Serpentine Belt Routing Diagrams

You've heard it on other people's cars or trucks and thought, why don't they change that squeaky belt? Well now it's happening to you and you can begin to understand why it takes some people so long to quiet their cars down. Serpentine belt replacement is one of the most common auto repairs that cause people to take their vehicles into the shop for. There are those DIY'ers that take on the task of replacing their own serpentine belts and we want to give kudos to them for tackling it on their own.

As you can see from the diagram, a serpentine belt runs everything you need to keep your car going. The use of a serpentine belt replaces the need for several different belts under the hood. It also allows for more room in the engine compartment.

It's just one continuous wide belt that is routed around the parts under the hood.

One side of the serpentine belt is smooth and one side has ribs which causes wide grooves that turn the parts that need more torque to turn them. Some models of automobiles use the back side of the belt to run the parts that use less torque. These will run the opposite way of the parts running from the ribbed side of the belt itself.

The serpentine belt is important because if it breaks, everything stops working. The good news is, that terrible serpentine belt squeal you are hearing should be plenty of warning for you to get it replaced. I'll bet that if you take a look at your serpentine belt you will have some of those ribs missing. That causes a slight slip and allows the belt to squeal. You know you are hearing a distinct rhythm of the squeal and this is because it runs the same rotation and the same part of the belt is going to squeal each time around.

You need to have the proper serpentine belt routing diagram before you can even think about replacing the serpentine belt. If you don't know how it is supposed to be routed you will have to look it up so that you can get yours changed. FreeAutoMechanic.com always offers free serpentine belt routing diagrams. You just have to look it up and you can get started fixing your car.

Get your serpentine belt routing diagram by clicking the link.

Having the right tools to get the job done will be the easiest way to get your serpentine belt replaced.

There are a few tips for changing your serpentine belt that will help you get the job done right.

Check your serpentine belt tensioner for excessive play to make sure that is in proper working condition before installing the new serpentine belt.

Once the belt has been removed, hold both belts (the new one and the one you just took off) and stretch them out to make sure they are the same size before you try to install it. There is no need to install a serpentine belt on the engine that isn't the right size. No sense in having to do it twice when it comes off the engine later.

Again, get the serpentine belt routing diagram so that you can just look and install it like the picture. Once you get started you will have the job done in no time at all.