Am I missing something on changing the belt on my 02? After an hour and a half I was bruised and bleeding with a wrench stuck in the wall and no closer to having the new one in. It seems that NO wrench fits the bolt on the tensioner correctly. 16 doesn't go on all the way, 17 is too lose. I made a diagram for the routing before i took the old one off, but you can't see a friggen thing, maybe I'm routing it wrong? Does anyone have a diagram?
I totally lost my s*** at this point and I'm just cold and angry. There must be a trick to this.

 

If a 16 was too small, it's gonna be a 5/8 or an 11/16.

 

tried both. found the manual page, its supposed to be 16. its just a crappy bolt.

 

Vice-grips are your friend also.

 

yeah man I tried that route. theres only about an inch between the body and this effin bolt though, cant even get them in there and clamped. Can't even get a socket on it much less a socket and a ratchet. Looks like tomorrow I'll be looking for someone with a gear wrench serp belt tool with a lifetime warrenty i can force 16mm onto the bolt. Gonna jack it up and try it from the bottom too, although I'm not sure I'll do any better.

 

Why the hell was my last post deleted????????

Often times going thru the bottom is the BEST way to work on these cars. I can swap the turbo outta my car going thru the bottom in 3 hours. Going thru just the top it takes a good 5-6hrs.