How long should it take to install pulley and damper...

Perhaps it took 3 hours because it was a bit tricky? You did say yourself that it looked a bit tricky. I'd wager a bet that you've answered your own question.

Tricky in that you need a special tool to hold the tensioner when replacing the belt, have to make sure everything is perfectly straight--i.e., tricky for a novice, but I wouldn't think so for a seasoned mechanic with $50,000 of tools and an extra set of hands.

It's not all that tricky. And it certainly doesn't take 3 hours even for me in my home garage with normal hand tools. The only thing that you may not be considering is that (to do the job right) the car needs to be jacked up, the right front wheel removed, the fender (wing) liner removed in order to gain full access to the belt end of the engine so the pulley can be removed and replaced. That might take an hour to get off and back on. The actual belt and pulley replacement would take about 10 minutes once you get full access.

Oh, and that special tool for the belt tensioner is just a long 1/2" breaker bar and socket. I made a homemade fixture to hold it in the retracted position from a piece of steel strap with a couple of bolts. I forgot where I saw the dimensions for that tool. Here is some info on the tensioner:

Mine took two days...because the socket for the breaker bar on the pulley was already broken, and it took me a day to figure out that a big pipe wrench would work. All things considered, three hours is way too much time for a real mechanic to do this job. Assuming no complications, it's 30 minutes, max.

-John O

And I don't have a book, but I think it's under an hour even flat rate.

It's actually very easy to do.

Haynes manual.

You don't need three hours. You do need to remove the passenger side wheel arch, loosen the belt to remove the crank pulley. An impact wrench helps but not absolutely necessary.

The most elegant way of removing and installing the belt is to use a

1/2" drive 18" long breaker bar with a 19 mm short socket. Stand in front of the car facing the rear with the hood open. Slip the socket onto the nut on the tensioner and start pushing the breaker bar toward the rear. The tensioner will gradually give way. When it does the belt will be loosened. Keep the force on the breaker bar with your right hand. Crouch down to remove the belt with your left hand. Remember the belt routing. Installation is the same way. You do not need any special tools to remove and install the serpentine belt.

The crank pulley needs a 27 mm socket. If you do not have a helper, do the following. Shift the gear into fifth. Slip the 27 mm socket and the breaker bar on and have the tip of the bar rest on the ground. Then put the tire and wheel lug on hand tight. Rotate the tire to loosen the crank pulley nut.

It is critical you tighten the crank pulley nut to 129 ft-lbs. A loose crank pulley could spell disaster. The engine timing depends on it. A loose pulley could mean the timing chain slipping relative to the cam shafts.

One should be able to do it in less than an hour. Experience has taught me to replace both pulleys at the same time. Just remember that the tensioner pulley's nut has a left handed thread. Two people can do it with a breaker bar alone but a suspension spring compressor works well to compress the tensioner. There is no need to remove the wheel well liner. One can feed the belt around the proper pulleys with the aid of a trouble light, a yard stick and maybe the hook of a clothes hanger.

The lower pulley rarely wears out, IMHE. Just the upper idler, which is not reliable after 50K.