I went out last night thinking this would be a real fast job: Replace all the belts on the car with fresh ones. I see how all the belts fit onto the car (disconnect slide blot on accessory, slide accessory, swap belt, return accessory to full, upright position with pry bar) with the exception of the power steering belt. Both the haynes and the FSM leave me scratching my head. My search turned up an article that detailed the procedure, but it, too, was a bit vauge on details.

There's that little idler pulley just above, and to the left, of the power steering pump. There's a really really long 10mm bolt that goes through the back of that assembly. I can see how that will raise the pulley to tighten the belt, but loosening it doesn't seem to lower the pulley. Before I break out the hammer and start hitting things, I thought I'd ask to see if anyone knew what had to be done to lower that pulley to facilitate the removal of the belt.

Thanks much!

 

Whoa! Dont hammer that thing!!!! On the front of the pulley is a hex. This is the lock mechanism for the 10mm tensioning bolt. Loosen the hex, that'll allow you to turn the long bolt and de tension and re tension the belt.

 

Ah-ha! I have to admit, I was out in the driveway, looking at the pully, holding my BFH at my side... looking at the pully... looking at the bfh...

looking at the pully... looking at the bfh...

Started to think that maybe beating the power steering system like it owed me money wasn't quite what Mazda had intended. I'll loosen that hex nut on the pully when I get home, and put the hammer back in a safe place.. far out of my reach. =)

Thanks much!

 

Step AWAY from the BFH! Glad you read this before you brkoe something.

 

Put the hammer down and step away from the car ....

 

There is a time and a place for the hammer.

Working on your power-steering system ain't it.

Most new cars use idle pulleys to tension the serpentine belts because it can apply more tension than a crow-bar under the accessory in one hand and a 10mm socket wrench in the other. These new cars rely on heavily tensioned belts to power all the accessories, so it's necessary. You'll notice that this is the only 'tensioned' belt on your car, but go easy on it - it doesn't need a lot of torque to power the PS pulley. Unneeded tension will only cause bearing damage to the PS pump and damage your belt over time. HTH,

 

I was dumbassing it the opposite way, I undid the 17mm hex nut, and was trying to move the pulley up, I tried tapping it a few times. Then I noticed the bolt