any tips on changing belts? I have to do mine but couldnt find a lot on the search. I dont see a lot of room to work with when I peek in there!!!
Thanks!!!

 

loosen tensioner
remove belts
install belts
tighter tensioner

 

that PS belt is a freakin *****.

 

I just got all new belts for my 02 and the wifes 00 from Dave B. I'm not really looking forward to the install on these. It does look kind of tight.

 

yea it does look like a pain.....usually I wouldn't post a question like this, but I dont even see how to get to them, do you go in from the hood or wheel well?
take wheel and splash panel off?

 

With the wheel and splash panel off there's good access to the bottom. I noticed the belts were rough while doing a suspension swap.

 

I bought new belts not to long ago and I took a look in there and I said no way. its doable with a little bit of time and patients. I had one of my friends do it for me at the nissan dealership. he only charged me 10 dollars to install them.

 

yeah, you gotta take off the wheel and the splash guard.. after that the serpentine belt is a breeze.. you gotta loosen both the tensioner under the hood and the bolt on the pulley though... i forget which one you loosen first.. lol.. i think its the pulley first....?
that power steering belt did look like a b*tch too.. i couldnt even tell which bolt to loosen, so i just didnt bother with it cause it looked fine

 

Yes, pwr steering belt is a pain. what i did was remove wheel, splash guard. AC belt is easy, loosen tensioner, and remove idler pulley. Pwr steering belt, the bolts for the tensioner and assembly are hard to reach. I needed to buy some angled ratchet wrenches to reach them. One important thing to remember is that the pwr steering tensioner is reverse thread. So right is loosey and left is tightey. Other bolts are regular thread.

 

go to a local gas station that has a shop or find a small mom's pops type shop, ask him to do you a favor, to change the belts for you. I did that, and found a guy to do it for $20.

 

lucky you , whos your boy? maybe he can hook me up too. Im goin to visit miami next week.

 

screw that.. do it yourself man.. you get a sense of pride from doing your own car work.. unless you don't care about that kind of stuff and wanna spend the extra money, then go right ahead.. but i say if you feel comfortable, then do it.. there's tons of info on this website and we're all on here to support you if you have trouble

 

Yeah man, another ++ for doing it yourself, tis the only way to go!

 

surpentine belt:
1. Loosen pulley nut 14 mm from the wheel well.
2. Loosen tension from under hood with a 14 mm and about 12" extension.
3. Remove belt.
Hint: use plenty of penitrtating liquid (i.e. wd40) to prevent snapping the tensioner bolt.

Power steering belt:
1. Loosen pulley nut 12 mm from under hood.
2. Loosen 14 mm bolt that tightens the power steering pump from the rear of the pump. Will have to get to it from the buttom of the car. Jack up the car high. Remomeber to secure the vehicle.
3. Turn tensioner 12mm bolt, REVERSE THREAD, I usually usa a 1/2" 12mm with two 12" extensions and an "elbow" (i forgot how the tool is called). Get to this from the buttom of vehicle between the axle and LCA.
4. Remove belt.

Install:
Follow above procedures in reverse order.

The whole job should take you 20-40 minutes unless you snap any of the bolts/nuts than you are in some really big trouble. Remember, WD40 is your friend.

Good luck.

This is defenitly doable by any owner with some mechanical knowledge. I you change your own oil, you can change your own belts.

 

thanks lot nsnrider...is all done man, great tips here I got it done in 1 hour....

I like working on my cars, the P/S belt was a biatch but with patience and the right tools it was no problem.

 

only time you take the car somewhere for work...warranty work.
pride in a job well done.
i took my car to the dealership for their free 100 point inspection. they said the car was perfect and well maintained and asked if i did everything myself.

 

Would there be any reasons that after you change the belts, everytime you start up your car in the morning, it makes a loud squeek? I had a local shop replaced my belts and that's what I started to notice a week afterward.

 

the belts are probably loose. you need to tighten the tensioner

 

I did the big one, but the smaller belt is a bish!

 

I waited for a special a paid like 80 something at the dealer. Well worth it. Get on your dealers mailing list. They send me specials all the time.

 

The exact same thing happened to me!!!!


The problem is that the garage used a "Gates" belt instead of the actual Nissan belt. The Nissan belt has "felt" on the backside that grabs the pulleys much better than the harder rubber compound of the Gates belt.

You can crank it tighter all you want, and it still squeals when you start it up.

After tightening it, we gave up 3 weeks later and replaced it with Nissan belts.

thanks

 

you arent kidding......my fingers all bruised up, dam it. it wasnt even in bad shape, I just went ahead and took care of it while I was there.....

 

Guys,

Regarding the PS belt: Can it be done from underneath w/ car on ramps or do you have to have it on jackstands so you can take the pass wheel and splash off? I did the alternator belt already w/ pass wheel off since it was recommended to do so but stopped short of the ps belt - seemed quite hard to get to. I would now like to attempt the ps belt w/ car on ramps rather than jackstands...just kinda feel better for some reason lying around under there and wrenching and reaching and all feel better w/ the ramps (I can't explain why, just do). For those who have done the ps belt, can I do it on ramps since I got the alt belt replaced already and won't have to do a complete install of that? (assuming I don't have to completely take off the alt belt to put on the ps belt). I know I have to loosen the alt belt to get the ps belt on, just trying to find out if leaving the wheel on and using ramps is going to be doable or make it way to difficult.

