2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8 Belt Replacement

[ConfederateTyrant]

This is for the 2004 Nissan Sentra 1.8 liter engine, not the 2.5 liter engine.

Anyone have any experience in replacing the belts on this model?

I have the factory service manual, and it only mentions how to inspect it, along with a picture of the assembly:

This car has AC, so it'll be the top two, and bottom left, pictures to follow.

I can gather that I loosen the idler pulley bolt, slip that belt off, slip on the new belt and tighten the pully bolt to set it. As for the other belt, which goes around the power steering and water pump, there is the adjustment bolt at the rear of the engine.

What is the best means for reaching this bolt, and is there a specific adjustment that must be made to ensure proper tension?

Any other advice on this procedure will be greatly appreciated.

 

[mechtech2]

Don't have them banjo string tight.
After a few hundred miles, recheck them after they seat in.

 

[Cutehumor]

how many miles you have on these belts? My dad has 76K on his 03 sentra 1.8L. he was asking me about changing the belts too, so I would be interested in the responses as well

 

[The Critic]

Looks like a set of V-Belts to me. Grab your tools and start disassembling. It's pretty hard to mess this up...why bother consulting the manual?

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

Car has 30,500 miles on it and the belts squeak, especially when started. I refuse to let anyone, other than myself, do maintenance on the vehicles in the household.

I was sent a link to a PDF downloadable factory service manual, so I didn't have to pay for it.

I was inquiring about this because I have never performed maintenance on a non-automatic tensioner belt system and was unaware if there is a certain tension that it must be tightened to.

Overall it appears to be a walk in the park and probably will take less than 1 hour.

 

[Merkava_4]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
. . .why bother consulting the manual?


Because it can eliminate a lot of guess work.

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

Alright, well I just went and tried. I cannot get the power steering/water pump belt to loosen. There is a locknut behind the adjuster assembly, but after you loosen it, what do you do?

No problem taking the AC belt off, I just need the power steering belt off first.

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
There is a locknut behind the adjuster assembly, but after you loosen it, what do you do?


You would pivot the power steering pump over towards the water pump to slacken the belt for removal; that's assuming you have the old V-belt system. There might be other bolts such as mounting bolts that you have to loosen as well to allow for the P/S pump to pivot.

If you have a threaded manual adjuster, you would turn a threaded tensioner to slacken or tighten the belt rather than what I said above; I'm not sure which system you have though.

I'm surprised that a vehicle this new doesn't have a serpentine belt system.

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

Yeah I'm surprised as well that it doesn't rely on automatic tensioners. I'm going out of town later in the week for Thanksgiving and will be back on the weekend to try it out again.

 

[RL]

I have the same car and engine, but an '02. I replaced the belts earlier this year; I actually removed the right front tire and jacked the car up to have better access.

Like you, I was shocked to be having so much difficulty with the power steering/water pump belt. I loosened the locknut, but that sucker barely moved. I was finally able to get it off (somehow...) by grabbing the belt and trying to pull it off the pulleys while rotating it. I'm sure there's some other trick, but I sure couldn't figure it out!

Oh, while you are in there, I'd recommend replacing the idler pulley. The part was about $9, if I recall correctly. The source of my squeak was the pulley *not* the belts.

Good luck!

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

Thanks for your advice, when I check it out this weekend I will see if that helps. The only thing is, NOTHING MOVES when I loosen the locknut and adjusting bolt.

A friend of mine was saying that I'd most likely have better access to the lower power steering bolt (if there is one) with jacking the car up.

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

About a month ago my friend came and helped me. There is a bolt that is behind the power steering pump (it's about the center of the engine) that had to be loosened. I loosened it and the tensioner, and he removed it while I had my back turned. He said the power steering pump slightly pivits, which allows for the belt to be removed.

Once I got that belt off, there's a tensioner for the AC belt, which is right behind the idler pulley. No need to remove the idler pulley, just loosen the tensioner almost completely, along with lossening the idler bolt, and it slips free.

The removed belts looked brand new, but the AC belt had a little frayed spot on the back side (which runs against the idler pulley).

Thanks again for all y'alls help and suggestions.

 

[JTK]

Good to here you finally got it. Our 1993 and 2001 Sentras were setup that exact way. No spring loaded tensioners. The funny thing is, the 1993 was driven until 2001 & 114Kmi on the factory belts! They still looked good, A/C belt included. I guess the system works well.

Joel

 

[ConfederateTyrant]

Well I have noticed that the belts squeak a little now, I'll have to tamper with the tension on them. It may be that the idler pulley is damaged and causing the belts to get frayed, but I haven't felt the belt yet. RL mentioned replacing the pulley since it's cheap, and I may just do that.