When I turn the key to start my 5sp maxima it will fire up right away but will have a short squeal right as it starts up. It sounds like a belt is slipping a little. Is this an indication that something needs to be fixed or is it normal? The car has roughly 50,000 miles on it.

 

Is this something I can do myself or should I take it to my local friendly nissan dealer? What should I expect the cost of belt replacement to be if I should do it myself/have it done by a mechanic?

 

there are 2 belts,
alternator belt and some accessory belt..

one of them is easy to do yourself, the other one is harder to reach..

they will cost you like 15$ for both at nissan..



a mechanic will likely rape you on the labor and charge like 50-100$ to replace them..
it's best to do them yourself.. if you can..



also,
they may not even need to be replaced, chances are, since your car is relatively low milage.. it may just need to be tightened a little bit..

 

Too tighten the alternator belt, you need to use a 10mm socket and turn the gold shaft next to the valve cover clockwise. Deflection of the belt while tightened should be 4.1mm



The Accessory belt has more work to get it tightened..

You need to remove the fender cover, behind the right wheel, might be wise to remove the right wheel as well. From there, you will notice near the firewall, another gold shaft as when you did the alternator belt, but this one is upside facing the ground. You need a 10mm socket again and tighten it clockwise.

Im not sure about the deflection of this belt but make sure it has some leeway to move around, and its not too loose.

 

hey wow, thanks. Will let you know if I have any more questions

 

Hey thanx a lot.. that's actually a lot of help!