic, just yesterday I found that the idler pulley for water pump/alt has been discontinued by dayco! You can still get it from the dealer...for $250!!! The Dayco part number is 89562. If anyone has one sitting around, or an exact measurement on the bearing dimensions, please drop a message here.

[fontana dan]

I'm a little bit confused on how that E-clip is giving you trouble so I went and took a picture of how mine is assembled.
How is the clip coming off? I don't recall it playing any part in the adjustment process. I think its there for assembly or something.

Here is the link to the pictures: https://imgur.com/a/bwgZfZV

[98_Q45]

I'm a little bit confused on how that E-clip is giving you trouble so I went and took a picture of how mine is assembled.
How is the clip coming off? I don't recall it playing any part in the adjustment process. I think its there for assembly or something.

Here is the link to the pictures: https://imgur.com/a/bwgZfZV

Thanks for that diagram. I printed it up long time ago and just seen it recently, but forgot where I put it. But I don’t need it anymore because all those numbers are useless except to the manufacturer lol. I’ve been able to get all my belts properly tensioned using the half inch maximum rule.

In my case, the air conditioning belt pulley has no adjustment bolt, just a pulley. It must have broke from the previous owners, and it’s impossible (I tried) to get a new one in without removing the whole damn compressor Mount assembly. However, I can brute strength push the pulley down just enough and tighten the pulley bolt: it works to give it about 1/2 inch of tension, but it’s not tight enough to prevent a little squeaking at cold startups or when the charge starts to runs low (that’s a whole other story, my $300 aftermarket compressor has been determined to have a shaft seal leak. I knew I should have spent double and went with Infiniti).

Anyhow: so, in your picture, the bolt is down incorrectly. How it’s supposed to be, that e-clip is supposed to seat in the first groove below the bolt head. And then you’re supposed to be able to wind it up. Otherwise, I think it risks sheering the bolt head or cracking the pulley assembly. I know it sounds dumb, but I have a chipped off power steering Mount, and a missing compressor bolt as a likely result of someone doing it incorrectly in the past. Once you have the tension right and torque the center pulley bolt, the e-clip and adjustment bolt don’t do anything. However, an old or bent eclip will not stay in place enough to adjust. It’ll just keep popping out or backing off.

However, I finally figured out a hack last night: with a new eclip, I used a cable tie to hold it against it. I could have wrapped some electric or silicone tape first to give it even further strength. That prevented the eclip from popping back and losing tension. Technically, that adjustment bolt should only go just to the outside of a couple threads beyond the hole. Then you tighten the pulley bolt, and it gets the belt tighter.

The waterpump belt is especially insidious and has given me trouble before. It really needs to be tighter than the alternator one because when that crankshaft spins at 1,500-2,000 first thing in the morning with the water pump, it’s unforgiving. But seems like I finally got it to quiet down and even with a wet cold belt, it’s not sounding like the neighborhood cats got sucked into the engine lol.

[fontana dan]

So when you're adjusting the tension, instead of turning the head of the adjusting bolt, you're turning the E-clip down the threads of that bolt? Did you come up with that yourself?
This is the procedure. This guy even uses an impact drill to turn the adjusting bolt (I wouldn't recommend that).

[98_Q45]

So when you're adjusting the tension, instead of turning the head of the adjusting bolt, you're turning the E-clip down the threads of that bolt? Did you come up with that yourself?
This is the procedure. This guy even uses an impact drill to turn the adjusting bolt (I wouldn't recommend that).

I can’t get that video to play right now with my slow internet, but yes: The eclip is supposed to be the holding method for adjusting the bolt. As it’s being tightened down, the bolt and clip move together to an extent (matter of fact you’ll see the bolt has a screwdriver insert in it. Similar to air intake hoses, once it’s tightened enough it’ll stop. But with an older, rusty bolt, you may have to ratchet it down towards the end until of the bolt meets the outside of the hole or just at it). I find the alternator bolt goes further, but the waterpump/crank pulley stops before reaching the end. It’s a slightly shorter belt I think.

