How badly do serpentine belts age in storage?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by mathom, May 5, 2026 at 4:58 PM.

  1. mathom

    mathom Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 19, 2024
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    Location:
    Washington state
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    I ordered a serpentine belt almost two years ago (July 2024) from a Toyota dealer. Never got around to installing it. I heard some squealing from the front the other day when starting up, so I plan to remove the belt, put in the new one, and spin/check the pulley and tensioner while I'm at it. The belt is presumably made of EPDM. It's been stored in a climate-stable garage, so nothing too extreme but I don't want it to snap under sudden tension. On the other hand, I can't imagine that two years of indoor storage is harder on a belt than a decade-plus of actual use for the current belt.

    It looks like the new belt was made in April 2024, probably.

    Is it safe to install the new belt? Am I seriously overthinking this?
    belt1.jpeg belt2.jpeg
     
  2. PrimalPrius

    PrimalPrius Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2018
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    Location:
    America
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Tons of people around you in traffic are running a 10+ year old belts without a worry in the world.
    April 2024? You”ll be fine.
    Maybe ignore this opinion if you live in zombie-cannibal country. But then you are not traveling in a Prius…