How many miles do you get on a serpentine belt?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Messages
2,874
Location
California
I do general checks during oil changes to include a little look at the serpentine belt etc. But I just got a good look using a flashlight and the belt looks real good (ribbed side, back side, and the edges). No evidence of slight cracking or anything. Vehicle is 2010 Hyundai 2.4L with 130k+ on the clock. I'm actually surprised how good it looks. Last time I got a real good look at it was around 95k. Before that around 60k. Its still the OEM. Never a squeak or anything.
And while I was checking it out, I had someone else with me look and he says it must have been recently replaced, but it hasn't. I've never ran a belt this long. Clean looking especially for the time/miles.

I recently received a new belt thinking next oil change I'll change it, but now 2nd thoughts.
I have the new belt tossed in the cargo area along with a 17mm combination wrench (size on the spring loaded tensioner pulley).
I bought a Bando belt. 1st time as I have always gone for Gates, then Dayco. The Bando was cheap on Amazon, and no I don't know why I bought the Bando as that's generally not me, but I done did it.

I run the OEM belt until it looks more deteriorated and hold the Bando in cargo. Never know on the road.

The other vehicles I replaced them around 60k and although they didn't look bad at all, I did it anyways, kept the OEMs as spares.

Just curious what folks are getting on serpentine belts nowadays.
 
I had the serps done on my 2003 F350 at 14 years and 119k.
The mechanic asked me why I was wasting money. ( my reply was "It's a 6.0, I'm used to it...)
2012 Chrysler T&C, 91,000. Still all original, looks good.

The Gates site has some straight forward info on belts and wear if you want to look.
http://www.gates.com/products/automotive/tools-and-sales-aids/belt-wear-diagnosis
Get your free tool from the link, and you'll know when it's got to go.
 
Last edited:
it sounds to be in good shape. the spec for replacement actually includes X number of cracks per inch. the last I replaced on my Ram was 15 years old. at that point the tensioner was worn out also. (almost no tension) serp failure seems to be very rare
 
I have a motocraft belt on my f150 that I'm pretty sure is the original. Knowing the guy who bought it new and my dad who bought it at 30k it's gotta be the original. 22 years and 245k miles and still looks good.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tomcat27
it sounds to be in good shape. the spec for replacement actually includes X number of cracks per inch. the last I replaced on my Ram was 15 years old. at that point the tensioner was worn out also. (almost no tension) serp failure seems to be very rare
new belts dont crack like in the past the grooves do wear out and there is a tool to test for that. Gates says check them @60k and replace @90k. Mine never last that long. 40k or so except for the cheapy I bought @azone that lasted 9 months.
 
Mine lasted 150k miles. I bought a OEM serpentine belt and replaced it. Pretty good in my book.
 
Last two vehicles I've serviced that still had the original belt:

00 Toyota Tundra V6. 5VZ-FE that uses 3 4-rib belts lasted 125,000mi. Alt belt was showing seperation while the A/C and P/S belts looked good.
Same as above w/ v8. 2UZ-FE 6 rib auto tensioner at 160,000mi. Belt squeal when cold, belt looked good. Replaced tensioner and belt.

"Looked good" as in no cracks but modern belts don't crack anymore. Only way to check if belt is still good is to use a gauge.
 
Last edited:
If your going to loose sleep not knowing when to change, and that's understandable.

1) Put your 'new' belt ON
2) Keep the 'old' belt in your vehicle for emergencies.
A lot of people do this along with a Wrench for the Tensioner.

Now your good for another 7 years 130,000 miles

I once took my vehicle in for an 'oil' undercoating.
The employee said "when I started your truck, the drive-belt broke"
I said, "there's a spare behind the drivers seat".
 
Last edited:
Still have the original on the 97 Ford 1 ton. It gets checked regularly and even has been derailed by a wood chuck that thought the engine bay would be a good place to hide. Removing ground chuck is not a pleasant project. At least it happened with a cold engine.

As to merconvvv question about wear affecting power output of the alternator, very little, as the belt is very thin and the regulator can vary the output. With the use of tensioners the belt system stays pretty much the same tension all of its life and the way that the belt is now routed around pulleys a lot more than the old belts that sometimes only got a 25% contact vs now getting more than 50%
 
There was a 50-page thread on cumminsforum I believe, I think it was called the little hot shot or something like that it was a great read. It chronicled every single repair done to this truck over about three hundred thirty thousand miles truck still had original serpentine belt
 
They'll easily last 100K miles or more, as others have mentioned. When in doubt I break out the little Gates tool, it eliminates any guess work.
 
These belts do pretty good compared to the early ones made yrs ago.

The intangibles are idlers and bearings that suddenly let go!

Saw a guy work on his truck just off the hiway trying to fit a new belt
since his shredded and let go, the replacement seemed "too big", turns
out a plastic idler pulley blew apart and disappeared, even the crummy bearings
were gone! He had no idea that an idler was missing!

Bearing noises might be something to listen for as well as belt sqeeking when
A/C is turned on, etc....
 
I haven't changed a serpentine belt for years.

They really are long lived these days.

If i was going to replace one i would likely go OE.
 
The common interval I see for a lot of cars is 90k. Any astute owner should be visually inspecting stuff like this regularly anyway.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top