All right, the case of the missing tensioner....

So I'm in the middle of a timing belt job, and I'm removing the two drive belts. The Alternator belt was a pice of cake, a socket over an auto tensioner that had "loosen tension here" stamped right into it.

So now the second drive belt, this one for the power steering pump and... different story. I can't find the tensioner! The belt appears to just loop around the harmonic balancer, and then straight to the power steering pump pulley.

I can't find a good diagram, but I found a poor one, and it appears that there is supposed to be a tensioner idler at the bottom... but it's just not there. However the belt does have plenty of tension on it, so it's not like the tensioner just fell off and now the belt is loose.

I'm thinking the diagram I have is to a different year engine or something, maybe a later minor modification.

If anyone can please chime in and tell me how to get my power steering drive belt off, it would be very much appreciated.

 

Those are stretch fit belts. First option is cut the belt and get a new one for reassembly. Second option that I do is unbolt the crank pulley and remove it with the belt still on. Takes a gentle pry. Then when reassembling simply roll the belt back onto the p/s pulley.