A total n00b changes his Serpentine Belt! With pictures!

Nice! I like the triumphant pose.

 

dig the safety glasses! lol....thanks for the laugh! someone somewhere will find this useful. hopefully it gets stickied or linked somewhere.

 

this is why I take pictures of some things before taking them apart

 

this makes me feel much more confident about doing this on my step-dads '96 4-banger which is in desperate need of new belts and hoses. Thanks for the write up and instilling confidence in us all!

 

Informative and entertaining - just like PBS

 

I replaced my power steering belt About a week ago on my 96. Was easier than I thought. It was the Factory belt, was splitting but It lasted 17 years. TOYOTA made to last!

 

I just bookmarked this thread because I need to do the same exact thing on my 06 2.7l as well. I am getting the annoying squealing and I'm hoping this is the reason. Does anyone know how much these belts run and where is cheapest to get one?

 

I got mine from rockauto.com $11.18 shipped. I think yours is a little more.

 

I followed your post, which is excellent, I went to my locale Auto Parts Store and bought a serpentine belt for $28.10 w/tax. I went home and made a diagram of the belt and pulleys. Diagram is the most important tool, make sure it is large enough and clear, so you understand your diagram. The process of removing the old belt, and installing the new one, was well under an hour. My pulleys are nice and quiet again.

 

I also have a 08 2.7 4 cyl . with about 70k. How did you judge it was time to change it Did the old one have cracks across it Thanks.

 

You really won't be able to see cracks, the belt actually wears Down. At cold start up, the engine was very noisy. The noise was coming from the front pulleys. And as the engine heated up, I could not hear the noise any more. This went on for several months, I wish I didn't wait so long to change the belt, it is really not difficult.

 

Thanks 4 reply.

 

Changed my serpentine last weekend, 2006 2.7L with AC. Less than 10 minutes to get the old one out and the new one in... the easiest maintenance ever besides air filters and tire pressures, of course. New belt is a Dayco brand (3-year warranty) from the local Pep Boys for $33.00. There wasn't anything wrong with the old belt, except that it was the original factory unit with near 100k miles on it... still had good material left and the grooves were fine, with no noises. Keeping it under the storage seats as an emergency backup.

P.S. you can still get a free serpentine belt wear gauge from the Gates website: http://www.gatesprograms.com/beltwear/beltwear

 

Picked up serpentine belt. Used discount code TRT30 from this link
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/deals-coupons/306515-advance-auto-30-off.html
Thanks A7xschecter6661
Order Summary
Product Subtotal: $35.96
Discounts: -$10.79
Tax: $1.76
Total: $26.93

 

Thanks for the awesome serpentine belt sketch. It was the only one I could find on the web.

 

Tried the Dayco belt on my 4 cyl. It's at least an inch longer than the OEM and wasn't anywhere near as tight, and it would chirp rather loudly when the label passed the upper idler.

Asked the dealer since I was in the area. Toyota wants $113 for their belt and they would have had to order the thing. I said no. Made me miss my Honda. Not that long ago I remember walking into the Honda dealer with a pair of $20s, getting a couple bucks back, and having all 3 OEM belts in my hand.

Guess I'll rock the factory belt for a while longer. Just passed 143k on the dagburn thing.

 

You got me worried - I bought the Dayco belt for my 4 cyl but I haven't put it on yet. Should I bring it back ?

 

Since I'm running without 5th gear now (and thus higher rpm) I resurrected the new Dayco belt as a precaution. I washed the back side with soapy water and a mildly abrasive sponge to both get any residual oils off and roughen up its smoothness a little bit, sun dried and installed. So far it's working fairly well although when it's humid it'll chirp for a few minutes after startup. It's been improving as the label has been wearing off - it's getting quieter and the chirping doesn't last as long. I expect in a few thousand miles it'll be silent virtually all the time.

Of course the factory belt is under the rear seat now just in case.

 

Well, the dealer's poor job with the frame coating killed my Dayco belt, permanently. They hit it when they sprayed the fender liner (wtf?) through the hole in front of it, coating the alternator (WTF?!) and the belt. They also hit it when they coated the anti-sway bar (WTF??!!). Nothing I tried could get the burned-on glaze off the belt enough to make the stuck pig squeal go away.

I can say without a doubt this $33 Napa/Gates belt is far superior to the Dayco. I stretched it out against the factory belt and it's actually the proper length! Kudos to Gates for getting it right.

 

I think there is something up with my serpentine belt. While trying to diagnose an issue with stiff power steering, I noticed that the serpentine had a bit of play. I was able to turn it between 100-120 degrees.

After calling the dealer and asking what the belt tension should be, I was told that I shouldn't even be able to twist it to 90 degrees lol

So, do I have to manually adjust the tension pulley, or does my 2.7 have an automatic tension pulley that is malfunctioning?