well my DD decided to go haywire today and i have some ideas, but would like to know some of your opinions.

1994 mazda b4000

the past week the power steering was making a little noise (now thinking it was an early sign of belt wear), but has been running fine otherwise. today the drive belt has a ton of slack and i've lost power steering, alternator function, and all cooling.

i'm no expert, but i'm hoping that i just need a new belt or just tighten the existing one.


am i wrong in my somewhat educated guess??

 

i think that year was a springy tensioner, so check that. meaning the belt likely can't be tightened manually but something else maybe can. post pix?

~tina~

 

no pics because camera is broken as well

i tried to adjust the tensioner, but i didn't have any luck. to adjust it, do i need to wrench the middle nut counterclockwise? if so...i couldn't even budge that thing.

 

according to ebay.... my tensioner is supposed to look like the picture.

unfortunately mine doesn't look like this at all. my tensioner looks like more of a guide. it does not have the pulley attached. think mine is broken??

 

we need some pics, because everywhere i have searched shows that your tensioner should look like the one posted above.

 

it appears that it should look like the pic i posted

time to order one and send her off to the shop

 

hi again. that is the 'springy' part i referred to. if you do not see it, likely toward the passenger side, then that's not good lol. i don't know if a shop is necessary; pretty easy job!

oh and btw, i THINK for that tensioner to give u'll need a 5/8" wrench, possibly a 3/8" ratchet if it's not exactly like the 1 in the pic.

gl,

~tina~

 

yup its not looking to good. i'm pretty sure the tensioner/"springy" part is gone i'm not sure what happened, but there is no sign of it. guess it just fell off

seems like every part store has the spring tensioner in-stock, but i'm not sure i can install it by myself.

 

A lady giving tech tips I love it.

I would say this is a job you can do yourself if you're at all mechanically inclined. Just look up the specs on tension so you don't over or under do it. It will be an indication of a certain amount of play that you can check by pulling the belt and seeing how far it flexes.

 

thanx mikey OP-fix the camera yet? jc

~tina~