Did your fan belts suddenly break?

120k now. Belts don’t look frayed to me, but 5k ago a mechanic dutifully pointed out some fraying, but how much seems to me questionable. Damn, I don’t notice it. The idler wheel starting to squeal now , but only for a few seconds on startup. The belts were probably replaced when I bought this truck “certified” from a Toyota used car dealership at 59k. Should the idler wheel squeak and mileage driven since be a major wake-up call? I’m on a super low income budget. Can I get by longer, or is roadside assistance in my future? No tools to do it myself.

 

Put a new belt on and call it good.

 

Wish I had the financial resources to take care of every potential crisis. I don’t. I’d rather hear from those who a mechanic said he sees some belt “fraying” 30k ago and it’s now 30k later. Get it? What about idler pulleys and now momentary squeaking at start up? They probably can’t be lubricated. Signed…destitute Tacoma faithful.

 

If you can't afford a belt, then I'd hate ask what you will do if your vehicle broke down at all for anything else.

As for your belt fraying, you would actually look for cracking.

 

Can’t say thanks enough!

 

Just noticed you stated you don't have the tools to work on it; bring it down and we'll get new belts swapped in place in no time.

 

Where are you located? If you can't afford a belt replacement that's rough. I'd hook you up on the labor. Just bring the parts over.

Also unless you live in the complete boonies, you can take up doordash or uber eats for a little side cash. I've seen disabled people doing it for extra money.

 

I’ll give you the life lesson I learned. One of my idler pulleys broke and tore the belt as well. I replaced only the broken parts not thinking anymore about it. A year later a different pulley broke, destroyed the belt causing it to wrap around more pulleys and my crank pulley and ruining the crank seal. Ended up costing me more money but luckily I could fix all that myself. Preventative maintenance 99% of the time will be cheaper than reacting to things breaking. If you can’t afford to pay someone I suggest learning because maintaining a vehicle is just one of those things that comes along with owning a car.

 

How did you determine that it's the idler pulley squeaking and not the fault of the belt, another pulley, misalignment, or belt tension?

 

Your betting on that Toyota changed all the belts when you bought the truck "certified" from them at 59k miles? Highly unlikely, they go through a multi-point inspection and hit the used sales lot right away. You got 120k miles out of them so far and if you're still refusing to change them with associated parts, yes, stranded is in your future. Hopefully your 2wd 5-lug is a 2rz/3rz and not a timing belt driven 5vz cause you'll run into more issue, thus equal more $$

 

Check for cracking is one thing. The inspection will vary base on every individual. One person will say yes, you have to get that change right away and shouldn't wait while another will say I'll change it when it break. I would definitely do PM on a 20 y/o belt among other things regardless. Especially the water pump. A few hundred buck now is 2-5x cheaper than an engine replacement down the road.

 

Sweet, I'll bring you my truck to work on. You're not too far from me and I have a laundry list of things that I want done

LBJ is #1 on my list
Horn gasket is #2
Struts change is #3

 

If you were close no big deal I have no problem helping those with issues not allowing them to work on their own vehicles.

A few hours work though it would be nice know just what vehicle since it has Struts I changed a few over the years .

 

I have learned not to mess around with serpentine belts 2 on company trucks let me sit .

Not my Bill the alternator seized took out the belt.

Belts can be tricky some look likely to fail at any minute last for sometime.

I always carried the Alternator Water pump/fan belt and means to change it that will get me home.

I only ever had one fail while driving on my vehicle when I was a young kid.

 

I had an AC belt that only made noise when the AC compressor clutch was engaged. The belt felt a little stiff but looked fine, no cracks or fraying but it made a hell of a racket when the AC was on.

Replacing belts should be part of routine maintenance no matter how good they look.

 

Mod Day....

 

Of course.

Me, I'm just about that preventative maintenance -

 

OH we can replace our LBJ same time!

I just did my horn gasket and headlight fluid so I'm hI good there

Strut not for another 60k km

 

Being in California I guess you don`t need the Winter blend Headlight fluid good to - 50F or need the auxiliary headlight heaters.

 

As the original poster, didn’t mean to cause a stir. Although the belts have mileage on them, I truly don’t see what the guy is talking about. Hehe, the belts show no obvious cracking. Yes they got 50k on them, but they are quality belts. The monetary squeaking seems to be coming from the idler pulley. Does that need immediate attention? Seems every mechanic recccomends changing the belts when they look as if they have 50K left on them. “Change the belts! change the belts! 60K later.doing fine.