Sierra Shark

As some of you know I posted a question about my belt tension light coming on every now and then. The advice I got about re-tightening my belt was good and taken to heart. Sure enough the belt was very loose.

For those of you that have not experienced this YET here is a little more advice on what to look for.

If you don't own a Kempf tool, buy one!!! $ 59 from 928 Inter. or 928 Spec. The instructions are fairly good but they fail to tell you a few things you need to know before starting.

First, if you have a 87 or newer car be prepared to put the car on jack stands and remove the belly pan so you can access everything from underneath the car. (otherwise the fan shroud is in the way) Absolutely for sure drain all the radiator fluid so that you can remove the upper hoses for access from the top. When looking for the bolt to adjust the tension its directly above the air conditioner compressor and directly below the air pump on the passenger side of the motor looking down from the top. (the photo in the instructions shows the bolt from underneath the car, very confusing). VERY IMPORTANT !!!! that bolt is 17mm NOT 19mm as is printed in the instructions!!! You WILL need a stubby (short handle) 17mm box end wrench. If you don't have one, buy one first, or modify an extra one you may have. Follow the instructions for adjusting the belt to the letter. Be sure to turn the engine at least twice to insure the belt seated correctly after tightening. Don't short cut this part. Re-check the tension. Not an easy job the first time but I can see how it would be simple the next time.

I didn't come up with any of this on my own (except the part about the 17mm bolt) All this came from fellow Rennlisters who have posted what they have learned. They deserve all the credit and I thank them all for saving my ***. When in dought, ASK.

Bill Ball

Yes, these are all true with later cars. Good to note them. I don't drain the radiator. I just remove the upper hose from the water bridge neck, loosen the radiator clamp a little and swing the hose up out of the way. That way I only loose a quart or two of coolant. It's messier than draining from the bottom, but another option.

So, how's the belt warning light doing now?

Sierra Shark

Thanks Bill. I tried your method but became frustrated with the hose in the way. So far so good with the light. I'm not pressing the car hard yet. Just a little paranoid for the moment.

deliriousga

Great info Sierra! Thanks for sharing with everyone.

Do alot of people with '87+ MYs have trouble getting the fan shroud out? Just wondering because it's alot more work for me to put it on stands and get the belly pans off.

Here's how I did it last time with my '87 so please let me know if it's different for you. With mine, I disconnected the upper hose and tied it back so it would be out of the way and not keep dropping fluid. Next, I disconnected the air pump hose and pulled it back, out of the way. Next, I removed the two screws holding the shroud in. To remove the shroud, I pulled it up a little to disconnect it from the bottom, pushed the left side toward the engine and slid it out. It's not very difficult to get mine out so I'm wondering what could be different.

Once the shroud was out it was easy to reach the adjuster and pull the left TB cover off.

Tip to make it easier to adust the tensioner. Get a metric set of the wrenches from Sears ($80 in GA) that have the ratcheting and adjustable heads on them. The adjustable heads will flip up to 180 degrees so the funky angles getting around belts are no problem at all.

Sierra Shark

Hi John, On my 88 there is a hose with a hard connection end on both sides of the radiator. The fan shroud curves below both hose connections (double fans). Without removing the hoses you can't remove the shroud. More spilled fluids !! That's good info about the wrenches. I have a couple of them(I think) and I'm going to try to reach that adjustment bolt with them just for future reference. Could you possibly post a photo of the wrenchs your talkling about? That would take the guess work out of it.

Bill Ball

You should be OK. Only issue would be if the belt is stretching abnormally. I had one do that. Adjusted it, but the light came back in less than 10K miles, and the tension was low again, so I replaced it. The tension should be stable after the 1500 mile adjustment. Well, maybe another adjustment before replacement time, but not many more and not often. Go for a good drive!

deliriousga

I have the dual fans and the hard hoses you're talking about (oil cooler lines I believe). When I push the left side toward the engine it slips around behind the hard part of the hose. I forgot to mention I also unscrew the collar around the PS pump res. and push it back toward the engine to open up that side. After that, it wiggles out pretty easily. I've checked as I pull it out and it doesn't rub the hoses hard so it won't damage them.

Here's a pic of the wrench set:

worf928

RE: fan shroud removal... if you have an auto (with the 3-cooler radiator) you cannot remove the shroud without spilling fluid AFAIK. With the other S4/GT models you can remove the shroud without spilling fluid. The easiest of the bunch is the 90+ 5-speeds with the oil cooler under the rad.

ErnestSw

Yeah, pulling the fans and shroud is a matter of unplugging the fans and undoing two 10mm bolts.

worf928

Easier is to undo the two bolts, pull the shroud, THEN unplug the fan harness from the shroud. That way it is very easy cut/replace wire ties, and make sure the harness is tight against the shroud rather than in the way of blades or belts.

deliriousga

You da man!!! So it's because mine's a 5-speed. Thanks for clarifying that for me worf.

worf928

Believe me... I was really confused the first time I tried to pull the shroud on an auto with those tranny and oil cooler lines. I *KNEW* that it had been a no-brainer on the '91 GT. There was some real head-scratchin' going on... And a belt re-tension that I thought would take an hour ended up taking all afternoon.

Sierra Shark

Thank goodness that Worf explained that one. Thanks Worf. I thought I was loosing my mind (yes, again!) Those kind individuals who told me the fan removal was easy meant well but had manual trannys. And yes, the job that I thought would take a first timer a couple of hours took all frickin day.

John, thanks for the pics of the wrenchs. Those are not what I have but I can see how they would work great in that application. Got to get some. After all, you can't have too many tools, Right? My wife uses that one with shoes.

bwebb77

John I have a set of those wrenches and they are great. Make life much easier.

Bill Ball

To remove the fan shroud on S4 AT cars, I can usually get away with detaching the top oil cooler line (top, car's left side tank) and loosening the PS reservoir and moving it back and down. The shroud will still hang on the other lines and sidetank fittings, but with some carefull wiggling, angling and shoving I can get it out. However, I'm about 50% successful in doing this without a lot of moans and groans or cracking the shroud. The DEVEK fan shroud looks pretty attractive in this regard - no need to even pull it, but if you want to, it just lifts out.

Flexhead Gearwrenches are worth every penny.