How difficult is it to replace a serpentine belt in a 99 V6? I was doing some routine maintenance and noticed some little cracks in the rubber so I'm going to replace it. Thanks for the help.

 

piece of cake.

Use a big ratchet, put some slack on the tensioner, pull the old belt out, pop the new belt on, and release the tensioner.

Done

 

Sweet. So the mechanic that changed my oil 2 1/2 months ago for 20 bucks, and turned around and wanted to charge me 120 bucks to replace my worn out serpentine belt was trying to rip me off?? huh? I never would have guessed haha. Thanks for the help.

 

Heres a step by step!

http://www.autozone.com/az/cds/en_us...es.htm#hd1-1-3

This is something ANY 3.8 camaro/f-bird owner can do, even those who cant change their own oil.

 

you can use just a plain wrench? im trying to change the one on my 97 3.8, and i cannot get the tensioner loose to save my life. would the fact that the belt had never been changed in 12 years up to now have something to do with it?

 

You could use just a plain wrench, but it needs to be long enough for you to get enough leverage so you can actually rotate the tensioner down. I suppose either that or you need to be buff enough to overpower it. I personally use a 3/8" drive sparkplug ratchet when I do mine because the handle is longer so i can actually get tensioner loose.

 

Muscles help too.

 

That would be me referring to needing to be "buff" if you don't have a large ratchet. Some of us have to use the large ratchet because we lack large arms...

 

I must have skipped that part. My sincerest apologies.

 

It's alright, when you're 2 dimensional like me you have to know the ways to get the tight/tough stuff loose. That usually equates to a long ratchet...or if you need longer a jack handle if you don't have air tools. That's why I love impact wrenches!