2003 Malibu ..serpentine belt encircles the motor mount?

I was looking over the 2003 Malibu my wife just bought, to determine ease of service. After noticing I could get to the serpentine belt tensioner, it appears the belt itself encircles the passenger side motor mount (!!??) Please tell me I won't have to separate a motor mount just to change the belt when the time comes. (I know design engineers at the big 3 make a living at making even the most simple maintenance nearly impossible for the do-it-yourselfer, but this one may be a new low). Advise M.B.

It's that "Great GM feeling."

My wifes Buick is the same way. I called the shop where it was getting brake work to ask how much to put a belt on it since the engine mount had to be taken loose. The guy flat out told me on the phone that I didn't know what I was talking about. I go to pick it up and the manager told me it wasn't changed because the hoist was busy at the time and I could bring it back later. ( like that is going to happen). I used a floor jack and a well placed block of wood. Two bolts.Lift it just high enough to slip the belt under. Piece of cake.

We had someone come into the shop yesterday for a 'check engine' light.. while they were there they asked us to look at the belts.. they were squealing since the vehicle owner put them on the day before.

Vehicle was a late 90's Mazda something-or-other.. Boss-man told me what he had found, but I couldn't understand what he was saying so I looked for myself.

The vehicle uses two multirib belts.. both go around the crank pulley, then they go their separate ways; one around the power steering pump and AC compressor, the other around everything else. The customer had found a way to take the belt that wasn't supposed to go to the compressor and make it go on the compressor. Now, there wasn't an actual grooved pulley area for the belt to go on (that space was taken by the belt that the manufacturer intended to be there), so they routed it around the inside of the pulley/clutch assembly so the belt was riding inside of the correct drivebelt. I've explained it poorly, I know.

Vehicle owner (I can't bring myself to term them a 'customer') was very proud that they were able to put the belts on themself, but puzzled as to why they were making noise. We gave them a diagram of how the belts were actually supposed to go, explained what we found with the 'check engine' light, and sent them down the road, no charge.

Sometimes the engineers don't have to work hard to make things difficult; the vehicle owner is more than capable on their own.

Regards, Jim

I rest my case. A professional shop was "too busy" to do this obvious pain-in-the-a__ job, and the vehicle owner is thereby required to loosen and engine mount, and jack up his engine at home just to change the belt. Another responder mentioned a vehicle owner that failed to follow the belt diagram. Well, the diagram is not what I was having a problem understanding. Thanks for the info. M.B.

"M.Burns" wrote

Nothing new, really. In fact, the Malibu front mount is a much better design then the front mounts that are on the Lesabre type vehicles. On the Malibu, you simply have to support the engine, and remove the aluminum piece that goes from the mount (on the body) to the bracket (on the engine). Piece of cake.

Ian

The owner of the car did the job in his driveway and said it was a 'piece of cake'.. doesn't sound like a pain-in-the-a__ job to me.. While I don't like turning work away, I like when we are "too busy".. it's better than the alternative. Now I'm sure some posters here can name PITA jobs.. How'd you like to tune up a car where the book pays

No, you were having issues with determining if the motor mount had to be pulled.. my point was that even if something is designed to be easily serviced (not that it happens much..) that the vehicle owner can still screw things up. The vehicle came back in yesterday, on the hook. Temp gage went way up and then the vehicle shut down. Checked it out and while they had fixed the initial belt problem they damaged the new alt/water pump belt during install so the alternator and water pump really weren't turning all that much.

I put a new belt on.. not really that bad of a job. Not much room between the crank pulley and the body, but other than that not hard.

but they still managed to screw it up.

regards,

Jim