A total n00b changes his Serpentine Belt! With pictures!

This has to be one of my favorite write ups!
Informative & Funny...
Awesome OP!

 

Excelllent writeup and description of the serpentine belt procedure. Just replaced mine - boom - annoying chirp is gone. old belt was glazed looked like original 154000km.
Thanks.

 

I recently did this job on my 2001 Corolla. The process is identical. OP correctly pointed out the only troublesome issues (locating the tension-releasing 'bolt-head', and initially drawing a diagram for the belt routing). Even with the little Corolla, I needed a long-handled wrench to be able to easily hold the tension while attaching the new belt.

 

Thanks OP for posting. Just changed mine. Thanks given.

One word of advice for Canadians. Do not buy belt from dealer. They wanted over $100 for mine.

 

Bump for an awesome detailed post.
Saved my a... by highlighting the proper bolt to release tension from the belt.

No mad skills required, just some fiddling to get the new belt over all pulleys.

 

I finally ditched the Gates/Napa belt. Couldn't handle the cold squealing any more. It had just over 9k miles on it; pretty disappointing. It's since been relegated to under-seat emergency belt duty.

Bit the bullet and purchased a Toyota belt for $75 from Toyota of Dallas. At least it's better than the $120 our local Michigan dealer wanted. The Toyota belts have a crosshatch texture on the smooth side, I presume to stop that annoying squealing over the idlers; it's been whisper silent.

It's made by Bando, who'da thunk it

 

Great guide! Used your picture to put my belt back on
I took a pic comparing the inner ribs from a new belt to my old which was at 61,680 miles of use


I used an oem toyota belt because I didn't want a new belt that was going to start squeaking sooner than it should.

 

Great write up OP, detailed, useful and funny!

Thank you.

 

OP's been AWOL from TW for 3.5 yrs, FWIW

 

well shit. I just did mine and posted a writeup and put it in the 2nd Gen section because the only writeups I found were for the 6 Cyl and locations and procedures are all different. Mine is not as entertaining as this one though...

 

Doing mine right now. Took off the rubber flap guard thingy in the wheel well. Easier to reach the tensioner from there

 

And done

 

Question about pulleys:
I'm changing the belt today and noticed one pulley is loose and grinds when moved with my hand. This is obviously the source of the squeek I have had for 50k. Can someone confirm that this is an idler pulley and not a tensioner pulley? Want to make sure I buy the right one. Thanks!

 

Here's a good video of replacing a Tacoma serpentine belt.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KG3qwjiCWQE

 

Good video. I have never changed the belt before and it took me less than 20 minutes to take it off and put it back on (without the help of this video). I am now waiting on a pulley to come in at my local parts store.

If you have never done this before and aren't sure about it, it's easy!

 

congrats OP, now you can do pretty much most cars serp belts

 

That's is the tensioner pully.

 

To the OP great write up.

 

if one is going to change out the serpentine belt the overwhelming evidence says to bite the bullet and buy the OEM Toyota belt? not the aftermarket

 

I have a cold engine squeal... much more common on warm humid mornings that are every morning in Central Florida. But my assumption is that it is the A/C clutch since it cycles on/off with the compressor. it squeals for about 15 minutes, it would make an annoying morning alarm for my neighbors if I were still working (retired a few years ago...) Any comments?
I told the dealer that they will be replacing parts when the engine is out during my upcoming frame replacement.