Hello everyone,
First time posting here. I have a 1988 Mercury Cougar 3.8L and the engine belt is being cut on the sides. Been through 2 belts this month. I took it to my trusted mechanic and he says the belt tensioner is pen 15ed to 1 side, no longer straight, and needs to be replaced. Problem is, he's jumping through hoops on fire in order to locate 1 and it's been 5 days and he hasn't been successful.
Please, someone on here has to know what I can do in order to replace this tensioner.
Thanks!
Factory Air brand Idler Pulley/tensioner assembly
Part Number: 45964
36.96 list price at http://www.partsamerica.com (advance auto)
Dayco Idler Pulley/tensioner assembly
Part Number: 89031
25.94 list price
http://www.partsamerica.com (advance auto)
Hello there Sleeper T-Bird 87,
Thank you for your help and reply. Unfortunately this is not the belt tensioner I need. The belt tensioner I need looks more like this:
http://www.goodyearbeltsandhose.com/cars/tensioners.html
The part you supplied it the idler tensioner.
Thanks again!!
try this, it is by chance the right part. it showed these when i looked up 88 thunderbird 3.8 insted of cougar
Dayco Belt Tensioner
Part Number: 89247
Goodyear Belt Tensioner Assembly
Part Number: 49227
Okay bud, will do! I'll check them out tomorrow and print that out for my mechanic to see. But before I do, I see that reference in the table they feature under the link I gave you and the year they list is 89-99.
Make/Model Year Dayco Goodyear
Car 3.8L 89-99 89247 49227
Can you confirm that you found the tensioner under the year 88'
Thanks a whole lot for your time. Really appreciate it.
The two belt tensioners on an 88 are a one year only thing. Its very hard to find anything to fit the 88 v6.
The belt tensioner that SLEEPER T-BIRD found will not work? If that is the case, what do you recommend I do? This car can't move without a belt tensioner. Seems it getting harder and harder to hold on to this car.
I duno.. I'll be at the junkyard tomorrow where there is an 88 3.8 tbird. if it has a good tensioner I'll take it off.
Thank you so much for offering to do that.
that is for the 87 and earlier 3.8 and 85 or earlier 5.0.
tray also the 4.2L equipped vehicles like the winstar. the 4.2 is a stroked 3.8 and different airflow setup.