GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Like many others the shock on my tensioner has blew, I just bought the shock part of the tensioner from Amazon. I got lazy and don't feel like raising the engine to replace the whole tensioner. With this said I am seeing only two bolts on the Shock to swap it out. Anything I should know before I unbolt the bad shock and slip in the new shock in it's place? is it that easy?

Just remember to remove the belt from the tensioner pulley before changing it and put the belt back on the tensioner pully after. Other than that it's pretty simple.

I did the same thing a while back, it was really simple and takes 10min. You dont need to jack the motor or anything, I just unscrewed the new tensioner and replaced the old, I didnt replace the entire arm nor the idler pulley. I think if you want to replace the whole arm it a bit more work... I kept the new arm and pulley in the garage and if that pulley starts making noise then Ill replace it.

should I just loosen up the alternator in order to get the belt off the tensioner?

If I unbolt the Shock without loosening or taking the belt off will i have trouble bolting the new shock on?

I did not mess with the alt. I used a arm on that tensioner, there is a 17 or 19mm bolt head attached, use that and pull your wrench toward the front of the car, I think... if my memory is right. That removes all the tension from the belt, unhook the belt where ever you want, and let go of the bar. This has now set the tensioner free. You can unbolt the shock looking thing and replace it. I think you need a fairly large star tip.. dont know the name of it...

Quote, originally posted by my03yellowv »should I just loosen up the alternator in order to get the belt off the tensioner?NOQuote, originally posted by my03yellowv »If I unbolt the Shock without loosening or taking the belt off will i have trouble bolting the new shock on?Oh God, no, don't do that.Here: http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=36067

Im glad this post popped up. Im about to change my tensioner ( the recommended one from this site ) along with a Gatorback belt. I tried loosening the top ( 12mm ) nut at the top of the tensioner, but its REALLY tight. When I was turning the nut it seemed like the stud was flexing & NOT the nut. So the question is....the top NUT is to be removed correct? Im afraid I may break something, cause I tent to be very heavy handed LOL. I was all ready to go but when I saw that, I was like HEYYYY....let me stop now LOL.

CPT- Looks like we have the same colors on our vibe. anyway I think I am ready to go at this I understand the process now...I am gonna change my belt at the same time so this works out good..Hope I dont run into the same problem with the nut being to tight..

Keep us updated!

Update: I am assuming the tensioner shock was replaced once before as it did not have the star head bolts rather some aftermarket bolts. everything went smooth including the new gator belt, also changed the coolant...

Quite possible. I replaced mine twice. Glad you got it taken care it.