I have a 96 bonneville se and the belt tensioner is squeeling on mine...... But when I go to order the parts for it, it is just the tensioner and belt..... I dont see anything that pushes coolant or have any kind of elbows.....
Are their different kinds of engines in these cars, that take different tensioners?????

DO25BUBBA it sounds like you just need to replace your tensioner pulley and not your complete tensioner assembly.

AutoZone replacement tensioner pulley # 231107 $18.00.

Dayco pulley at Advance auto # 89007 $18.49.

The tensioner with the coolant elbows is the accessory tensioner. The one without the coolant elbows is the supercharger tensioner. Does that help?

I've got the doorman hose elbow kit. Do I need to get another O-ring for the other side of the tensioner or can I use one of the O-rings in the kit for that?

The tensioner housing lower o-ring (red arrow in picture) that goes on the aluminum part is larger than the upper plastic elbow o-rings.

Tensioner Housing lower o-ring =
o-ring size 2-117
.799” ID x 1.00” OD x .103” Diameter
Felpro # 93694



Plastic upper elbow o-ring =
o-ring size 2-115
.672” ID x .875” OD x .103” diameter
Felpro # 95765

Be sure and use o-rings designed for automotive use and leave the hardware store o-rings for the kitchen sink only. LOL

I tried to get the lower O-ring at GM parts shop but they already closed by noon. The doorman kit comes with two elbows and one of them is larger and appears to match the old O-ring I took off from the lower part of the tensioner. Should I use it if it matches or just use the old one (seems OK)? Also someone mentioned using RTV and the old one looked like it had some on it. Should I dab some RTV on both O-rings or maybe just the lower one.

When I got the tensioner off the upper elbow was cracked at the O-ring that fits in the UIM. Cleaned out all mating parts so now I'm ready to put it back together but don't want to wait until Monday for GM parts to open.

No need for RTV if the O rings are good. Just clean everything up good, put a little lube on the O rings and slid it in.

Thanks for the quick response. I was waiting for confirmation before I put everything back together.

1998 GM 3.8 Coolant elbow replacement

I am preparing to do a leaking coolant elbow repalement on a 1998 GM 3.8 engine . The job looks straightforward. I purchased an elbow kit at NAPA which contains 2 elbow (this year uses only one ). The belt tensioner assemble has an o-ring that fits in the water pump and I would like to get the exact size replacement o-ring for that too . Does know waht the size is and or the GM part # ?

The o-ring bore of water pump ( WP ) seems to have a little roughness ( RTV resdue, O-ring residure, bars leaks ?) that I cna't get off with my fingernail, stiff toothbrush and brake cleaner . I want the seal area to be prefectly smooth (no sctaches). I guess that I will try gasoline next then maybe or 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper.

Would it be OK to use a little permatex orange RTV sealant along with the o-ring to make sure there is a good seal ? Normally I wouldn't do this with o-ring seals but maybe it is appropriate here .

- Thanks

The right size of the o-ring is the larger ring on the second elbow. I know..I did the same thing and ran everywhere for o-rings..lol

Use some steel wool to clean the bore... no on the RTV, if it leaks, cleaning RTV to redo it.....ewwwww