This is the same 1995 Monte Carlo used in the compression test post. In the last 10-15 years General Motors vehicles have kept the same drive belt design on the V6 engines. Why change a good thing if it works? From the cars to vans the amount of room may vary, but the routing and spring type tensioner is the same. When changing the belt and tensioner the procedure will not change.

Reasons for Replacement

Belts wear and need to be changed due to visible cracks and possible breakage of the belt or they become noisy from drying out due to age. The tensioners can fail from the bearings in the roller wearing out and becoming extremely noisy or locking up. The spring mechanism can also come apart and cause the belt to jump off the pulleys. Either way, they both can be repaired/replaced.

Tools to be Used

• 3/8″ long handle ratchet
• 13mm socket

Visual Inspection

Here is a belt and tensioner assembly. The belt tension is applied automatically by the spring inside the tensioner and no adjustments are needed. This is how the manufacture designed this type of system.

Take note of the routing the belt takes around each pulley for installation before you remove the old belt.

In order to remove the belt, the spring tension must be released.

Here at the end of the roller there is a 3/8″ square flange designed for a ratchet to aid in belt removal.

Here’s a better look at the tensioner through a mirror.

Belt Removal

Install ratchet into tensioner

Pull tensioner counter clockwise enough to remove belt from top pulley groove.

Trace the belt routing on a piece of paper or look for a diagram on the car. This is to help you remember the route when installing the new belt.

Remove the old belt from pulleys.

Remove Tensioner

Remove the 13mm bolt holding the tensioner to the engine.

Here’s a better look at the tensioner and ratchet off the car.

Estimate for Repair

(check with your local parts stores for current prices)
Parts to replace
Drive belt – If needed, approximately $15-$40 (depending on brand)
Belt tensioner – tensioner w/pulley, $52
Belt pulley – pulley only, approximately $25
Total parts for belt and tensioner assy. from your local parts store, $92 plus tax
Labor to replace
If paid to have replaced approximately 1 hr. labor ($80)
Parts and Labor
Total parts and labor, $172

Time to replace – a realistic amount of time depends on the type of vehicle with this engine.
Worst case scenario, 45 minutes.
Best case scenario, 15 minutes

What you will need to perform a winter inspection

You will need the following parts and tools to perform this repair;

• Antifreeze Hydrometer
• Air compressor
• Tire gauge
• Inflation fitting
• Tread depth gauge
• Battery cleaner
• Battery protector

Here are links to the 3 main topics in this article.

Antifreeze

Anti-freeze is maintained by checking the strength and level. Understand knowledge of different types of anti-freeze and know how to check and top up the coolant level. Refer to the Antifreeze section to learn about coolant maintenance.

Tires

Planning ahead for a trip or winter driving? Here’s a section that will show you how to maintain proper inflation of you’re tires for better gas mileage and how to check for the best wear on the tread of your tires for winter driving. Refer to the tires section to learn more.

Battery

Helpful advice for maintaining a good battery along with what to expect with an old battery. Knowing the life expectancy and how to test a battery to determine replacement. Refer to the car batteries section to learn more.

More checks to prepare for winter

If your into a groove and want to learn more about your car, link to the getting started page for more maintenance items to check.

You will need the following new parts and tools to perform this repair;

What is a tune-up?

Tune-ups usually consist of replacing sparkplugs, air and fuel filters, performing an oil and filter change, as well as checking all the fluids and visual inspections under the hood and under the car. This is done to keep the engines air intake system, ignition system, and fuel system working to the best that it can perform and making sure there are no other problems on the car.

Tune-up items and recommended replacement intervals:

Oil and filter change – 5,000 miles
Air filters – 10,000-15,000 miles
Clean Throttle body – 15,000 miles
Fuel filters – 50,000 miles
Sparkplugs – 50,000 miles
Drive belts – (depending on type) – 50,000 to 100,000 miles
Timing belts (if equipped)– 80,000 to 100,000 miles
Plug wires (if equipped) – 100,000 miles

What determines a tune-up

Most manufactures know exactly how long it takes for tune-up parts to wear down. Studies have been done over the years to try and create every type of condition and driving element that you and I could possibly put our vehicles through. They factor in different driving conditions (easy to hard driving styles), temperature changes (extremely hot and cold conditions), and extreme environment changes (dry dusty conditions to continuous rain and wet weather).

