as i pulled off the highway earlier today my steering seemed to loose power, after looking under the hood i noticed the belt had come off and the tension pulley was warped. i barely made it to the closest napa and spent just over $100 for a breaker bar, wrench, socket, and a tension pulley.

i called the pontiac dealer and talked to a service guy to see if the pulley bolt is reverse thread, he said no. it turned out it was, after i thought i budged the bolt, i actually tore through the threads, good news is it did not break, just strip the threads a little.

my problem is i cannot get the tension down to get the belt back on. i have never had to put the belt back on before, i got it to move when i was going at the bolt but now i can't get down enough. is there some magic button that lets this down to get the belt back on?

being that i live downtown, there is no where to park during the daytime so i called the junkyard, they will give me $100 to pick up the car and scrap or recycle. i thought i would ask here as a last resort.

PLEASE HELP

All you do is put a socket on the bolt and push it counterclockwise and the pulley will move back. If you can't move it far enough, then you have something wrong. Check the routing.

Hey keep in mind the motor is worth $1800 at a junk yard. Your $100 is a real deal for any one.