I purchased a 1997 Jaguar XJ6 Vanden Plas with 45k miles last week. When I had the car looked over before I purchased it I was told the belts were at the end of their life and should be changed in the next few months. Yesterday when I went to start it up in the morning one of the belts started slipping. I tried spraying belt conditioner on them and that only seemed to make the noise & slipping worse. I'm trying to find out if changing them out is something that I can handle myself. If anyone out there has done this before please let me know how you did it.

Thanks,

Thomas Malone

 

Thomas,

The longer belt is tentioned by the alternator, and that has a threaded rod as the adjuster, very simple to do, 14mm (9/16) spanner will do the job.

The A/C belt is tentioned by an idler pully, and the adjuster is from below, or long arms and flexible fingers from the top ( I do mine from the top). You will need to slacken the 10mm bolt thru the centre of the idler, then use a 6mm (1/4") spanner on the end of the threaded rod to adjust as required. Simple also, just a little time consuming.

Well within the scope of any beginner in my opinion.

Bear in mind we DO NOT have air pumps, EGR stuff on our cars, so your USA cars be harder to get to some items, dunno, never seen one.

 

The A/C idler tensioner is no problem, so long as it is not siezed. Often times the assembly requires removal and some heat to free up the adjustment bolt. I'd pay somebody 1.2 hours labor and use factory belts.

 

If you've never done it before, I would do it just to gain the experience & to say you've done it. everyone needs to do it once.
and it's easy!

alternator belt - loosen the nut at the base of the threaded tension rod(13mm), the bolt on top of the alternator tensioner bracket(10mm), the lower alt. mount bolt/nut combo(17mm on both ends), and the nut on the inner side of the threaded rod(14mm). then with your 14mm wrench tighten the nut on the outside of the tensioning rod to release tension on the belt. then reverse to reinstall new belt.

the a/c belt is simpler,
loosen the bolt in the middle of the tensioner, then with a 1/4" wrench turn the threaded tensioning rod.
memory fails as to which direction to turn it, but it will become apparent.

you will need:
-snazzy ratchet
-10mm deep socket
-13mm deep socket
-17mm socket
-14mm wrench
-17mm wrench
-1/4in wrench
-new belts

 

I could have never done this on my own. My mechanic friend was nice enough to let me watch him change the belts. So now that I have seen it done....I could do it on my own. Certainly not something I could pick up from reading how to do it. Thanks for your help everyone