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Changing the serpentine belt on a 2008 Edge


hipo giddyup

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Hi everyone, I am going to attempt changing the serpentine belt on my 2008 Edge SEL AWD but wanted to see if anyone has any pointers. I looked up under the engine area and it looks awful tight. Does anyone have a diagram of where the tensioner is or the easiest way to get to it to release the belt tension? Also, there is a smaller belt on the backside of the main pulley. Should I replace that as well and how dificult is that one? I have pretty good mechanic skills and tools but would like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time. Thanks for a reply!

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hipo,

 

The front is easy, the back [power steering] is a stretchy belt. The manual says you need to access the belts by "raising the car and removing the passenger side splash shield". I can't say that I've done it, but it seems that the front one [AC and alternator] is accessible from the top. I concur with the service manual about the stretchy belt needing to be accessed from below, it seems belt removal and installation procedure requires close access to the affected parts. If you're there for one you may as well replace them both. I would cut the old belts off to save some time. Be sure to buy a stretchy belt install tool with your new stretchy belt!

 

It seems more and more manufacturers are using stretchy belts, so they're not going away soon.

 

Attached for your use is the excerpt from the service manual.

 

Good luck!

Ford Edge Accessory Belt.pdf

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Thanks autom8r for posting the service manual excerpt for the belt removal and installation.

 

I for one would not cut the belts and then try to figure out how they go on. Kind of like on another forum I belong to people drain a differential fluid before finding out that the fill plug is "frozen" in place and won't come out. I would want to make sure I know how to remove and install the new belts before cutting them off.

 

I am sure after doing it once I would feel more comfortable cutting them off in the future, but for the first time I would follow the service manual.

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Hi everyone, I am going to attempt changing the serpentine belt on my 2008 Edge SEL AWD but wanted to see if anyone has any pointers. I looked up under the engine area and it looks awful tight. Does anyone have a diagram of where the tensioner is or the easiest way to get to it to release the belt tension? Also, there is a smaller belt on the backside of the main pulley. Should I replace that as well and how dificult is that one? I have pretty good mechanic skills and tools but would like to know what I'm getting into ahead of time. Thanks for a reply!

 

When you do this, would you be so kind as to take photos and post your lessons learned?

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  • 11 months later...

post-7522-0-51885500-1405995768_thumb.jpgpost-7522-0-01673700-1405995816_thumb.jpgSERPENTINE AND POWER STEERING BELT REPLACEMENT 2007 FORD EDGE: I just completed a replacement of both the serpentine (tensioner) and stretch power steering pump (no tensioner) belts this weekend on my 2007 Edge. The serpentine belt replacement is easy, the power steering belt was challenging. First disconnect neg. battery terminal and jack up front passenger side and remove wheel. Remove the screws and plastic fasteners on the front side of the wheel whell so you can pull it back and stick it behind the rotor out of the way. You might be able to do the sepentine belt without doing this step, but I only say that because I saw how everything was situated by seeing it through the wheel well. To move the tensioner, look for a rectangular metal piece about 1 'x 1/4" which is the top of the tensioner. It is between a cable bundle and coolant hose in the center of the photo. The service manual says to put a 3/8" breaker bar in the 3/8" hole in the side of the tensioner. I couldn't find a slim enough bar due to clearance with the wheelwell so I ended up putting a large adjustable wrench on the tensioner top, (which is square in profile) sticking up, and used a piece of pipe for leverage. The belt comes off easily. The power steering pump pulley is tougher to access since it is toward the back of the car and up a little higher. The power steering belt uses a pulley behind the serpentine pulley, so you have to remove the serp. to change the power steering (stretch) belt. I cut the power steering belt to remove it, but you can attach plastic strap and pry it off by rotating the crankshaft as you pull on the strap. The replacement I got online was not Ford and was smaller that the Ford belt so I would recommend getting the belt from a ford dealer. The part even cross checked good on the company's website. Although its a little pricey, you know you're getting the right one and it included tiewraps and instructions for the install. (For the serpentine belt I used an aftermarket with no problems). Since there is no tensioner for this belt, you must crank the pulley to get the belt on slowly, kind of like a bike gear chain derailer. To install the power steering stretch belt, first put the belt over the crankshaft back (closest to engine) pulley. Then put the belt in the bottom of the power steering pulley. When it is lined up properly in the pulley, insert a tie wrap through the pulley hole in the 6 o'clock position, then down under the pulley and back into the wrap tab. Tighten with pliers. This should securely attach the belt to the botom of the pulley. My belt came with 2 wraps so I used both right next to each other. With your left hand turn the power steering pulley CW and keep your finger on the belt to insure that it stays on the pulley as you rotate the crankshaft pulley. Put a 18mm socket and breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley and rotate it CW as you make sure the belt is fed properly into the other pulley with your left hand. Once the tie wrap gets to 10 or 11 o'clock, the belt will pop fully into the pulley. Don't rotate the crank anymore after this happens or you could damage the belt. I used a box cutter to carefully cut the tie wraps off. I then pulled the tensioner forward and held it there with a tie wrap and put the sepentine belt on and released the tensioner. I included a photo of the the install insructions. I like doing work on my cars, and the job cost $50 total, but this did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. Hopes this helps someone avoid some of the aggrevation I experienced.

