01 Coolant and serpentine belt

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Hey everyone, I'm installing a 275a alternator in my 2001 Continental and in order to get it off I have to relocate the coolant overflow reservoir. No problem with that. What color should the coolant be? Mine is a fairly bright orange.

Second question - how easy is it to replace the serpentine belt once I'm this far? I have to put a smaller belt on regardless, just wondering how much to prepare.

 

[MooJohn]

My coolant is standard green. I haven't done the belt yet but it's something I have to do very soon. Go ahead and change the tensioner and idler pulley now or you'll be back to do it when their bearings fail.

The best belt is the Goodyear Gatorback. Anything else can squeak on a quick upshift, esp. after tweaking shift points with a tuner.

 

[bradyelich]

I used a long 5/16" wood dowel to help string the belt around the bottom pulleys. This way I did not lay on the floor.

Use a flat belt tensioner tool.

If you have access to a press, press out old bearings and press new bearings into your pulleys. Buy bearings at bearing supply shop.

Orange coolant is made with different stuff than green and not compatible.

 

[MooJohn]

Thanks - I didn't know about the tensioner tool. I assumed you used a 1/2 inch breaker bar or something similar.

It looks like the tensioner is held on with a torx bolt -- any idea what size?

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Got the alternator in, as well as serpentine belt and new radiator. All is well up here, plenty of power on tap as needed

 

[MooJohn]

Any hints for those of us yet to do it?

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Any hints for those of us yet to do it?

Ramps are your best friend. Also, get screw clamps instead of just the pressure fit ones, much easier to get on and off. The belt tensioner tool was a tool from a higher being, made the whole job much easier. Best $30 I've ever spent. Make sure to pull off the bolts that slide into the radiator that connect to the AC cooler thing and put them on the new radiator before installing it. A hydraulic jack and a second person made getting that radiator in and out of place much easier, it is a two person job and there's no real way around it.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Any hints for those of us yet to do it?

Also, before attaching the upper radiator hose to the piping into the engine fill it with coolant. Will save you a lot of time if the system isn't bled properly, took me 4 hours of driving around the block, cooling down engine, adding coolant, rinse and repeat to get all the air bubbles worked out.

 

[bradyelich]

In the last pic posted, you can see the coolant fill port, the round plug with the 3/8" square. Use small ratchet and loosen, not too tight as it has an 0-ring on it. If filled from here, car will not have any problems, but fill thru the reservoir and the car will overheat due to vapor lock.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

In the last pic posted, you can see the coolant fill port, the round plug with the 3/8" square. Use small ratchet and loosen, not too tight as it has an 0-ring on it. If filled from here, car will not have any problems, but fill thru the reservoir and the car will overheat due to vapor lock.

We were unable to get the plug off, I was able to work all the bubbles out of the system. Running well now

 

[dragantoe]

Why did you replace the alternator?

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Why did you replace the alternator?

Sound system, upgraded from the stock 130a to a 275a alternator. Plans to run a 3000W RMS sub stage

 

[dragantoe]

oh nice! I wasnt sure if there was a performance upgrade I was missing out on or something... A new sound system will be on the list for me once I make this car reliable enough to last college... lol

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

oh nice! I wasnt sure if there was a performance upgrade I was missing out on or something... A new sound system will be on the list for me once I make this car reliable enough to last college... lol

Things are about to get loud. Nothing in this car is stock sound system-wise. Here's the box for the next setup

 

[dragantoe]

I see a blue theme going on here, it looks sweet, now please tell me your car is that color!

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

I see a blue theme going on here, it looks sweet, now please tell me your car is that color!

Of course! Not quite this dark, as the sun was setting, but I snapped these pictures tonight.





And a daytime picture. Not the best but it gives you an idea on the color

 

[dragantoe]

Wow! I've never seen a conti in that color, it's gorgeous!

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Wow! I've never seen a conti in that color, it's gorgeous!

I'm a fan of it, my favorite though is the cream/off white conti's. I love them.

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

You'd be surprised how goods picture an iPhone can take as well.

 

[MooJohn]

Isn't that "Wedgewood Blue"?

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Isn't that "Wedgewood Blue"?

I believe it was pacific blue

 

[MooJohn]

Well, I attempted the belt / tensioner replacement on my car tonight. Even if a thunderstorm hadn't popped up to interrupt me, the car isn't going anywhere!

I wish I had known sooner that the engine has to be raised 1.5 inches to get the tensioner out. I already replaced the idler pulley and got the tensioner unbolted before discovering that there isn't room for it to come out. There's no way I'm going back with the 15 year old tensioner that's probably the source of my squealing.

On the other hand, I don't have the fancy tool mentioned in the factory manual either. Tomorrow I'm going to try to jack the engine from below. I've just got to get a new tensioner in place -- the Goodyear Gatorback belt will just be the icing on the cake.

Congrats to Ford's engineers. They weren't about to make routine maintenance a simple job. Something that would be a 30 min job on a Grand Marquis is 2 days on this damn thing!

 

[dragantoe]

Congrats to Ford's engineers. They weren't about to make routine maintenance a simple job. Something that would be a 30 min job on a Grand Marquis is 2 days on this damn thing!

Lol, this just reminded me of last week, I was trying to change the oil and to my surprise the last person to do it used an impact wrench to get the plug on, so it took over an hour to get the thing off, by that time I was using vice grips and a hammer because it was so stripped... and to add insult to injury, Advance auto gave me the wrong oil filter THREE TIMES, so I brought the original (should have done this earlier) and made him take measurements...

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

Just a little update on the alternator, the only time I get belt slip is when it shifts while I'm going full bore, which is very rarely. I do love the sound of the alternator though, gives the engine a bit of a supercharged whine

 

[jrdnhsnbrg]

YouTube video:

http://youtu.be/maMDG9yp3gg