How do you loosen the power steering pump to replace the belt?

The pump has a slot for adjusting the belt. The bolt to loosen this is reachable through the Power Steering pump pulley. Not much room, easier to reach form under the vehicle.

The advice offered above is good and is on the money. Here's my experience with replacing the drive belts on a 2001 Toyota Echo, and the steps it took to perform the task:

1. I'd highly recommend that you have the car parked on a pair of ramps, or work underneath the car in a car bay. The previous advice is absolutely correct, in that it's nearly impossible (unless you've got some really small hands) to reach the bolt that secures the power steering pump from above the engine.

2. I'd recommend removing the cowling on the passenger side of the car. It's really easy (think it's a total of five 10mm bolts and nuts) to remove, and you'll need all the space you can get for the job.

3. Loosen and remove the belt to the alternator / AC. You'll need a 12mm socket or open-end wrench.

4. Get a 14mm socket and a breaker bar to loosen the bolt to the power steering pump. As the previous author wrote, the only way to get to the belt is through one of openings of the pulley on the front of the power steering pump. You may have to "bump" the engine (slightly turn the ignition key so you can move the power steering pump pulley) if you cannot get a clear entry to the bolt. You might need some WD-40 if the bolt is rusted. Once you've loosened the bolt, you should be able pull the pump straight down with your hand.

5. Reassemble in the reverse order of these instructions, and make sure you've sufficiently torqued the bolts and the belts. The hardest part might be sufficiently torquing the power steering belt

• you may need to be creative in how to torque the belt without

damaging the pump (don't make a $200 "mistake" by getting careless). It's major annoyance to have to redo all of that work if it's not done correctly. Give yourself time to do the job. It may take a novice about an hour to do this job, and an experienced mechanic may take at least 35 minutes. Expect to pay the Toyota dealer at least $80 USD for labor and another $70 USD in parts for this job if you don't want to do it yourself.