Service Schedule on Serpentine Belt

[valrit]

how much have you all paid for replacing the drive belt? the dealership quoted me $145. is that normative, low, or high?

[dogbohn]

I am curious about this also. I recently paid $250 for the serpentine belt. I have suspected that my dealer (in nyc) was out of line in charges.

[Patrick Wong]

MSRP of the belt is $17.
Champion ToyotaWorld

My estimate is that it takes 0.5 hour of labor (or less time) to replace. Given the above, you can reach your own conclusions about how reasonable your dealer's service price is.

[philmcneal]

the last time i check, the prius belt was kinda pricey to replace... not because of the part because of the labor involved, Toyota quotes over an hour however i have never seen one being replaced yet. Including my own at 196,000 km, no cracks in mine WEE

[Patrick Wong]

Hi Phil,

I changed the serpentine belt on my 2001, it is easy to replace. Remove the RH side engine under cover for access to the crankshaft pulley, then slacken the idler pulley, and remove the old belt. Install the new belt, tighten the idler pulley to obtain suitable tension on the new belt, reinstall the under cover, and you are done.

[philmcneal]

interesting, i'll have to look up the labor guide for 2g priuses to compare thanks patrick!

[mitymurph]

Speaking of Genuine Toyota parts...
I was having the oil changed on my 2004 (83500 miles) and was shown by the service adviser that I needed a windshield wiper refill at a cost of $23!. I went across the street to an auto supply store and bought 2 for $4.25.
Jim

[Patrick Wong]

The weather was nice today so I decided to do some work on my 2004 with 70.4K miles:

- replace windshield and hatch glass wiper rubber
- replace PCV valve
- replace the serpentine belt
- clean the throttle body and throttle plate

Following is guidance on how to replace the serpentine belt:

- Jack up front end and support with two jackstands
- Remove the RH side engine under cover
- Disconnect the air cleaner inlet hose to provide clearance
- Loosen the nut which is coaxial with the idler pulley
- Loosen the bolt on the idler pulley to relax the serpentine belt, then remove
- Spin the water pump pulley, it should turn smoothly and the pulley should not have any play. If you note any problem with the pump bearing or if you see dried antifreeze stains on the water pump or pulley, replace the water pump.
- Place the new belt on the idler pulley and crankshaft pulley, note that the outside of the belt is in contact with the water pump pulley.
- Tighten the idler pulley bolt to place tension on the new belt. While applying 22 lb of force on the belt midway between crankshaft pulley and idler pulley, the new belt should deflect 0.4".
- Tighten the idler pulley nut to 30 ft.-lb.
- Reconnect the air cleaner inlet hose
- Reinstall the engine under cover
- Start engine to verify that the new belt works properly, take a test drive and think about the $$$ you just saved.

The center of the first photo shows the idler pulley after the air cleaner inlet hose was moved out of the way. See the nut at the pulley center. Also see the idler pulley bolt head, note the head has some white paint on it. The old belt is still in place.

The second photo is zoomed out to provide some perspective. The left bottom corner of that photo shows the windshield washer container which is next to the RF fender.

The third photo is taken from under the car, note the appearance of the old serpentine belt wrapped around the crankshaft pulley. The water pump pulley is in the upper right corner and the idler pulley is barely visible above the WP pulley.

The fourth photo shows a plastic fastener for the engine under cover. This can be found in the RF wheel well and is not easy to remove. Note the two "ears" that can be compressed using long-nose pliers from the inside, to remove that fastener.

The fifth and sixth photos show the new belt part number.

The last photo shows rib cracking apparent on the inside of the old belt. This is why I replaced it. If you are satisfied with a lower standard of maintenance, you don't have to replace the old belt until there are actual gaps in the ribs, not just cracks.

[CharlesJ]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

The weather was nice today so I decided to do some work on my 2004 with 70.4K miles:

....

Thanks. Is it possible to replace the belt without undoing the underside and going under the car? Or, just not enough room from the top to place the new belt around the necessary wheels?

[jayman]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

I believe that the recommended valve inspection is just to listen for excess noise, unless there is a driveability problem. It seems that the normal wear pattern is towards excessive valve clearance rather than insufficient valve clearance.

Nice clean cylinder head. Not sure if I posted the results of a teardown of a Tacoma 4.0 v6 with 158,000 miles on it. That cylinder head already had pretty bad deposits.

The owner wanted performance parts installed, and since it was starting to lose compression, he agreed to an overhaul. The piston ring land is pretty nasty too