How to Replace Serpentine Belt Tensioner 1999-2007 Chevy Silverado

If you were to look right down here, you're gonna see a clamp. If you were to look at the other end where it connects on to the throttle body, you're gonna see another clamp. You can go ahead and loosen those up. Also, if you come right up here, you're gonna see an 8-millimeter bolt, look, if you loosen that up, you can take this right out. Once you have that out of the way, and the clamps are loosened, you can wiggle this around. I'm gonna draw it off of the throttle body right here, and I'm gonna take them right there. Take it off of right here, remove it from the vehicle. So now that we have the intake and the little shell out of the way here, it gives us a nice, clear view. You don't necessarily need to take off the shell but I just like to have it out of the way. Go ahead and relieve your tension like that. And then, I'm just gonna take the belt off of the idler pulley here, and then I can let go of that. We'll get our serpentine belt right out of the way. Let's go ahead and remove the belt. Okay, looking at our new tensioner, you can tell that you're gonna have three mounting bolts. I'm gonna use my 15-millimeters socket and my ratchet and I'm gonna remove all 3. There will be one located here, one located much lower, down near thermostat housing, and then, also one over towards the driver's side top. Start with the hardest one.

Here's our tensioner friends. Now, once you confirm that your new tensioner is correct and it matches the original, it's time to get the bolts and everything back in. You're gonna notice that two of your bolts are long and one short. The short bolt is going to be the lowest bolt, the other two longer bolts are going to be the upper bolts. I always start in all of my bolts before I tighten any of them up completely. Now, it's time to torque these. Torque them to 37 foot-pounds. All right. Go ahead and take one side, go down and around the passenger's side of the water pump which is this right here, and then, put it over the crank, which is the main pulley over there. I'm just gonna circle it. Put it up and then slide it around. I'm gonna take one, and I'm gonna come up and over the tensioner right here. And then, the other side. I'm gonna bring it down and around the water pump and then underneath the power steering pump. It's gonna fit right inside the ribs perfectly. Then, I'm gonna come up, make sure it's sitting in those ribs. There it is. Come up and over the alternator right here. This looks good. Make sure everything is situated approximately where it needs to be. That looks great. I'm gonna grab my tensioner tool. Put it on there, relieve tension. Now, I'll take this, bring it right underneath the idler pulley. This is your idler pulley. Get our tool off, give it a nice tug. And then of course, double check all of your pulleys. Every one of them that has the rib side that goes up against the belt, you need to make sure it is sitting perfectly inside the ribs. If you're wondering what your belt routing should look like, you can find it right on the front. Get our intake back on here, it's gonna go right underneath this hose here. Line it up there. Grab this, slide it in. Push it all the way in so it's up against the whole throttle body. Make sure your clamps are nice and tight. Your hose over here should have a little clippy-do. Ours is actually broken but it's going to push in right there and that will hold it secure. Put this cover back on here, just slide it all the way back so it's sitting inside the pitons. Put this down and tighten up your bolt.