Belt Change, Tips on changing a belt Options

[TotalEclipse97]

hey guys....i was driving home this evening when all of the sudden wham....my powersteering belt desinigrates under the hood. So now it's stuck at the community college parking lot waiting for a new belt to be installed.

i've never done this before and would like step by step instructions on how to do this.

it's a 97 eclipse gst....if you're looking into the engine bay...it's the belt closest to the powersteering resivour...it looks like it'd be the hardest to get to....anyways...please help

[JBone]

For starters, if it's just the P/S belt, drive it home!!! That belt isn't connected to anything else. It's not that hard to go without it. The 8 months I had my talon I didn't have P/S for 6.5 of them. I also had no P/S on the 240 for the 6 months I had that. It's a good clean forearm builder.

As far as replacing it. Loosen the bolt that is attached to the bracket just slightly. then start backing out the long bolt the puts tension on the pump. replace the belt and then do the reverse. Note: when tightening the long bolt, hold your free hand on the bolt to make sure it doesn't free itself while your tightening it. Make sure it is on real snug. after driving it for a while it might start to squeel. that is the belt stretching slightly and sliding across the pulleys. It will need to be retightened a few times until it is stretched no more. You might as well just carry an extra wrench with you in the car, if you already don't do that (it is a DSM after all).

Hope that helps.