Tried fixing a loose alternator belt on a 2002 Civic last night and messed up the tensioner pulley

Last night I was working on a buddy's Civic in my garage in Austin and noticed his alternator belt was squealing bad. I tried tightening the tensioner but I must have overtorqued it, now the pulley won't spin right at all. Anyone know a good trick for removing a seized tensioner bolt without stripping it further?

3 comments

3 Comments

charlescraig19d ago

Wait, you were trying to tighten it and the tensioner seized up? That's brutal on a Civic - those bolts are soft and strip out like butter if you breathe on them wrong.

mark_carr719d ago

Reminds me of the time I was helping a buddy swap his alternator on an old Mazda. We got the belt off fine but the main bolt holding the tensioner pulley just snapped clean in half when we barely touched it with a ratchet. Ended up having to drill out the broken piece and re-thread the hole. What did you end up doing to fix yours?

blair_taylor3219d ago

Soaked it in PB Blaster overnight, then used a breaker bar with gentle pressure.