Power steering belt shredded!
 

So I'm driving the other day and hear a funny noise from the engine compartment. Luckily, it was just the power steering belt shredding itself (as opposed to say something inside the engine!) Anyway, now I have no power steering, which sucks. I bought a new belt and took another look under the hood. It looks like you would have to take out the motor mounts or something to get at the ps belt. I did a search and found one old post on this, but is there anyone who could shed some light on replacing the PS belt? I'd like to DIY on this to save the cash, is it worth it?

find a thread where ppl were replacing the stock crank pulley with a light weigh one. it will show u how the belt is supposed to be ran and what u have to do to replace it. u will need the loosen (not take off) the side motor mount.

next question, why did it shred? what was the condition of the belt and how many miles on it?

Cool, I will look for a thread like that. My 2002 CL has just over 81,000 miles on it, I think it was the original belt, guess I'll inspect all of the belts as long as I'm in there.

I dont think u have to take off a motor mount.
Take off the passenger tire and wheel well plastic.
then I don't know, all i know is it took 20 min for a tech at my job to put on a lightweight pulley and the belts..

If I remember correctly from I changed my timing belt, I believe the motor mount does have to be removed. I'll check the SM

to put on the pulley u dont need to remove the mount. but in order to replace the belt u need to take the mount out.

^ i know

Not the whole mount though. Just the bracket for the mount. Its three bolts, two 14mm bolts on the motor, and 1 17mm on the mount. No need to support the motor, its not a load bearing mount. Once you remove that you need to remove the alternator belt. You need a wrench, I think 14mm, and pull up on the tensioner to release that belt. Be very careful, the pulley is spring loaded and will leave you in a world of pain if it slips. Then loosen the tension bolts on the power steering pump and replace.

^what he said. Het a long 14mm wrench for the tensioner. Will make it a lot easier to pull\push. I got my self one that's 12-15" long.

I used a flare wrench so it wouldn't slip, a closed wrench would work too.

Wow, that's a fair amount of work to change one belt! Plus, just looking at it, I can see everything is tight in those spaces, not an easy place to work on. I'm currently working about 80 hours a week, so I think I'll just take it to a shop and have them do it! Thanks for the advice!

No problem, its maybe a 35 minute job though.

Yeah, I just wimped out and took it in to a shop near my house. They also changed the serpentine belt, it wasn't as bad as the PS belt, but it was definitely showing its age. Labor was less than $40 for both belts.

Not bad at all. Just make sure your PS pump is torque correctly. Alot of shops have issues when it comes to applying to much tension to that and killing your pump.