I am going to have to do a water pump replacement on my car this weekend, but i've only had one other car with a serpentine belt and i remember that i could get them off no problem, it's putting them back on that i couldn't accomplish. either i forget how it routes or i can never get the tensioner loose enough. any ideas how hard it's going to be putting the darn thing on when the pump is installed? the routing under the hood does not have any path for A/C delete so i am not even sure what belt i need. the pump itself looks easy enough, remove right engine mount, a few metric sized bolts from what it appears, and it's off.

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1992 Pontiac Bonneville SSE (3800 Series I, 277K miles and counting! with a horrific knock sadly)

It's a lot easier with an assistant. If you can find one, route the belt with tension on it and have the assistant hold it near the tensioner. Then push the tensioner towards the firewall and slip the belt on. Don't forget the tensioner bolt that holds on the pulley is left-hand thread. Bolt size is 15mm, and it's a lot easier with a breaker bar than a socket handle.

If you don't have an assistant, I've resorted to using duct tape to hold the belt to the bottom pulleys.

And don't forget you have to support the engine and loosen one of the engine mounting bolts to get it off and on.

There should be a diagram with belt routing somewhere under the hood. If not, look in techinfo here.

ETA: Belt routing for the L36.

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462 cubic inches of REAL Pontiac power.

well my problem is that i have the same belt routing diagram under the hood but since the A/C compressor is locked up long before i had the car, someone else had installed a shorter belt and routed it very differently. i am not sure what type of belt to buy (Auto Zone and various others would likely supply the one for A/C) and since i plan to do the work at home i cannot remove it in the parking lot and have them meaure the thing. i'll see if i can grab some numbers off the belt tomorrow after work and perhaps source them here. maybe some pictures.

i think i can get by without removing the right engine mount, but if it should be necessary i got jackstands and support tools so that's not a problem. my biggest concern is not having the nightmare of macrame under my hood like my earlier mishap with a Subaru XT6, the only other car i've owned with serpentine belts.

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1992 Pontiac Bonneville SSE (3800 Series I, 277K miles and counting! with a horrific knock sadly)

You might want to take a look at this part, which replaces the A/C compressor.

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/ ... ing=search

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462 cubic inches of REAL Pontiac power.

Is your SSE supercharge, or n/a? I can't envision bypassing the AC on an L27 with just a shorter belt. I know it can be done to a series 1 L67, as I am currently running in that configuration.

Either way, try looking on the existing belt for part numbers. They can usually be cross referenced to what brand the store may have. If they can't, there are usually lengths incorporated in the numbers. If you find numbers, post them here if you need help with a length. 6 groove is a given, all you need to know is how long it needs to be.

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92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

my car is not the supercharged version. it's just a basic 3800 L27. not a series II either. the A/C compressor removal would be a much more involved repair and one reason i have decided never to fix the A/C as it is not a critical system. my problem is which belt, how short must it be. i want to do the work at home and not risk being stuck in a parking lot miles away. so i cannot figure out which belt, and removing it and taking it to Auto Zone is not an option as a serpentine belt powers the water pump and such on a single belt. if i remove it the car becomes instantly undriveable. one of many reaons i despise serp belts and would prefer multiple V-belts over it. if i could convert the 3800 V6 engine to multiple V-belts later on i might do it. not sure if it is possible. never have been very comfortable with one single belt being the point of failure of the water pump, alternator, power steering simultaneously. no redundancy. and changing one is a royal pain in my own experience; seems rather easy to mess it up just enough and end up with a much larger problem than you have started with.

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1992 Pontiac Bonneville SSE (3800 Series I, 277K miles and counting! with a horrific knock sadly)

Take a piece of string and run it along the belt, that will give you a rough idea of how long it needs to be.

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-Ryan
2004 GTO....LS1, LSA supercharged 525whp, 6MT
96 SSEi...September 2010 COTM........GONE
04 GTP comp G.... December 2015 COTM........GONE
2013 Audi Allroad Quattro

I've put a shorter belt on an l27. I probably said somewhere here how long it should be.

