Replacing Serpentine Belt - How to release tension?

CORY BENKS

MEMBER
2009 HYUNDAI SANTA FE
2.7L
V6
4WD
AUTOMATIC
140,000 MILES

09 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.7L V6

I am replacing the serptentine belt for the first time as the old one frayed and broke, possibly sped up by an oil leak.

Anyhow I have the old belt off and have removed the plastic cover behind the front passenger wheel well as is the case with this vehicle, and now I am trying to figure out how to release/add tension for when the belt goes on.
There are 6 pulleys on this vehicle and I have the tensioner narrowed down to two pulleys in the center that are not grooved, as I have identified the Crankshaft, alternator, power steering, and what I believe to be the A/C compressor.
I am fairly certain that it is the lower of the two pulleys (the one slightly higher than and to the right of the crankshaft pulley which is in the bottom left) as that is the one that other 2.7L hyundai diagrams I have found claim it to be (these diagrams aren't for my exact year-I haven't been able to find mine, but are very similar in placement of the pulleys except they have 7 pulleys whereas mine is 6). There is also a nut in between the 2 pulleys in question.

So Im not sure if I loosen the nut on what I believe to be the tensioner pulley and then its supposed to slide over? Or loosen the nut thats right above what I believe the tensioner pulley to be, and then it slides over? And also if I am supposed to turn it clockwise, or counter?

In the attached picture where I wrote 'tensioner?' that is the one im fairly certain that the tensioner is, the one above I think could be the idler pulley? And where I wrote 'nut' in white is where a nut is in a circular piece that looks like it might be attached to one of the two pulleys that its in between. I believe I should be turning either that nut thats in between the pulleys or the nut on the tensioner pulley, but Ive found nothing to confirm anything and I tried to turn both counter clockwise and neither wanted to budge and I didnt want to force anything. I just sprayed both with PB blaster so whatever one it is will be ready.

Thanks for taking the time to help.

3 Replies

ASEMASTER6371

MECHANIC
52,797 POSTS

Good morning,

There was no picture attached. Can you reattach?

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-serpentine-belt-works

I attached a picture of the drive belt routing. The pulley between the A/C compressor and the alternator is the tensioner.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-a-serpentine-belt-tensioner-works

Roy

Image (Click to make bigger)

SPONSORED LINKS

Was this

answer

helpful?

Yes

No

Sunday, August 23rd, 2020 AT 6:43 AM

CORY BENKS

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thanks for the response, so in your diagram I thought it was B and it sounds like you did as well, but it actually turned out to be C.
It was easier to do with 2 people and to un tension we just put a little breaker bar on the nut on that second from the top pulley (C) and as I turned it counter clockwise a little it slid over to the left on its own.
Not sure what happened with the picture originally but Ill share the original one I had. I suppose I should have realized it was C because that's the one that had room to move. All the other diagrams threw me off where the tensioner looked like it was B on similar Hyundai diagrams. Also when taking the cover off behind the passenger wheel you would have access to B, whereas C was a bit tougher to get to.

Cheers, Cory.

Image (Click to make bigger)