Serpentine Belt??!

[rcs]

Say, "belt, idler(s) and tensioner, please". Ask if there's a "kit" featuring all the necessary parts.

Thanks Kira!

 

[HemiBenny]

Changed out ~10 years/100,000 miles along with tensioner and idlers. The belt gets inspected at every OCI while I’m giving everything a good looking over.

 

[miden851]

Someone will come in here and quote an owners manual from 15-20+ years ago and say 60,000 miles, which is ridiculous on everything but super special cases. Serp belts these days being made out of EPDM rubber last 100,000+ miles easily.
The camry in my sig is running the original belt at almost 300,000 miles. My previous truck had 200,000+ miles on the original belt. Unless you have a very special scenario I wouldn't even dream of replacing one until the 125,000 - 150,000 mile range.

that's my thing; on my '16 CRV I see it last about 200K

in the past, it was not the case; I have it on my older cars, these for $20-$30 can go up to 60K for example na that's it

I think the texture/material is different in the newer built belts; also, it seems OEM last much longer than ones from a local car-parts store

 

[wtd]

I just replaced the Belt tensioner on my 98 chevy K1500 truck and decided to replace the belt while I had it off. The belt had only been on there for about 20,000 miles or so but it already had some small cracks on the edges of the ribs. I believe it was a continental belt. I replaced it with a green backed HD AC Delco one.

 

[Tman220]

Here's the original belt on this 2007 Camry I've owned since new 290,207 miles. The belt has always looked good enough to put back on. It's only been off for one water pump and one alternator. Tensioner and any idlers are factory.

 

[zrxkawboy]

Here's the original belt on this 2007 Camry I've owned since new 290,207 miles. The belt has always looked good enough to put back on. It's only been off for one water pump and one alternator. Tensioner and any idlers are factory.

Impressive! Just curious, have you ever put one of these gauges on it?

 

[Elkins45]

I’ve never had a tensioner go bad on any of my vehicles. Even the pile of junk Chevy.

 

[Tman220]

Impressive! Just curious, have you ever put one of these gauges on it?

View attachment 120136

I have not, but you can see fairly clearly from the photo that none of the ribs on the belt are sharp and not touching the bottom of the pulleys. Without any cracks in the belt I see no reason to replace it. In fact, it has looked so good it's just an experiment at this point to see if it ever fails.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I've read in various places that modern EPDM belts don't exhibit the usual visual warning signs (cracking primarily) that the older belts used to.

Here's a article describing it.

https://www.gates.com/us/en/industr...-tips-diagnose-epdm-serpentine-belt-wear.html

Not saying that a belt won't last 200-300k, but a typical inspection for cracks does not guarantee you have a good belt.

I stick to 100K replacement intervals, especially on a vehicle that has a critical component (i.e water pump) driven by it. At that mileage, I'm usually under the hood for another service like spark plugs, coolant change, etc. so it only makes sense to replace a $15 belt. If I'm able to find a decent deal on good quality tensioner/idler pulleys, those get replaced too.

 

[scrowley]

Someone will come in here and quote an owners manual from 15-20+ years ago and say 60,000 miles, which is ridiculous on everything but super special cases. Serp belts these days being made out of EPDM rubber last 100,000+ miles easily.
The camry in my sig is running the original belt at almost 300,000 miles. My previous truck had 200,000+ miles on the original belt. Unless you have a very special scenario I wouldn't even dream of replacing one until the 125,000 - 150,000 mile range.

Yeah, carry a spare,some leverage tool and some hand cleaner.