Never mind what these parts are made from; 5 different types of plastic, 10 different types of metals, and an endless number of chemicals involved in the process to make such items as sparkplugs, plug wires, distributor cap and rotor, air filters, fuel filters, belts, hoses…. The list can go on forever.

Ask around

The end result is tune-ups are a maintenance that should be performed at or around 50,000 miles. If you went into 10 different repair shops you would probably get 10 different answers. All manufactures say their parts last longer today. Oh, what makes an air filter last 30,000 miles today when 5 years ago you recommended 15,000 miles?

Give me a break!

My Favorite

If you leave a part on your car long enough I’ll bet you can get a thousand more miles and a few more months than your neighbor. What do you think?

My favorite recommendation that certain manufactures have thrown out there is “the 100,000 mile tune-up”, or “the 10,000 mile oil change”. Yeah, whatever?

Preventative Maintenance

If your car is an investment that you cherish, turn your maintenance into preventative maintenance. Perform a tune-up to keep your engine running in tip top shape and get the best fuel economy that you can while eliminating the thought of needing any major work that could have been avoided by a $12 air filter or an $18 set of sparkplugs.

Helpful Advice

For those who are not mechanically inclined I know you wouldn’t be eager enough to dive head first into your engine to replace sparkplugs or an air filter, but if tune-ups (which are costly) are something that you don’t want to try yourself, separate the repairs individually. Maybe you could do the easy stuff. For those of you who do this kind of stuff and make a living at it, here’s your chance to help family and friends while earning a little extra income.

If you don’t want to attempt the repairs yourself and you are in the Indianapolis area I can stop over and perform these tune-up items at your home. Get in contact with me on my Facebook page for more information.

Tools for the job

You will need the following tools to perform this repair;

• 3/8″ ratchet
• 5/8″ sparkplug socket
• 3/8″ extension 12″ long
• 10mm socket

Here is a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu with a 2.2 liter EcoTec 4 cylinder engine

This engine puts the spark plugs in from the top. The EcoTec cover on the top is a coil cover that has to be removed

Locate the electrical connector for the coil at the right end of the cover

Unplug and slide the connector off

Next locate the hold down bolts for the coil cover

There are 4 bolts to remove (10mm bolts)

Ignition Coil

The ignition coil is the part that supplies a large amount of voltage to the spark plug in order to ignite the air and fuel mixture inside each cylinder.

Make sure to lift the coil assembly strait up to avoid damaging the 4 long spark plug resistors that attach the coils to the plugs.

With the coils removed you can see the access holes for the spark plugs

Spark Plug Sockets

The two main spark plug socket sizes are 5/8” and 13/16”. There are rubber inserts inside of the plug socket to prevent damage to the porcelain spark plugs when installing them. Most tool kits purchased today come with these two sockets.
There are other special application spark plug sockets, but these two are the most common in the industry.

This particular socket is a 5/8” wobble socket and I’m using a 1 ft. locking extension to help and keep the socket from sticking in the plug hole after installing the new plugs.

Loosen and remove the old spark plugs

Locating Tune-up Parts

If you need to purchase spark plugs, avoid going all over town to find them. Refer to the parts link and use one of the auto parts stores to locate spark plug types, cost, and store locations to save you time and find the best deals.

Here is a comparison of the old and new spark plugs.

The wear parts of the spark plug are the tip and the electrode. Over time, the spark jumping the gap wears away at the metal. This increases the distance that the spark has to jump. If the distance increases the spark gets hotter which can create wear on the aluminum pistons within the engines.

Here is one type of spark plug gapping tool. This one starts at .020” and goes to .100”

All spark plugs have recommended gap specifications that need to be set. When purchasing your sparkplugs ask your parts person to look up the gap specification.

Slide the tapered tool into the gap and turn until the desired specification is met.

Install and tighten the new spark plugs.

Re-install the ignition coil assembly and electrical connector.

Start up and check the idle and running quality of the engine to finalize the repair.

More Tune-up Articles

For more tune-up articles, refer to the following sections to see how to complete your tune up.