I guess it’s one of those “more than one way to skin a cat” technicalities (I don’t use sealant only for the thermostat, I use the one for the frontier/300z which fits the same, but I dab gasket maker on both sides to get it to stick and fill any gaps since it will leak with just gasket alone…another piece of s*** technology I don’t understand).

However, I do feel the eclip is the proper way to do it. It’s just the pulley has to be loosened almost off the threads, to get it to work properly. The adjusting bolt won’t get the belts to spec with that method, until you start to torque the pulley bolt down. Then you’ll notice how much tighter it is. My Nissan maxima has a different pulley system and it’s similar: tightening the pulley bolt gets it to spec, but there’s no real “guide” to it. Just gotta play with a bit. I always seem to get belts under tight, versus tight enough. Hence having to diagnose something that wasn’t even the problem I was chasing. Made me feel like a dummy lol.

I’ve been using that method for awhile, but I think old eclips are no good. And having something like a zip tie on top on electric tape will ensure it does not pop off.

Unless someone has another idea what’s it for…but my research has shown it’s meant to be a “retaining” clip, to hold whatever you are tightening in place, until you can tighten the pulley. Using the bolt to retain it limits movement and risks over tightening

[fontana dan]

You could very well be right. Whatever works for you. However the method of just turning the bolt and tightening the center nut seems to have led to less hours of frustration and busted knuckles for me, than your method has for you...
And of course no one else has chimed in on this thread. This is part of my gripe about these cars. If its not explicitly covered in the service manual then you can basically get f***, because you're going to have to figure it out yourself.

[98_Q45]

Yeah, normally it shouldn’t result in busted knuckles: but I was trying to do it with the fan, shroud and radiator all on. Once you have the radiator shroud out, there’s plenty of access. But that’s not easy once all put together. It’s just no room to move in there with everything on. And there’s only a small section to feel the tension for the crank/water pump belt. Mine was tight when driving, but had too much flex at cold startup.

I think there’s another picture in the water pump section, that made me realize the bolt is supposed to be adjusted with the e-clip on. It’s similar to how the power steering bolt is done: except on it, there’s no e-clip, the bolt has a ridge built into it. That is then used to rest on the mount, while it pulls the pulley into place…and then you tighten the center bolt.

I know it all sounds pointlessly complicated but, that’s the hack to it lol. In the future: zip tie and silicone tape will help lol.

[Ryantzer]

The belt tensioners are all easily accessible from under the car once you've got the belly pan off. Loosening the center nut then adjusting the tension with the adjusting bolt is the proper way to do it, although if people have broken your adjusters by not loosening the center bolt before trying to adjust them then I can see why you're having issues. All three of my tensioners are intact and are quick and easy to adjust the belt tension with, so I guess I'm lucky.

[98_Q45]

The belt tensioners are all easily accessible from under the car once you've got the belly pan off. Loosening the center nut then adjusting the tension with the adjusting bolt is the proper way to do it, although if people have broken your adjusters by not loosening the center bolt before trying to adjust them then I can see why you're having issues. All three of my tensioners are intact and are quick and easy to adjust the belt tension with, so I guess I'm lucky.

In my case, there’s 4 tensioners lol. The 2 I were struggling with don’t have broken bolts. The a/c compressor one does, but fortunately it does not require brute tension. So I can press down on the skinny belt and then tighten the center bolt. Only have 1/2” deflection. It must have stretched over time because previously, it was like a rubber band stretching almost 3/4 of an inch.

And that’s the thing, with that many belts it’s hard to tell which is squealing. But I know power steering, compressor, and alternator belts make different sounds when loose. Now I know if I get a skidding sound at startup, it’s the main crank/water pump belt. And it was tight, but had just a little too much flex for cold startup.

Under the car I can only get to 3 of the adjustment bolts. The 4th alternator one is easily accessed from above (talking 97-01 here)

[cbird805]

I had the same issue with my 95, when I changed belts and pulleys. I noticed that one of the tensioner bolt was missing. I used a 4-5 inch length of all-thread from Ace Hardware and double nutted it when I got belt tight enough. It's whatever 10mm bolt metric thread pitch, and it doesn't have to be automotive grade since it just applies tension to the tensioner.