1990 olds 88 royal serpentine belt replacement help.

[treveiger]

Hey guys my father called me today asking if I could ask you how to replace a serpentine belt on a 1990 88 royal for my grandma. A shop quoted her over 200 and so she asked if he could do it. I don't know why it'd cost that much but maybe theres something I'm missing??? Any help would be great, thanks guys.
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[ERASER5]

I don't know about the Olds, but my Dad's mid 90's Buick has a motor mount the passes through the belt. Since GM shares platforms across the divisions, this may be the case.

The manual says to remove the motor mount the replace the belt. Lots of time doing that. There is a work around that is much much quicker, but a shop is still going to charge Chilton time even if the mechanice can change the belt in 20 minutes or less.

[treveiger]

What's the work around? I know they always say to do more then they need to, I guess that's why being mechanically inclined helps a lot.
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[rwolf9653]

I do not recall that exact model, but I have done several like this:
Put a jack under the motor (with a wood block) and jack up on the motor to support it. Then undo one end of the motor mount and raise the motor with the jack enough to pass the belt through. The rest is a standard belt replacement.

[ERASER5]

At motor mount/engine bolt, there is a spacer between. Support the engine. Pull that bolt. Knock out the spacer (it may fall out). Slip the belt in between, re-install spacer and bolt. Do not move the engine at all. That is the trick. No jockeying the engine around to line up bolts. Saves loads of time.

[treveiger]

Thanks guys, it turns out it was just standard belt replacement but when we were done we noticed it was sparking at the alternator(bearing went bad) so now we have to fix that also.
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