How do you change the drive belt on a 1998 Buick Lesabre if the engine mounts appear to be in the way?

youll have to place a jack under the engine and then remove the mount

I have a 98 Buick lesabre limited and I changed the belt without jacking the motor or removing the motor mount. There is a slot about a 1/4" wide the belt slips through so you don't have to remove anything. After studying it for a little bit it is very easy!

Do not jack. The engine support bracket does not need to be removed. Only remove the lower bolt and spacer. (18 mm) regular socket will do the trick. One the bolt is removed, removed the spacer by wiggling it around. Place the belt on and then replace spacer and bolt.

I just did one this morning in less than 30 minutes.

First.. I drew a simple map of the belt before I began. Then I used a 15 mm on the tensioner, pushed it towards the firewall, slipped the belt off the alternator and gently released pressure off the tensioner.

NEXT.. There are two nuts on the MOTOR SIDE of the mount in front towards the radiator kind of but down in there by the pulleys. LOWER FRONT 18MM and UPPER FRONT 15MM. Remove both nuts.

Next remove both studs. THE VERY SAME TWO STUDS YOU JUST REMOVED THE TWO NUTS FROM. I used 2 tight fitting 6 point SOCKETS (I think 6 & 8mm) in place of the reverse Torx (star) sockets normally required for removal. BE SURE THEY WIGGLE ON TIGHT! Don't strip the edges or go buy the proper sockets. Mine were both barely snug and came right out with no Torx required.

Next there are two spacer tubes these same studs were floating through. If they have not already fell out a little persuasion should wiggle them out. Now there is room to slip the belt out and the new one in.

P.S. You may only need to pull one or the other and not both. I simply did both.

Also.. The lower stud only slid until contacting the passenger side frame. I remedied this by loosening the two big 18mm nuts pointing straight up at me on the center of the mount joint until they were just about out of threads. This barely lowered the engine enough for the stud to completely come out and the tube became loose on top of the crank pulley.

BE CAREFULL OF THE CRANK SENSOR BELOW THE LOWER SPACER! ITS RIGHT THERE!

Reverse order to reinstall. That's all