Soooo relieved I'm not going nuts! With so many people talking about how hard the fan shroud was to get out, I was starting to wonder what the heck my PO took out of the car and how long 'til it blows up!

 

One of the most important steps when checking belt tension is topping up the oil in the tensioner. If the tensioner is dry then it will not compensate for changes in engine temp. This means that when the engine is at normal operating temp the belt will be too tight causing premature wear to sprockets and ultimately to belt failure. Guess how I found out...