2008 Taurus belt replacement

[terry274]

I own a 2008 Ford Taurus SEL with 168,000 miles. It has a 3.5 V6. As preventive maintenance I plan on changing the accessory drive belt soon. As I was looking at the car to see how much trouble this would be, I discovered the the engine actually has two belts. The one on the "outside" seems to be the main belt with a shorter "inside" belt to run the power steering pump. From what I can find out searching online you must have a special tool to change the power steering belt.

So, at this point the plan is to only change the main belt and leave the power steering belt alone.

Does anyone have any experience with this procedure? Thoughts or comments on leaving the PS belt unchanged?

Terry

 

[Chris142]

If you leave one old belt it will break and knock the other belt off too. Then you end up replacing both belts at the worst time, in the rain ETC.

Do them both now and be done with it.

 

[Roadkingnc]

Cut the p/s belt off, put the new one over the pump pulley, start it in the crank pulley and secure with a wiretie. Turn the crank using a socket and install wire ties as necessary to keep belt on crank pulley 2 or 3 is all it takes. The new belt should have instructions and some come with the wireties. Its really easier than it sounds.

 

[bdcardinal]

What Roadkingnc said is true, the belt from Ford comes in a box with the "tool" and instructions.

Also Chris142 is correct, Murphy's law dictates if you don't do both belts, the one you don't replace will take out the one you did. Plus it will only happen during the zombie apocalypse while on I-15 in-between Barstow and Las Vegas.

 

[SuperDave456]

My father tried to save some money by doing a serpantine belt once. He has some experience on older cars, but not much since he graduated High School in the Early 70's.

Well, on his way to work, on the on ramp to the highway, the belt slipped off, took out the power steering pump and knocked the alternator housing so hard it bent it and the main shaft on the alternator.
It was an expensive lesson.

My advice would be to do both belts, and if you are unsure of your ability it is best to find help and gain some knowledge before undertaking the task and paying more in the long run.

 

[terry274]

Just an update for anyone else who wants to change these belts. I did replace both belts and the tensioner. I used all Motorcraft parts.

Motorcraft BT97 Belt Tensioner
Motorcraft JK4-377-BA Serpentine Belt
Motorcraft JK6455C Serpentine V-Belt

It was a real pain, no room to work and plenty of sharp, pointy plastic and metal parts to gouge, scrape and cut your hands.

Support the car, remove the wheel and the splash shield by removing the seven plastic push in rivets.
You need a 3/8" drive ratchet to relieve tension on the belt. Working from the top, slip the belt off the alternator and remove it out the wheel well.

The tensioner is held on by three bolts. You need an 8MM socket, 1/4" drive.

I used a nylon strap about one inch wide threaded between the power steering pulley and the PS belt to remove the belt without cutting it. I did not want to cut the old belt off in case the new belt turned out not to be the right size. (It was the right size)
Place the strap on the belt, with the excess strap going out behind and under the belt. Use an 18MM socket and 1/2" drive breaker bar to rotate the crank clockwise. Once the strap is around the pulley, pull hard on the strap and it will slip the belt off the pulley.

Put the new PS belt around the crank and start it around the bottom of the PS pulley. Secure the belt in the pulley with a wire tie/zip tie. Turn the crank clockwise with the breaker bar to get the belt on the pulley.

Put the new tensioner on and torque the 8MM bolts to 8 ft/lbs (96 in/lbs).

Thread the new belt and install.

The breaker bar slipped off the crank while I was installing the PS belt, busted my thumb BAD.