Anyone with experience on changing serpentine belts?

[Tagged]

Hey guys,

My RS200 Altezza has previously developed a squealing noise which I suspect is coming from the idler pulley area.

It squeals when the engine is close to or at idle speed which is around 1~2k rev/m, basically whenever I'm not accelerating.

The idler pulley bearing should have been replaced last year with the cambelt change. (unless the mechanic decided to rip me off...)

I've tried yanking on all pulleys and they were all solid, no plays at all to indicate bearing wear.

So, I'm guessing it is coming down to the belts themselves, since they have not been replaced yet and do look a bit old. (tension of the belts feel fine though, move less than 1cm when pressed down on)

I have found out how to adjust the tensioner and alternator to loosen the belts and remove them. However I am unsure what to do once the belts are removed.
How do I know if the belts are at the right tension and I'm guessing I would need some kind of tools to leverage the tensioner and alternator back into the right places?

Thanks guys

[whynot]

Try spraying some crc at the pulley and belt. If it stops the noise then that confirms it's to do with the belt. I had a 1jz making the same squealing noises close to an idle and i changed the idler, cleaned the pullies rebuilt the ac pump and power steering. After all of that it ended up being the belt which I had to replace. It was a genuine toyota belt about 18 months old as well with no visible damage.

[RS13]

Don't spray the belt with CRC, it makes a mess and could stuff the belt.. find out why it's squealing. If you must, CRC do a "belt grip" spray but you're only masking a potential problem.

I'd replace the belts first, I've had good success with the "quieter" multi-rib Dayco belts from BNT. The serpentine belt on my 1NZ used to squeal on startup and badly with AC on, replaced it and it still squealed.. turns out its' a known issue with the 1NZ and Toyota put out a TSB for an uprated tension. Having too high tension on the belt can quickly damage the alternator bearings etc (I've seen one tight enough to snap the neck off the waterpump 50m up the road after install!) so I tried the Dayco belt at a tension I thought was good and haven't had an issue since. There are factory figures for belt tensions, they're a little difficult to gauge as you need to measure the force used to deflect the belt a certain distance, at a certain point on the belt.. my general rule of thumb is around half an inch deflection on the middle of the longest span. Yes you'll need to lever them to get the correct tension, its' easier with 2 people.

Or it could be the idler pully, not all garages change them when doing cambelts.

[Tagged]

Try spraying some crc at the pulley and belt. If it stops the noise then that confirms it's to do with the belt. I had a 1jz making the same squealing noises close to an idle and i changed the idler, cleaned the pullies rebuilt the ac pump and power steering. After all of that it ended up being the belt which I had to replace. It was a genuine toyota belt about 18 months old as well with no visible damage.

yea the belts under my bonnet doesn't look damaged either. They do look a little old though, I'm guessing they haven't been changed since factory as the car has only done just over 100k so far.

[Tagged]

If you must, CRC do a "belt grip" spray but you're only masking a potential problem.

I actually have a can of belt grip. Funny enough I bought it long time ago as there's always this grindy noise when my steering was at full lock. Friend told me to get belt grip coz he thinks its the power steering belt.
What really happened which I later found out was just the tyre rubbing against the wheel guard... still don't know why this is till this day though. Alloys are factory and tyres are normal size...

Or it could be the idler pully, not all garages change them when doing cambelts.

I bought the cambelt kit from toyota and had the garage put them in, which included the bearings in this case... I hope they had it put it instead of taking it haha

[Tagged]

what I really want to do at this point is to put the new belts in as I have already purchased them a little while ago from Toyota.

but I guess this might not be the job I should attempt as I could potentially screw things up D:

[RS13]

They aren't as crucial as cambelts, the only variable is the tension at which you set it. Measure how much deflection you get with the old belt, tighten the new belt to match. Make sure they're the same length before you start (you'll probably find numbers like 5pk1100 on the old one, which is a 5-rib belt 1100mm long, so make sure the numbers match), I've been given the wrong belt a few times regardless of where I got it from.

[Bling]

Mechanic told me belt grip is not a good idea. I'm probably too late...
Said it just makes a mess, and as mentioned, is only masking a problem.

[Tagged]

Mechanic told me belt grip is not a good idea. I'm probably too late...
Said it just makes a mess, and as mentioned, is only masking a problem.

Yup.... unfortunately....

Yesterday I went on to test the problem with a little bit of water, and decided that it is most likely the belt slipping a little.
So, I put on a tiny amount of belt grip wanting to see what happens. I mean seriously tiny amount... one drop at the most.

And...... the entire engine bay just freaking screamed like it was the end of the world....
I was like omg wtf just happened?!

Now my altezza just constantly squeals.... time to find a mechanic I guess.... asap...

[RS13]

[Dell'Orto]

Seriously, the drive belts on Altezzas are stupidly easy. I swapped the alternator on mine in half an hour, north south motors FTW!

[matt dunn]

Yeah that belt grip stuff works ok to fault find if the belt squeaks,
but if the belt is too loose anyway it doesn't work.

And all it does is make everything sticky and horrible to work on.

[85AW20v]

You can use a carpenters pencil to see if it's the belt too. The graphite in the pencil lubricates the belt for a short time. You might have to do both sides of the belt to stop it.

[Bling]

Is it just the one belt? Can't be that hard? Not my car, so i'll give you a hand
Been years since I helped you do your brakes on the 111.

[Dell'Orto]

There's two, alternator and PS/AC belt. Seriously almost too easy to change

[Tagged]

lol yes that was the intention of the post actually. Was wanting to see if there's any tips particularly on dealing with the tensioner.

Anyways, the belts have been changed and problem solved. The old belt had cracks all over and missing a wee chunk too.

I had a look on youtube/google and thought I'd need some kind of lever for the tensioner, but apparently not you just screw and unscrew.

[Tagged]

Is it just the one belt? Can't be that hard? Not my car, so i'll give you a hand
Been years since I helped you do your brakes on the 111.

haha heeeyyy long time no see
Yes that has been yeeaaars ago. I miss that little car though!

Btw would you happen to know if Graham and his mobile mechanic is still in business? I couldn't find him anymore.....

[RS13]

Anyways, the belts have been changed and problem solved. The old belt had cracks all over and missing a wee chunk too.

That was probably your main issue, an old hard belt won't grip the pulleys well at all. Nice work!

[Bling]

Btw would you happen to know if Graham and his mobile mechanic is still in business? I couldn't find him anymore.....

Yeah the mobile business should still be going, he's sold it in the last year or so though. I imagine it's still 0800 Car Tune.
I will still have his number somewhere.

[Tagged]

That was probably your main issue

yup! man its nice to drive without the squeaks again.... I mean... if I was driving just some random daily I prob wouldn't care as much... but a squeaky altezza? Nah cant have that for too long haha!