It depends on the type of car you drive and the auto repair shop you go to. Our mechanics are mobile, which means they don't have the overhead that repair shops have. They provide you convenience by coming to your home or office. The belt drives many, and often all, of the engine accessories such as the alternator, air conditioning compressor, power steering pump, water pump, and air pump. The serpentine belt is tensioned by a hydraulic or spring-loaded automatic tensioner.
Some older cars use a serpentine belt to drive most accessories but will also have a shorter v-style belt to drive, for example, the power steering pump. Should the belt have visible damage, you risk unexpected and sudden breakage that could potentially leave you stranded. Serpentine belt problems that result in the alternator not charging may cause the battery to discharge, which will result in loss of electrical power to the vehicle.
Additionally, if a deteriorated belt breaks and that belt drives the water pump, the engine will overheat in a matter of seconds. With YourMechanic you can skip the auto shop altogether. They send certified and screened mechanics straight to your door and enable you to save big on car repair and maintenance. Estimate price near me. Service Location. Customer Ratings. Included for free with this service Online Booking. Mechanic comes to you. Free 50 point safety inspection.
See availability. When to consider replacing the serpentine belt: Regularly scheduled maintenance. Typically, belt manufacturers recommend belt replacement at 90, miles. However, the belt must be inspected for wear or damage at regular intervals prior to this high mileage. Squealing noise, belt slippage, visible belt damage. Should the belt fail or wear out prematurely, you may hear noise or you may see visible signs of deterioration such as missing chunks of rubber, excessive cracking, or a shredded appearance on the edge of the belt.
Battery Light. A loose belt, perhaps caused by a defective tensioner, may not drive the alternator at adequate speed and thus the battery may discharge, causing the warning light to illuminate. Engine overheating. Often, the serpentine belt drives the water pump. In those applications, if the belt breaks the engine will overheat in seconds to minutes. Plus, never miss important maintenance again with automated maintenance alerts and more from FIXD.
Lifelong automotive enthusiast with a soft spot for offroading. Wrencher turned writer, but I still love to tinker on just about anything with an engine.
GirlDad SaveTheManuals. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Share Share. What Is a Serpentine Belt? The serpentine belt is a very important wear item on your car that can be easily overlooked. Common Symptoms of a Bad Serpentine Belt Squealing noise especially after driving through a puddle Cracks, visible damage, or glazed appearance Related Maintenance Services The following services are commonly performed along with a serpentine belt replacement : Idler pulley shown below Tensioner pulley Water pump Idler pulley Claim Your Custom Maintenance Schedule Get the FIXD Sensor and free app today for a custom maintenance schedule based on your make, model, and mileage.
Jeffrey N. Previous Post. The ridges help maintain grip when turning the accessory pulleys. Engine accessories need to get their power from somewhere, and it may surprise you to learn that that place is not the battery.
As your engine runs, the spinning motion of the crankshaft is transferred to each of the accessory pulleys via the serpentine belt. If your vehicle is supercharged , the serpentine belt also powers the supercharger. Older engines have v-belts instead of serpentine belts. These are thinner and smaller than serpentine belts and usually connect one accessory to the crankshaft. A bad serpentine belt is not something you can just put off and wait to deal with.
The entire functionality of your vehicle may be compromised when your belt is worn, damaged, cracked, or snapped. You will know when the belt is getting in bad shape because several signs will present themselves. Below are seven of the most common symptoms of a faulty serpentine belt:.
A malfunctioning air conditioner can be attributed to a lot of things. Since the serpentine belt keeps the air conditioner functional, a bad serpentine belt will take that function away from it. If you turn on your air conditioner and see that it does not blow out cool air from the air vents, this could possibly be due to a bad serpentine belt.
If the front area of your vehicle makes squealing sounds, then your serpentine belt might be misaligned or slipping. Sometimes it might just take a realignment or proper tensioning of your serpentine belt to fix this problem. The serpentine belt allows the power steering system to function properly. Power steering is what gives drivers the ability to smoothly steer their vehicle without needing to apply too much arm strength. If you have a bad serpentine belt, then it will be harder to move the steering wheel to steer your vehicle.
This issue could also be caused by low power steering fluid. The serpentine belt is what activates the water pump which helps cool the engine. This means that your engine will begin to overheat since it cannot be cooled down anymore. You will see this happening as the temperature gauge on the dashboard shows the needle moving toward the red zone. The serpentine belt is easy to access in most cars. If you want to know if your belt is bad, simply open the hood and look at the belt for yourself.
If you notice visible cracks or damage to anywhere on the belt, this means the belt is bad and needs to be replaced right away. A vehicle can often run without a working alternator for a bit of time, but not for long. If the belt is too loose to maintain grip on the alternator pulley, you may experience a similar symptom as a snapped belt.
If you start to notice a whine from the engine that changes with engine speed, you may want to have the tension of the serpentine belt double checked. A belt that is too tight puts too much load on the bearings in each of the accessory pulleys and can often cause premature failure of those components.
One of the most common failure modes for water pumps is actually bearing failure, caused by a serpentine belt that was too tight. Taxes and fees will be added onto these prices too. The ease of accessing the serpentine belt will determine how much the labor costs are.
Some model vehicles have the serpentine belt easily accessible, which means the labor should take under one hour. But if the belt is in a more complicated area, it could take about 2 hours. Easy to reach belts can actually be changed at home with minimal tools. Some belts can be removed by loosening one bolt, while others have a belt tensioner you have to pull on with a wrench to give the belt some slack.
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