That sir, is a mistake. If the belt brakes ( frays) it will screww up a lot of stu.ff up fromnt and cost you a bundle ( think Alternator, Water pump, ac compressor, pulleys.
I have seen, and ther have been plenty of psts about that.
I have always changed my belts at 60,000 mile intervals (with the upper idler pulley too) but just this past week had a belt fail at only 37,000 miles.
The belt that failed was a Continental, all others have been Goodyear.
There is some anecdotal evidence that Continentals fail earlier, but I also have the original tensioner on my 217,700 mile car (changed the tensioner pulley at 120,00 miles, but not the tensioner body). There is similar evidence that worn tensioners can cause belt failure.
On the 9-5 it actually isn't so easy Nahum... unlike the 900/9-3's you have to undo the top engine mount, and support the engine... granted, that's not too bad but unless you're willing to drop like, 10$ or 12$ to build one of these: Otherwise you'd be better off paying someone 125$ to do it . (HA!)
Or a 1x4x4 between the jack and oil pan from underneath. You can get a 1"(H)x4"(W)x4"(L) cut from scrap wood and they'll give it to you for free. That's how I got mine from home depot. Place that underneath to spread the load and lift the engine slightly. Slight hitch in easy serpentine belt change solved.
I must say however that I did that once, and somehow the whole thing shifted, and the motor dropped and the jack went through and utterly destroyed the oil filter... I was so lucky it wasn't the pan, or even the cooler. Scared the hell out of me. Just be careful (unlike me) and you'd be fine though.
Yes, now would be a great time to change the belt and upper idler pulley.
All said and done, with removing that big motor mount, 1 hour, tops...
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Saab Link Forums
953K posts
26.9K members
Since 2003
A forum community dedicated to Saab owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!