Chevrolet Repair: 1996 sunfire serpentine belt, serpentine belt, autozone

Question
HI Mark hope you can help me. my son has a 96 sunfire gt 2.4. we had to replace the alternator on it and now we cant get the belt back on it .i can get the tensioner with a open end wrench but you cant push it back far enough to get enough slack to get it over the alternator pully. there is no room for a socket or even a boxed end wrench. I even tried to push the open end wrench with a prybar but when you get just about there the wrench is now horizontal and slips off the tensioner bolt its -20 degrees up here and we tried for 4 hours last night all to no avail except for freezeing hands and busted knuckles. is there any trick or tip you could give me to try i cant even drive it to a service station because its got no belt. my son just started a job and i am afraid he will loose if we dont get this ####ing thing fixed. any help would be a godsend     THANKS,BOB

Answer
Hi Bob, Yes these do s*ck, they are vary hard to do and on the ground it has to even worst. I have a special tool that gets on that 15mm bolt to move the tensioner. This tool is about 28 to 30 inches long. I have also done the belt while I had the right wheel off and the splash shield pull out of the way. I would go to the parts store and see if they have the tool that will help you install the belt. I just looked at autozone web site and they have them.

Hope this helps

Stay warm           Mark