[Mr Smiley]

I had a very hard time removing this belt to replace the alternator. I have the alternator replaced and tensioner is back on, but for the life of me i can not get the belt back on. I tried for over an hour to get it on. When i went to youtube they make it look easy, but i did learn that i can pin the tensioner in the released state fairly easy.

This afternoon im going to go buy a new belt, as i dont want to do this again. Is there some special trick to getting this back on? Am i missing something? it just seems like the belt is 1/4 inch too short.

 

[red99]

I used a nail through the holes to pin mine in place. With the nail holding the tensioner make sure the belt is seated all the way down in the pulley grooves on each of the pulleys. I believe I put it over the alternator last. Once everything is aligned, pull the tensioner all the way against the spring and slip it over the alternator pulley and remove the pin.

 

[VDubYah]

Here is the ribbed belt path with and without a/c.

It goes inboard of the a/c compressor not around it

 

[VDubYah]

2.5 belt routing

 

[Mr Smiley]

I went to the local parts store to buy a new belt. Same length, but it was thicker. I had to call a friend over and we worked for 1.5 hours getting that beast on the car.

Found out that it hits the tensioner! it took a piece of rope to assist in pulling the belt back off the engine! I was rather surprised as was my help!

I took both belts to another parts store and they measured it, there was less then 1/8 inch difference between them. I installed the original and it fit, still took us 10 min to install it.

I do have A/C and routed it as above.

However i am still mad as my lovable beetle will NOT start. Im thinking its a crank sensor. My buddy knows a guy with a snapon scan tool and will see if we can borrow it till i get the one from Amazon. I really dont want to tow this car 60 miles to the nearest VW dealer.

Although swapping the alternator was easy and simple.