You need to learn some respect for a very knowledgeable member with over 49,000 posts on this forum. If you have removed a part of the car and don't know how to put it back, then as commented, you shouldn't be taking things off in the first...

8mm or 10mm🤔 and a 13mm spanner👍

Right, we're on. I've put copper slip on the sleeve thread, sleeve/elbow slot & cap to secure elbow joint. Nothings torqued up yet, though. Definitely must have been the tensioner itself as the new one gave way much easier with lots of...

But not the end of the world, HA HAAARRR...

That's a shame dude 😔

Well maby...

Well I had to cut a fair bit of the lip off the back of the old one to get the sleeve in the vice. The metal looks powdery where its snapped in places. Not sure if I'd want to put that back on even in an emergency.

I didn't say keep the tensioner itself, keep the arm as they are prone to breaking and even if it's not perfect it could come in handy.

In the photo, the old tensioner arm looks OK so keep it as a spare.

Yeah, I would do but half the fluid has drained out of it now and the plastic washer has broken off it. I'm not sure if it was broken to begin with. The actual elbow wasn't seized onto the sleeve. It did rotate but the cap was seized. So all I...

Right back again. Been a mixture of procrastination due to the weather but I finally got the cap off the tensioner sleeve... but as you probably know it wasn't easy. I actually ripped the vice mounting bolts through the table trying to get it...

& Tensioner... hit the wwrong button before.

Ordered a new Bracket & tensioner arm.

Nearly past the worserest part should all go okay from here, once you get the cap off with it all in one piece 👍

I've cut away the lip circling the hex nut so I can now get that bit firmly in the vice but the next bit is my vice isn't fixed to a table so I'll need to drill some holes and get some long bolts...

I've sprayed penetrative oil inside. I'll let it sit for a while. I was deceived by the rubber washer into thinking there was a large hex nut threaded on the back but now I realise it's all one pice and the female hex side screws inside that...

The large nut looking piece is part of the axle the tensioner pivots on. It bolts into the engine front with the boring as a seal. The nut shape needs holding securely and the outer face with the female Allen key hole needs to undone. Then you...

Be very careful how you hold the axle nut as the tensioner arm itself is not very strong in all directions if force is applied incorrectly 😵‍💫

The arm is spinning freely on the cap/hex nut on the other side. Do I take the large hex nut off too?

So does this mean I'm now in the world of 'FAAAAACK!!!'?

Unbolt the top of the damper/tensioner first, undo the cap and remove the arm. I suspect the arm has seized on the pivot so you may have a problem.

Without breaking anything, maybe. Your call. It should need a little pressure to release when removing a belt. Unbolted from the damper it should move by hand

Maby I should buy a new damper. I'll remove it tomorrow see what happens... Do I unbolt the top first? When I get the new one how do I fit it?

Could I use a small clamp between the top and bottom of the spring loaded tensioner itself and squash it? I don't mean the elbow bracket, just the top spring itself where it connects to the engine and top of the elbow pivot.

So the bu**er won't let go :confused: Snapped the 89p rad key, got a BMW/MG 14/17mm hex plug which snapped the spanner Then only the whole oily bloody thing would come out of the block :mad: So I remembered you saying you had to...

They are both open end now :confused::D Nearly broke my cousins workbench but persistent heat and few sharp clouts it cracked off (new arm shown) By then it had started hammering down with rain so started cleaning everything off but got bored...

It moves fair bit plenty to get the belt over it’s likely seized. So… this is the world of trouble bit. The tensioner needs to be assembled with a small smear of coppaslip on the ‘axle part’ and the threads on the end cap. Without it the heat...

I've got one of those hex plugs to do the high pressure pump with but I don't want to jump the gun. There's no slack to pull the belt over the pulleys. Is that what you mean?

Yes, I'm levering on the right to slacken on the left. I've tried putting the pulley slack on over the larger and smaller ones but to no avail. The belt I've used is Here... sure its the right one. tar...

I don't have the Diesel but, If you bent that bar something is wrong. But be carful of your brute force. In you last pic the tensioner bolt needs to go to the left to give slack, is that the way your bar was levering it? Also as above is it...