Parts for your 1998 Suzuki Vitara-Drive belt tensioner

1998 Suzuki Vitara drive-belt-tensioner — is one actually used?

Short answer: for a 1998 Suzuki Vitara, a separate spring-loaded drive-belt tensioner isn’t used. On AU/NZ-spec ’98 Vitaras (commonly the G16B 1.6 petrol, and applicable to similar first‑gen variants), belt tension is set manually by moving the alternator and power steering pump on their slotted brackets and, where fitted, by adjusting the A/C idler pulley. That means the modern, bolt-on “automatic” tensioner assembly you see on later models doesn’t apply here.

This isn’t guesswork. It matches the factory and parts documentation that call out manual adjustments rather than an automatic tensioner unit:

• Suzuki Vitara/Sidekick factory service manual (1989–1998 coverage): Drive belts are tensioned via alternator/pump adjusters and an A/C idler