Power steering belt change is required periodically on most cars.
The exceptions to this are cars with electric power steering, and those with no power steering.
The car that I did the power steering belt change on, is a 2006 Jaguar X-Type 2.2 Diesel.
The very first step was to purchase the correct belt.
Make sure you check that the product code matches suitability for your vehicle.
The first task was to remove the plastic engine cover, as shown in the next photo. The cover is held in place by round rubber supports, and the cover is removed by pulling upwards, from the front first.
Before trying to pull the engine cover off, you need to first remove the oil dipstick, as the top of it is wider than the dipstick cutout, in the engine cover.
After successfully removing the plastic engine cover, the next stage is to remove the battery.
Firstly remove the negative (-) battery terminal, followed by the positive (+).
The reason for firstly removing the negative terminal, is that if the other end of your spanner comes into contact with the cars bodywork, it won’t cause a spark.
You will need a 10mm spanner or socket, to remove the battery terminals.
IMPORTANT: Removing the battery will reset the cars radio, and therefore you will need to have the appropriate security code.
Once the two battery terminals have been removed, you then also need to undo the two nuts holding the battery support clamp.
I found that only the rear nut needed to be taken off completely, as the top plate of the clamp, will rotate out of the way.
Once the battery has been removed, the battery box lifts out of the cars engine bay.
You will notice from the photo above, that there is a wire attached to the plastic battery box.
This wire, along with a pipe was fixed to the box, but not connected to anything.
You will need to unclip these from the battery box, before lifting clear of the engine bay.
Next task is to unclip the electrical connector from the air intake, as shown in the photo below.
You also need to remove the air intake pipe, as also shown in the photo.
To remove the pipe, you squeeze together the two ‘lugs’ on the clip. This should then allow you to pull the two halves of the pipe apart. Its the front part that needs moving.
Next remove the bolt at the front of the power steering cover shown below. You will also need to carefully pull out the release tab, on the other side of the cover (nearest back of engine bay).
Then remove the bolt shown in the photo below.
And this one!
Now you can start to remove the belt.
Firstly you will need a square socket to fit into the hole on the side of the tensioner pulley.
Once the socket is in place, rotate it in a clockwise direction, to slacken the tension on the belt.
Starting with the bottom of the belt, which goes round the power steering pump, use a long flat blade screwdriver, to gently prise the belt off the pulley.
I really wouldn’t advise using your fingers to pull the belt off. This is because if the tool used to move the tensioner slips, you could trap your fingers.
Once the belt is off the bottom pulley (power steering pump), you can remove it from the top pulley.
At this point you will realise that the belt will not come away from the engine, due to an obstruction.
You need to slacken the screw as shown below (holding the L shaped bracket), and the bracket can be moved out of the way. This then allows the belt to be removed.
Fitting the new belt, is a reverse process of the above instructions.
Firstly fit the belt to the bottom pulley, and then the top.
Then release the tensioner, and check that the belt is correctly in place.
Disclaimer: This article is for entertainment purpose only, and I am not at all liable for any consequences of you using it.
(C) 2020 Craig Miles
@acraigmiles
https://www.linkedin.com/in/craig-miles/