The repair described here was performed on a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan with a 3.3 liter V-6 engine. However, the process will be the same for nearly any Dodge Caravan with a V-6 engine when replacing the serpentine belt that drives the alternator and most of the other devices under the hood that have a pulley and require a belt. Never begin this project until the engine has cooled unless do not have a choice. Because of the close proximity to the engine, the possibility of getting burned is high if the engine block is still hot.
Only one or two tools are required for this job.
You will need a 15mm. boxed end wrench. The other tool would be a short piece of pipe to fit over the opposite end of the wrench to give more leverage if it is needed. There is a special tool for turning the tensioner, but it is about $40 to $50. Save the money and use 15 mm. wrench instead.
You may choose to wear gloves if you prefer to reduce the scrubbing that may be necessary after the job is completed.
However, you may find that gloves reduce your ability to feel and position the belt in areas that are hard to access. This job should be done in daylight, but if you must do it at night, you will find it is best to have a shop light rather than a flashlight to illuminate the work area under the hood.
With the hood up, locate the serpentine belt.
This belt will be the wide belt on the left side of the engine as you look from the front of the vehicle. Most Caravans will have a diagram either on the brace over the radiator or on top of the wheel well near where the end of the strut protrudes on the same side as the belt showing the proper path of the belt. Make sure that you understand the diagram this diagram before you remove the old belt. Examine the path of the belt itself so that you will be able to follow it with the new belt when you install it.
Find the alternator so that you will be able to locate the belt tensioner.
The serpentine belt tensioner is just below the alternator and slightly toward the front of the vehicle from the alternator. It is a small smooth pulley with a 15mm. nut at the center of the pulley. The tensioner will be about three inches in diameter. Place the closed or boxed end of the 15mm. wrench onto the nut on the tensioner pulley. Rotate the wrench clockwise to move the tensioner to loosen the serpentine belt. You should only need to move it about an eighth of a turn to get enough slack to slide the belt off of the tensioner pulley.
Remove the belt from the other pulleys that it drives.
Once the serpentine belt is off of the tensioner, it is relatively simple to lift it away from the various pulleys along its path. Because of the width of the belt, it can sometimes seem to get hung up as it is being withdrawn from some of areas that have a small tolerance allowed between the pulleys and body of the vehicle. If you take your time, it is not a big problem to turn the belt slight to the side and extract it cleanly.
Place the grooves of the new serpentine belt into the grooves on an upper pulley closest to the front of the vehicle.
Lower a loop of the belt down in front of the large drive pulley at the bottom of the engine. Let this loop swing under the bottom of the pulley and gently pull it up so that the grooves fit into the pulley. If this proves to be a challenge, you can place a pad on the ground and ease slight underneath the front of the Caravan. From this position, you will be able to reach up to this large pulley and nudge the belt into position.
Just below the first pulley that you placed the belt on is an idler pulley.
The belt will travel from the top of the first pulley to go under the idler. From the bottom of the first pulley, the belt will have traveled down to the large drive pulley. With the belt under the idler, pull up all of the remaining length of the belt to the top of the work area. Form a loop with this part of the belt. Pass the bottom of the end of the loop coming from the large drive pulley over the top of the tensioner to keep it from falling down into the lower part of the work area.
Pass the loop of the belt down and around the pulley located nearly straight below the alternator.
You may have to worm your arm and hand down to the bottom of this pulley to be able to get the belt around it. Use your fingers and your eyes to make sure that the belt is correctly positioned inside all of the grooves on this lower pulley. With one hand raise the belt coming from the backside of the pulley up toward the alternator pulley. With the other hand, ease the belt off of the tensioner. This will give you enough slack to raise the belt in your first hand over the lip on the alternator pulley and fit it into the grooves on the pulley.
With one hand, continue to hold the belt that you removed from the tensioner pulley.
With the remaining hand, grip the 15 mm. wrench and place it onto the nut on the front of the tensioner pulley. Rotate the pulley clockwise until you can slide the belt back onto the pulley. Carefully, let the tensioner pulley rotate back counter clockwise until the tension on the belt holds it in place. Remove the wrench and clean up the work place and yourself to complete the job.