How to change an air filter
How to clean a throttle body
How to change your oil and filter
Maintain your fuel system

Comparison Pricing

Do it your self
$4 to $15 per plug depending on the type, vehicle, and number of cylinders.
This 4 cylinder was $6 each x 4 = $24 plus tax

Repair shop costs
$15 to $25 per plug with mark up and approx one hour shop labor @ $80
This 4 cylinder could cost you $128

Just like the engine oil, the transmission was designed with the ease of checking the fluid level with a dip stick.

Universally the engine oil dip stick is color coded red and the transmission dip stick is color coded yellow for all manufactures until the last couple of years.

Note:

Some new cars today don’t have transmission dip sticks which force people to return to the dealer to have service work done.

When checking the transmission fluid, drive the vehicle to warm up the fluid.
Locate the transmission dip stick.

With the engine still running, remove the dip stick and wipe off the fluid.

Wipe clean and observe where the minimum and maximum fluid level marks are when hot.

Install the dip stick back into the tube for a few seconds and remove to check.

If the fluid is ok then the level should be between the minimum and maximum marks.

Refer to the owner’s manual or your local parts store on which type of fluid to use when topping up the transmission.

General Motors and most of the Imports typically use Dextron 3 fluid, Ford uses a Type F fluid, and Chrysler uses ATF+3, here are two types.

Note:

If the wrong type is used it could cause poor shifting or total failure. This is why it’s important to use the correct type of fluid.

If the fluid needs to be added, top up using a funnel that fits into the fill tube.

Top up in small/1/4 quart increments and check until the fluid is between the minimum and maximum marks on the dip stick.

Use the fluid indicator built into the side of the bottle to monitor the amount used.

Recommendations:

If the fluid needs to be added regularly then have it checked for a leak at a repair shop to determine the extent of the leakage. The best way to maintain a long lifespan for a transmission is to replace the fluid and filter every 4 years or 60,000 miles.

The first thing to remember is to only use the recommended type of fluid for your vehicle.

Most of today’s vehicles use a DOT 3 or DOT 4 brake fluid. These types of fluid have been used universally with most manufactures over the last 20 years.

Check the owner’s manual or parts specialist in your area to help identify the fluid needed.

Before topping up, make sure the reservoir is clean and free of debris that could fall into the system creating a future problem.

The dark color fluid is a sign of old fluid. Make sure the fluid is clear to a golden yellow color.

Most reservoirs have the level indicator on the side.

Note:

Make sure no water or other fluids get into the system. Water is the number one enemy for brake systems and can damage major components as well as cause brake failure.

Remove the reservoir cap and top up between the minimum and maximum with fresh brake fluid from a sealed container. (The level sensor is built into the cap to turn on a light when the fluid gets low)

If brake fluid gets spilled wait until the reservoir cap is secured then attempting to clean up.

Brake fluid is highly corrosive and can damage painted surfaces, electrical connectors, or anything it comes in contact with.

The best way to clean up a spill is to dilute the fluid with water, wipe up and let air dry.

This is a clean reservoir topped up to the maximum level.

Note

The only way the brake fluid can become low is if there is a significant amount of wear to the brake pads or if a fluid leak causes the fluid level to drop. Topping up may be needed to eliminate a level warning light, but also may need a brake inspection to determine the lifespan of your brakes.

Recommendations:

Maintenance intervals should be to change the fluid every two years or 30,000 miles.

Locate the reservoir for the power steering pump.

The reservoir only holds what needs to be supplied to provide power assist when turning the wheel. Some power steering systems use automatic transmission fluid.

Some take synthetic base oil or power steering fluid.

Check the owner’s manual or ask your local parts supplier what type of fluid your vehicle takes.

Power steering reservoirs have a level indicator built into the dipstick which is part of the cap. Always check the fluid with the engine off and cold. (Warm fluid has an expansion rate that increases slightly when warmed up, this will raise and over fill the fluid level)

Note:

Make sure you use the recommended fluid. If the wrong fluid is mixed you could experience steering failure or cause pressure seals to leak creating a big expense to repair.

The engine hoses house a cooling liquid called anti-freeze. The main reason to check these hoses regularly is, if any of the coolant leaks out the engine could overheat and possibly be damaged.

Note:

Make sure the engine is cold when checking the hoses to prevent burning yourself.

