Examination
1. Drive belts, or V-belts as they are sometimes called, are located at the front of the powertrain and play a vital role in the operation of the engine and many other vehicle systems. Over time, belts wear out and should be inspected regularly as part of the vehicle's routine maintenance schedule to avoid serious engine failures, the consequences of which can be costly to repair.
Note: The V-belt family also includes multi-rib belts.
2. The number of drive belts used on an engine depends on the vehicle configuration. Belts are used to drive auxiliary units such as the generator, steering and water pumps, air conditioning compressor, etc. Depending on the pulley arrangement, more than one unit can be driven by one belt.
3. Turn off the engine, open the hood and find the drive belts at the front of the power unit. Using a flashlight, feel the belts along their entire length with your fingers, checking for cracks and delamination. The presence of abrasions, polished areas and other obvious defects on the belt is also unacceptable. Inspect the belts from both sides, for which twist them.
4. The belt tension force is checked by pressing it with the thumb on the section in the middle between two adjacent pulleys. The pressure should be firm enough. The parameter characterizing the belt tension force is the amount of its deflection when pressed. As a rule, if the pulleys are spaced from 180 to 280 mm apart, the deflection should be 6.4 mm, a distance between pulleys of 305÷405 mm corresponds to a deflection of 12.5 mm for a V-belt, and 6.4 mm for a multi-ribbed belt.
5. On models equipped with V6 engines, the alternator/air conditioner compressor drive belt is equipped with an automatic tensioner, however, the ability to adjust the tension force is not provided. The automatic tensioner includes an indicator of the degree of belt wear (based on the amount of its stretch).
Adjustment
1. On V6 models, the alternator/air conditioning compressor drive belt is equipped with an automatic tensioner. All other belts are manually adjusted by moving the components they drive in the appropriate direction.
2. To adjust the tension of the alternator belt on 4-cylinder models and the steering pump drive belt on V6 models, loosen the mounting bolts of the corresponding units and turn the adjusting bolt in the required direction (clockwise to tighten the belt, counterclockwise to loosen it).
3. The steering pump drive belt on 4-cylinder models is adjusted by loosening the mounting bolts and moving the unit using a 1/2-inch square drive socket wrench.
4. After completing the adjustment, make sure that the belts are tensioned correctly. If necessary, repeat the adjustment procedure.
Replacement
1. On V6 models, place a long spanner of the appropriate size on the center bolt of the tensioner pulley and turn the tensioner counterclockwise to remove the alternator belt. On all other models, release the tensioner tension as per the instructions above to remove the alternator belt from its pulleys. It is a good idea to replace all drive belts at the same time. Before removing the belt completely from the vehicle, mark the direction of belt rotation and the pattern of the belt routing in the pulley grooves.
2. When buying new belts, take the old ones with you as samples - replacement belts must strictly correspond in size to those removed from the car.
3. Once replacement is complete, adjust the tension of the new belts.
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