Engine Belt

Failures of the engine belt are still one of the leading causes of on the road breakdowns for motorists today.

You may have noticed that on modern-day vehicles automotive maintenance has changed with the advancing technology. Much longer intervals between maintenance and service are the new normal.

Things like spark plugs and Coolant can now go 100k miles before replacement or maintenance is needed. Unfortunately this has not trickled down to the serpentine belt.

Inspection of your drive belts are just important today as it was on vehicles 20 years ago. In fact, I might say that it is even more important.

This is because on vehicles of the past there were multiple V belts driving multiple accessories. If you lost one belt, depending on which one that was. You could most likely continue to your next destination.

The serpentine belt drives all of the accessories and if this belt goes the first thing you may notice is the power steering not working. but maybe even more important than that the water pump will stop turning and the engine will quickly overheat.

Engine belt video

This auto repair video is a must-see for anyone who is thinking about replacing his or her own engine drive belt for the first time. This three-minute clip shows you several different types of belt systems.

Just keep in mind that when you're dealing with your engine belt and the diagnosis or replacement of it. The engine must be off and the keys should be out of the ignition.

Drive belts information and tools

I think this video did a good job of showing you what to expect when replacing serpentine drive belts. One thing they did not touch on was the amount of spring force that most belt tensioners have.

In the video, the mechanic that was compressing the tensioner had a breaker bar with a long handle to over come the strength of the automatic tensioner.

They make a special tool that is much better than a breaker bar. It is called a serpentine belt service tool. In my opinion this is a must-have for do-it-yourself mechanics as well as professionals.

I own one that was made by the gear wrench people, and I use it often. In fact mechanics that I work with asked to borrow it all the time. It makes replacing belts a lot easier and also a lot safer.

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I have a lot more auto repair videos to share with you. They are all short and sweet with lots of good lessons to be learned. This next link will take you from the engine belt video to more car repair videos

Looking for belt diagrams and specific instructions on how to replace a serpentine belt on your vehicle? I have a video that details the procedure for finding a car repair manual online and shows you a belt diagram for a 3.8 liter V6.

Search both of my car repair websites at the same time.

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The home page is up next and is a good place to go to learn about what else is covered on this automobile repair website. You can also learn more about the car mechanic that has decided to help people with their auto repairs