I took my car over to my brothers to get it checked out (He's got his own garage!
) and we determined that the idler pulley and the tensioner pulley are junk and needed replaced (Doing that Monday). Anyways, he has a tool that he said he got for $40 that's called a "Belt Tensioner Wrench". Basically, it's a long, kind of slim piece of metal with a spot on the end to put on different sockets or wrench pieces. Let me tell you, we didn't have to get under the car at all that day, we did it all from the top. Did even have to put the car up either. When you take your belt off, I recommend grabbing that tensioner and pulling up on it. If it goes back in place with alot of force, then it's fine. (Be careful!) If it does like mine and takes awhile, or needs help going back into place, the spring is probably bad and needs replaced. He gets parts at a discount so the kit only costed him $22, but it's normally $75 from Ford. Also, an idler pulley will run you generally $18 to $25.
IMHO, using that tensioner wrench keeps you from stripping the damn bolt, like I did before I went to my brother's garage a couple months ago (replaced the serp belt myself).
