I had to replace my alternator and figured I would throw a new blet on while I was at it. Got everything on and the belt seems way loose. I have the tensioner all the way to the peg that stops it, and the belt is still way loose. The tensioner looks like it may swivel but I cant get it to turn.

any ideas?

 

Wrong belt? Installed right? Wrong alternator pulley? Lots of options. Double check all the new parts compared to the old ones to make sure they are correct.

 

Are you sure the belt is the correct one? Is the belt routed correctly? One last question: Did you save the old belt in case the new one throws itself off? I ask this because I tried to replace my factory belt with a new one, as preventitive maintenance. Within a week, the truck chewed up the new belt and threw it off. I put the factory belt back on, and its fine.

 

Check belt routing. I have run into the same problem, I put the belt on the way I thought it should go on and it was too loose. The routing of the belt is a little unusual. Check the belt routing diagram under the hood, if you have one. I don't on my truck, so it took me about ten minutes to figure out I had the belt in wrong.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a belt for a/c equipped trucks and one for non-a/c equipped. Just a thought..

My neighbor (who is mechanically declined) put a belt on his '97 and had me check it just incase. It looked good and was tight but it was completely mis-routed. Somehow he got it on without going over the fan and just looped it over pullies until he ran out of belt. Double-double check that routing...

 

Hope this helps. It should be valid for 12 and 24 valves.

 

That's a good post BentValves.. This should go in the tech facts section.