Hi All,

Just got back from the dealership after an oil change (yeah, I know I should be doing this myself ). I was told that I really need a new belt, and for only $150, they would replace it! What a deal! In any case, I told them that I could do it myself in 20 minutes and picked up new belts on the way home.

Upon inspection, I would have to say the belts look fine. No cracking, signs of brittleness, etc. Maybe slightly glazed, but again, I would not think they were at the end of their life. Normally this would be enough for me, but since I am particulary **** about my Vette, I figured I would ask: is there anything that the "untrained" eye cannot see when it comes to belts? Should I replace them anyway, or should I save the $50 and put it towards my heads/cam fund?

As always, thanks for the invaluable input...

 

Any idea of the age of the belt? Look at both sides of the belt, often the "ribbed" side will show wear (cracking especially) where it is exposed on the outside of a pulley. If in doubt, replace it, the belt is cheaper than what ya spent on the oil change, and it is a 10 minute procedure (at most) to replace it. Consider replacing the A/C belt at the same time as you do the serpentine belt.

 

Not sure how old it is. I've had the car for about 10 months and haven't replaced it.

No cracking at all, in fact, the grooved side looks great. I've replaced serpentine belts before and definitely know what you are talking about when you mention cracking on the ribbed side. Anyway, I figure I'll keep the belts on hand and replace them when it's time.

I try to give the dealership the benefit of the doubt, but it looks like they were just trying to earn a quick buck-fifty off of me... Last time I was in they hit me up for rear brakes because "my pads were almost gone." I had a look afterward and found that they had more than half remaining... wtf.

 

If you just got the car can you contact the previous owner and ask him if he ever replaced them? If you don't see any obvious signs of wear I would question it also. I would also start looking for someone else to service the car, your dealer sound like a rip-off artist and a lot of the service writer's get a piece of the action so you know where their interest lies, and its not with the customer.

 

Get a Gatorback belt and di it yourself...and don't forget the water pump belt, too.

 

Scott,

The water pump is driven by the serpentine belt, as are the P/S pump and alternator. Only the A/C compressor runs off a seperate belt.

 

ET, before he left posted a great summary of the belt system and how to troubleshoot it.

Here's pretty much everything you need to know about the belts:



Belt Squeal Courtesy E-T

You have two belt systems on your car. One is the drive belt system, the other is the air conditioner belt system. The drive belt system consists of the serpentine belt, the power steering pump, alternator/gen, water pump, harmonic balancer, idler pulley, belt auto-tensioner pulley. The AC belt system consists of the compressor, harmonic balancer, idler pulley, belt auto-tensioner pulley.

First thing you need to do is isolate which system is squeaking. This can be done by releasing tension on the drive belt tensioner and removing the serpentine belt. This is the outboard belt of the two belt systems. If the squeak goes away, then it’s the belt or a component of the drive system.

If the squeak is still there, then it’s a component of the ac belt system.
To verify this, release the belt tension from the tensioner and remove the belt. If the squeak goes away, then it’s a component of the ac belt system.

A common problem is the belt tensioner on either system but verifying which system is at fault is the proper procedure.

You could replace both belts, but you may still have the squeak. If you want to find the culprit, isolate the system, then spray the belt of the offending system and see if the squeak goes away. Try to stay away from the idler and tensioner while spraying. I find that belt dressing may be good to identify a belt problem, but it is a temporary fix at best.

The real problem has been the tensioner and the idler. Both of these components have a sealed bearing which has been know to dry up or redirect the grease away from the bearing, thus causing the squeak.

If you find that a belt change does not correct the problem, then a change of both the idler and tensioner pulley is in order. If you just change the idler or the tensioner alone, it will cause the other component to go bad in a month or so. This has been the case with many members. There was a change made to the dusts seals to help correct this problem in newer C5's. Lots of tensioner and idler pulleys have been identified as a problem and it can affect either system. One is not more prevalent than the other. So find out which system is squeaking first, in the drive belt system. It could also be the bearing of the alternator, power steering pump, or water pump too, but these are less probable.

I hope this makes things a little clearer

 

not to hi-jack or anything ... but since we're talking about squeaks on the drive belt system


i've got a one that will show up randomly .. and will go away once the car is warmed up (around 140 degrees).


any thoughts? .. my brain tells me maybe a bearing on the tensioner ... but that's just me