Also, how much longer does the ps belt take to do than the alt belt? I got plenty of tools unless I need something wacky..i got all the sockets, drives, extensions, etc.

TIA.

 

surpentine belt:
1. Loosen pulley nut 14 mm from the wheel well.
2. Loosen tension from under hood with a 14 mm and about 12" extension.
3. Remove belt.
Hint: use plenty of penitrtating liquid (i.e. wd40) to prevent snapping the tensioner bolt.

Excellent instruction for replacing the serpentine belt. Found it best to loosen the tension bolt when adjusting the belt tension on the pulley. I have no squeaks or other weird noises. The car almost sounds brand new. Thanks for the write-up....

 

Weird, I just read this old thread Sunday night before I tackled this job. It was deja vu seeing it on the first page. The belts weren't too bad of a job, well at least the alt./AC belt. The power steering belt sucked though. It wasn't because of the bolt I had to loosen on the back of the pump either. That was easy to get to for me. I just laid back on the creeper and went in from the pass. wheelwell side. It took maybe 30 seconds to loosen and tighten back up. The problem for me was the stupid idler tensioner bolt on the ps pump. I had all sorts of tools and none of them could grip it very good as the ps pulley was in the way. I ended up using a short 12mm closed wrench on it but I came very close to stripping the bolt after I was through. If I do this job again my first trip will be to the dealer to get an extra bolt.

Honestly I don't know wtf Nissan was thinking going with such an archaic belt design on this engine. They could have easily done one larger serpentine belt and this would be a simple repair job. I used to have a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 4.7l V8 in it. The belt took all of 10 minutes to replace and you could do it with just one socket. Oh well, I'm hopefully done for another 100k miles now anyway.

 

both its not that bad i wish i would have put all new on when my alt went out but they werent bad an i just need it to get me to work at the moment but itll take maybe an 1 or 2 if you take a beer break n smoke break ha

 

Last night I went out to take a look at the belts, make sure everything was staying tight after my repair etc. As I was looking down at the tensioner bolt for the ps pump, I wondered if I could reach it from the top of the engine instead of below. It turns out I could reach it with a regular length 12mm wrench. Took me only a few seconds to get to the bolt. It's VERY tight going in from the top and my hand was hitting the A/C line that goes through the firewall but I'm pretty sure I could've loosened the bolt if need be. Just a thought to anyone who's yet to tackle this job.

 

Very good thread! I might be taking this on tonight. Sounds like a PITA. My 93 altima was cake. I wondering if I wait till I install my rear valve cover and intake spacers and block plate if it would be easier. Any thoughts?

 

So I'm just replacing the ac / alternator belt tomorrow if I can get someone to drive me a a parts store)

(Short story: Making terrible noise, AC was losing power. Then I see white smoke coming from engine compartment after a long drive. Finally I get in my car after going grocery shopping and the battery light and the break light are lit up. I get home and check, the belt is completely fried off)

Will I be able to do this removal / install without taking off the wheel? All I have is ramps and the scissors jack from the trunk. Don't feel like asking for an additional ride to "rent" a jack from walmart.

 

I noticed cracks on the serpentine belt when i did the motor mounts. I got both belts (Dayco brand) and have been putting it off due to hot weather. Need to get this done soon. Thanks for the tips for the PS belt.

 

Scissor jack from the trunk will be fine for removing said wheel. It make it easier, but isn't necessary.

 

Went ahead and bought a kit, figured Id need one sooner or later.

In a related matter, any suggestions about what to do about a partially burnt on serpentine belt? I'm chipping away at it with a knife / flat head screw driver, but man I would love to just have it melt off somehow.

I have half a mind to set it on fire.

 

How did that happen? Is it burnt/melted onto the pulley or somewhere else? No easy off the bat idea for that one.

 

Yeah, its melted onto the pulley.

Only about a quarter turn, but man is it a pain in the *** to get off.

Might be time to start calling garages.

also: I tried to loosen the pulley on the ac compressor, now it wont retighten.

(sigh)

Im guessing I need a special tool for that one.

 

You shouldn't mess with the AC pulley, only the idler pulley. Yes, it has a secondary sorta lock nut type of thing.

 

Looks like its time to find a AC compressor bypass.

 

So someone else on the forum says 36" is about right for a ac bypass belt.

Any reason to suspect that 37" would be too long? Or will I be able to tighten that down?

 

To see the belt better they can take off the front passenger wheel and take off the splash guard!!

 

so i'm in the middle of changing these belts. so I got the big belt off and compared it with the new belt. New belt is about a half inch bigger than old belt, I thought it should be the other way around. anyways, so i install the new belt and tighten everything up and the belt is still loose. I got the belt at advance auto parts, the dayco brand. I looked up online to see if he gave me the right belt and the part number matches. so my question is, why is this belt still loose? Please help asap

 

I figured out why. The belt the guy sold me had the right package with the right part number but with the wrong belt inside the package. Exchanged it and got the right one and was done in like 15 minutes. Decided not to do the power steering belt be ause it still look good and I couldn't get to the bolts and didn feel like messing with it.