Thursday, September 15, 2011

Can I change the serpentine belt on my '93 Jeep Cherokee myself?

I have a '93 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0 L and the serpentine belt broke. The auto repair place says $60 to fix it. Should I try to fix it myself or just take it in? If I do it myself, I'll have to look it up online anyway so if anyone thinks that I should try it, instructions would be helpful.
Can I change the serpentine belt on my '93 Jeep Cherokee myself?
if you have the tools and a place to work on it, and someone who knows what he/she is doing if you mess up, sure go for it.
Can I change the serpentine belt on my '93 Jeep Cherokee myself?
There should be a belt routing diagram on the vehicle under the hood above the radiator. They're easy to replace, just follow the routing diagram, and if your vehicle's missing that label email me at wsevier@yahoo.com and I will email you a diagram.
Well ,you may be in for more than $60,in repairs !. I have to assume that the car was running at the time the belt broke, since you have a 4Liter engine ,there is less chance of valve damage,when the belt broke ! control of the over head cam was lost .This will result in the motor loosing its timing and you may also have bent intake valve,depending on how fast the motor was running,if you were at idel speed when it happened you may not have serious damage,after the belt breaks the #1 cyl intake valve may have hit the piston, try replacing the belt ,watch for antifreeze in the oil , black or blue smoke and antifreeze in tne exhaust pipe see how the car runs with new belt listen for ratteling sounds at the #1side of motorshould be on left side ,its a big motor so you may get some more time out of it . worst case buy a used motor if you did recieve damage,dont let the garage rip you off! you will need to remit complete engine timing.you may get out under $200 if lucky.its at least 2hrs labor to install belt ,and 30 -60 mins to reset motor ,that should be all to get her running.Good Luck!,you may contact me at %26quot;xdrxxx@rogers.com.
Open the hood and look......there should be a diagram of the serpentine belt and how it wraps around the pulleys, usually found on top the radiator. You might need someone to hold the tensioner back for you while installing the belt.
I have an '88 Cherokee and I have replaced the serpentine belt myself. You need a good assortment of socket wrenches (both metric and SAE), short extenders, Liquid Wrench and lots of patience.

Go to a Jeep dealer and ask them to print out the exploded diagram showing how the serpentine belt is snaked thru the engine accessories. Or better yet, buy the Chilton's manual for the vehicle - it's a good investment.



Next, remove the air cleaner box and its connecting hose to the throttle body, to give yourself more room to work in the front of the engine.



I had to remove both the electrical and mechanical fans. The elect fan has a connecting wire and a couple of screws holding it to the radiator cross piece. The mechanical fan is a pain in the b*tt to remove - there is very little clearance between the radiator and fan blade assembly, so you need to use box or open-ended wrenches to loosen each bolt. This step takes the most time so be patient.

You also need to loosen the bolts holding the power steering pump on the driver's side. One is holding bolt and the other is a long tensioner bolt which is positioned horigzontally under the PS pump, which screws in %26amp; out out to tighten/loosen the serp. belt.

When the belt is loose enough, slide it off all the pulleys, replace it with your new belt according to the diagram and retighten the belt at the PS pump. Then replace all the hardware, fans and air filter box and you are done.

Good luck.
i own a repair shop ,and i really don't think you should try it,a lot of people who have thought they could have messed there cars up by trying,if this thing isn't on right it will come back off,and you,ll loose everything,i think if i was you id take it in and have it done,especially if that's the only thing you have to drive,good luck i hope this helps.
Changing a serpentine belt isn't very hard. Usually there is a sticker under the hood that shows the route the belt is supposed to go. If there isn't you can go to autozone.com and look up repairs for your vehicle and it should show you the way the belt goes. One thing to remember is the side of the belt with the grooves in it match up with the pullies with the grooves in them. You put the smooth side of the belt against the smooth side of the pullies. It will be much easier if you can get a serpentine belt tool to use. If there is an autozone or advance auto parts near you they have tools to loan out. Other big chain parts stores may do the same thing.
Yes you can. But I have a 99 cherokee, and it took me and my best friend to get the nut lose on the tensioner, so I dont think you could do it alone. It was really on there.

Its not a regular tensioner pulley, and it would take a while for me to explain it, and for you to find what Im talking about.

It has a bolt to hold the pulley in place, right through the pulley, and another bolt through the backside of the pulley that pulls it inward when tightened.
$60? If this includes the cost of the belt, let them do it. It's not a difficult DIY but not worth the time and bloody knuckles for $60.

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