Hello all,
I recently bought a 1996 F150, and since it is a second vehicle, I am willing to wade into some simple repairs; I know better than to touch my primary transportation :) I have done some basic stuff on small engines, including rebuilding a couple of carburetors -- I know just enough to be dangerous.
The truck has a straight 6 and manual transmission. It was a nice mix of (hopefully) correctable problems and low mileage (75k). The scary part is that the head was clearly changed, and one wonders what happened to make that necessary. Can't be good, but I bought a 3/36 extended warranty that covers much of the drive chain. So far, I am _really_ impressed with it.
There is a long list of repairs to be done, which I used in talking the price down. Most of it I would not dare attempt. On the list were a new thermostat and sepentine belt, and I couldn't resist. The thermostat turned out to be interesting as Haynes' description of the thermostat screwing into the cover was not very accurate. My first attempt resulted in an impressive leak. The second time, I used sealant to hold the thermostat in the cover, and let it cure a while. So far, it appears to be holding. I will wait for better light and do some reading before running the engine and heater to fill it and do a more careful leak check. So far, I am cautiously optimistic.
My real reason for posting is the belt. I can't quite get the new one to reach around the last pulley, despite having the tensioner (I think) rotated all the way back using a 2 ft bar designed for the job. I reinstalled the old belt to check the routing, and to wrap up what I was doing. Is there any trick to a new belt vs. one that has stretched?
Bill