Locate the upper and lower radiator hoses. These two hoses that connect to the radiator allow coolant to circulate and take away excess heat from the engine.

Squeeze them to check for strength.

There should be some flex in the hose, not too spongy or hard. An aged hose usually gets hard, but soft or swollen hoses are an indication of too high engine temperatures or maybe oil soaked into the hose from a leak on the engine.

Heater hoses from the engine allow coolant inside the vehicle for heat.

Hoses from a separate reservoir to the engine allow coolant to get to the water pump.

The return hose allows coolant to circulate back to the reservoir from the radiator.

Some worn hoses fail at the ends where they are clamped which can cause fluid to leak out.

Recommendations:

Consider having all of the hoses changed around 125,000 miles as a preventative maintenance, this will prevent any problems from occurring suddenly.

Note: Refer to the “How to section” on checking coolant/anti-freeze for more information about related systems.

Understand how to monitor temperature

Before checking the coolant make sure you understand how the system operates normally. Some vehicles have a temperature gauge and some have a warning light.

If there is a gauge, the best guideline to use is that 1/2 way between cold and hot on the gauge should be normal operating temperature.

Warning lights usually don’t come on until it’s hot, unfortunately you can’t monitor the engine temperature until it’s too late.

Where to check the level

Locate the area to check the coolant. Some vehicles have the fill at the radiator and some have a separate reservoir.

Caution!!

When checking coolant level, always make sure the engine temperature has cooled down or sat over night to prevent severe burns from opening a hot system.

Note:

Engines run at 220°F and have 18 psi of pressure when hot! These temperatures can scald you and create sever burns if opened while hot.

Find the level indicator somewhere on the tank or reservoir.

And determine where to fill it when cold making sure not to over fill. Leave a small amount of air in the top of the reservoir for the coolant to expand when it gets hot, this will keep the fluid from pushing out of the overflow.

Sample the coolant

Remove the cap to access the coolant and check it for proper protection from freezing or boiling. Put the tube of the hydrometer into the coolant, squeeze the ball to let the suction pull a sample into the clear measuring area.

You can obtain a hydrometer from your local parts store to check the protection level for as little as $5.00. A 50/50 mixture of antifreeze and water will protect your engine to -30°F

If you need to top up the level make sure you purchase the correct type for your vehicle. Check the owners manual or ask your parts specialist at the parts store.

You can buy premixed or full strength antifreeze. You get more for your money to buy it full strength.

Recommendations:

Anti-freeze needs to be mixed before it protects against freezing or boiling. Mix 50% water to 50% anti-freeze then top up.

Make sure that you use the recommended fuel for your vehicle by checking the owner’s manual, inside the fuel door or on the instrument panel.

Even with fuel prices way up, if you run cheap gas to save money you will experience running problems and a reduction in fuel economy.

The long term effect to running low octane fuel will be varnish build up internally in the fuel system causing poor starting and running. One good recommendation to prevent the expensive cost of fuel system cleaning or repair would be to use a fuel additive.

All of the local parts supply stores carry a variety of fuel system cleaners which help to prevent or to restore engine performance and fuel economy.

Always remember to add the fuel additive at the gas station before you fill up, this will help the mixing process.

Another thing to remember is that today’s cars have electronics that monitor the fuel tank for leaks.

If you forget to install or tighten the fuel cap you will set off the check engine light.

Most repair shops charge an hour of shop labor (approx $80 to $100) to check and clear the engine light. That’s for unnecessary expense for not securing the fuel cap.

Recommendations:

If you can’t afford to run the recommended fuel for your vehicle, then once a month use an additive the keep the fuel system clean or maybe run ½ a tank of premium fuel. Most fuel additives can be found on sale between $1.99 and $2.99 at your local parts store. Keep in mind that if your engine light comes on and you’re sure it’s the fuel cap you can have it reset for free at most parts store. Every vehicle takes a specific fuel cap so don’t try to use any cap you find, ask for one by application to your car, even if you have to buy it from a dealership parts department.

Have you ever wanted to know exactly what kind of fuel mileage your car is supposed to get? Find out your fuel economy and figure out your vehicles average mileages per gallon.

Here is a helpful website to access current gas prices in Indiana.