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WHITE WHINE - 1992 SSE Supercharged 236.26 ci (.040 Over) 15.090 at 90.2 MPH on old engine w/ slipping trans & melted O2 sensor - Gen 3 M62 and matching TB, Gen 2 Pully, Zillamotorsports Ported LIM, YT 1.72 Roller Rockers, SII FPR & Injectors, Hypertech Thermomaster chip w/ 160 Thermo, TransGo Shift Kit, Infinity/Pioneer Speakers & a 10" Alpine Type R Sub, all the watts, 140 amp Alternator, Ricepipe CAI w/ heatshield, Pilot Angel Eye Foglights, Clear Corners, '02 17" Chrome Bent 5's, Magnaflow F-Body Muffler and Hi-flo Cat, Ceramic Coated Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Fan Override, Monroe Reflex struts, red calipers
2009 G8 GT - Sport Red Metallic, loaded, SOLO Axlebacks, Rotofab Intake, Tuned, autodim mirror, removed intake manifold cover, HSV GTS triple gauge pod, two tone red-hot shifter and HSV SuperSport steering wheel, GXP rear sway bar and diffuser, 3.45 diff and various Camaro suspension bits, LED Taillights

I have had my belts on and off so many times, I find it to be rather easy. But, I realize some may not be as familiar.

You don't have to remove the belt to check for part numbers. If there are any left, they would be on the outside, flat part of the belt. If you cant see any, flip the key for a second to spin the crank, till you see the belt make a full revolution, or you see numbers.

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92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

On my Dayco and Goodyear belts the last 3 numbers are the length in centimeters.

http://www.goodyearep.com/productsdetail.aspx?id=3128

This is the list for Goodyear. Look for part number on old belt and use cross reference to find the equivalent belt. If you need a bit shorter or longer, look for available length near the one you have.

length issue aside, is there a particular method of putting the darned things on? i have never been able to do it successfully. soon as i get the new belt out of its box everything goes to heck. it has a mind of its own and never seems to go where i want it to. this was the issue with my XT6 way back when (and the one car where it turned into macrame and broke two pulleys clean off) and i junked the next car that snapped a belt because i couldn't get the new one on right. i'd get it around one pulley and soon as i got it on the next one SPROING! it all popped off again. i'd get a mechanic if it weren't the water pump and i was simply changing belts. but having a mech do a water pump would be too cost prohibitive. but i swear i am one of those guys who cannot put a serp belt on. i'm someone raised literally around V-belts and how to put them on. those are super easy. they only drive on accessory. a serp belt snakes every which way but loose.

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1992 Pontiac Bonneville SSE (3800 Series I, 277K miles and counting! with a horrific knock sadly)

I usually just start by wrapping the crank, and working my way upward to the more reachable pulleys. It just falls into place pretty much naturally if you take the grooved side of the belt to the grooved pulleys, and the back side of the belt to the smooth pulleys. Leaving the tensioner, or w/p for last depending on what wants to be more cooperative that day. Remembering that if you do tensioner last, you will need to have your wrench on the right side of the belt before hand.

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92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

i'll try this weekend but the crank part is easy. i never have been able to get any of the rest and i have never managed to get as far as the tensioner. the one time i actually thought i accomplished it (when i recall it was TOO easy) was the time when i hit they key, heard flopping and a loud screech and the engine suddenly stopped. when i opened the hood i smelled putrid rubber smell and the entire accessory part of the engine was destroyed and a mangled mess of what was once a $100 serpentine belt. granted that car had a huge super long belt though, perhaps the shorter one i need would be easier? cannot help but remember that image of my Subaru just thinking about it. i swore i'd never have a serpentine belt car again until i fell for this car in the yard. i just couldn't take my eyes off of it.

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1992 Pontiac Bonneville SSE (3800 Series I, 277K miles and counting! with a horrific knock sadly)