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Znow, the serpent belt could be done in a couple hours, most of the time taking the wheel and inner wheel well. If you could do it from above using diagrams that autom8r posted of the sevice manual to see the belt routing, it would take 10 minutes. The stretch belt took me about 15 min. once I got the correct belt from Ford. Just so you know, the service manual says to use a belt install tool, but the new belt came with zip ties and install instructions for same. Now that I've done it, I could probably do both belts in 2 hrs, but it would be a lot easier on a lift than in my driveway. The serp belt is easy, the stretch belt is a lot tougher. Hope this helps.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks autom8r for the excerpt. I have the edge service manual on a pdf file, file but that section has the illustrations wrong.It was showing pictures of the dash!. Anyway, I just completed changing belts, and it is no joy to be sure. You are working in very close quarters, and at times unable to see the objects you need to. I won't say much about the serpentine belt because it's explained very well by frebrd18. (again thanks). I do want to make a point on the stretch belt that goes from the crank pulley to the power steering pump. This is the one that brings those li'l s.o.b.'s out. First I had to order the belts, no one in my area had them. I also ordered an installation tool with it. Belts and tool were products of gates. If you go to the Gates website or youtube you'll find a video showing how to use this tool. Sadly for the Ford Edge it's totally useless. First off Gates tells you to place the belt on the accessory pulley, and the tool on the crank pulley to work the belt on. Looks easy. NO NO NO NO. You can't do that on a Ford Edge. I broke my first belt! You must place the belt on the crank shaft pulley first, then to the power steering pulley. Why doesn't the tool work. First off it's wide enough that it is difficult to clear the inner fender well wall. Secondly the grove that engages the lip on the pulley is designed for the diameter of the crankshaft pulley, so there is a lot of slop and slippage on the pump pulley. So I found a Lisle installation/removal tool. Still no good. That one is so wide it won't even get in between the pulley and the wheel well. I even cut off the removal side, and the tool simply distorted the belt so that it slid off when it got to tension. Keep in mind this is very close quarters, and very hard to reach let alone see the pulley. Solution. cable ties (tie wraps) as frebrd18 used. One tie wasn't enough, it slipped under tension. I tried that 3 or 4 times. So finally I used 2, and the belt stayed on. Once I made 3/4 of a turn, I couldn't reach the ties to cut them off, so I simply backed up the pulleys until the pump pulley was in the position it was when I put the ties on and cut them off. Neither tool helped. If you plan to buy any tool I'd suggest you buy the one from ford. Phew.....done. Hope this clarifies a few things. Do look at the service manual before starting provided by autom8r, it will save you a lot of grief.

Edited by liner*rider
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I replaced my water pump after I bought it my Edge in 2018.  That was awful!! Did it without pulling the motor like the mechanics wanted to do!! The main serpentine belt was in good shape. The stretchy belt was toast. I used 2 zip ties on the crank pulley to pull the belt on. What moron designed that??? Anyway, today I decided to change the  main serpentine belt. I told my wife I would have it done in 15 minutes...HAHAHAHAHA!! :gaah: After reading about taking the tire off and the fender liner I was totally frustrated!! I then unbolted the radiator reservoir, then was able to move it and the radiator hose out of the way. I was the able to get the tensioner and the belt. After removing the belt, I then placed the belt on the alternator pulley with the remainder of the belt pushed down to the A/C and crank. This still took 2 people, crazy.  After taking the belt off, I enlisted the help of my wife. Unfortunately that help came with our 2 year old and 4 year old grand kids. So while they destroyed my socket set, my wife held the tensioner with a cheater pipe  while I crawled under the car and snaked the belt around the A/C and crank pulley. Volia......I was done...

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