Hey guys I need a little help with replacing my drive belts. My 03 Z has about 23K miles on it and today the belt for the AC compressor cracked and half of it from a 5 inch section broke off. Given that my car is sort of close to the 30k miles mark, I am deciding to replace both the damaged AC compressor belt and the power steering/alternator/fan belt. The physical replacement looks pretty straight forward but I am having trouble with figuring out the tension and deflection when I turn the adjustment bolts under the two pullys. What are you guys using to gauge the correct tension and deflection? Can somebody please explain what I am looking for? Is there a tool I can get to measure this? Where can I get one like autozone or something? I kinda understand the tension but what am I looking at for deflection? The service manual reads as follows for each:

Power steering/alternator/fan belt

Tension new belt: 838-926 (85.5-94.5, 188-208) Unit:N (kg,lb)
Deflection adjustment: 3.5-4.5 (0.138-0.177) Unit: mm (in)

AC compressor

Tension new belt: 470-559 (85.5-94.5, 188-208) Unit:N (kg,lb)
Deflection adjustment: 8-9 (0.31-0.35) Unit: mm (in)

 

Bump..anybody? Also, anybody have any ideas if there's belts out there better than the OEM ones? I'm using OEM I got from Courtsey Nissan but if there's something better I wouldn't mind switching.

 

I use the gator back belts and just hand tighten them until it feels snug. One of mine had a horrible squeek, changed it, no squeek and still tight. The Gators are a little thicker and a pretty wide compared to OEM. Much metter IMO.

 

Just wondering how much did you pay for your belts?

 

There exists a belt tensioner but for my jeep I just do the push test.

 

Dang brotha, you're making this too difficult. Crawl up underneath, loosen the pulley bolt followed by the tension bolts(righty tighty/lefty loosy), pull the front belt off 1st then the small belt behind it, & replace them with oem belts. Tighten down the tension bolt until you feel some good ressistance in the ratchet, pinch the belt with you finger to make sure it's nice n' snug(it won't snap if you put alittle a$$ into the ratchet), retighten the pulley bolt, do the same for the other belt. Leave your air deflector pan off, drive a couple days and retighten. You'll be good after that.

 

The OEM belts list for about $29 for the pair.

 

I changed my factory belts with oem belts back a while ago. The FSM does settings but I didn't have access to any type of guage.

So I also hand tightened then drove a few thousand miles and hand tighthened some more. 30,000 miles later still no problems.

 

A belt tension gauge is almost impossible to find. There's one or two mail order places, but nothing local and places like AutoZone don't have them to lend. They're not cheap either.

 

Shade tree mechanic finger/tension test FTW...

 

all new belts will give eventually even if they felt tight and snug when first installed. Re-tightening may be required in a couple of weeks if they squeal.

 

They were dirt cheap. I don't have the invoice in front of me right now but from the dealership the two cost me around $35s.

 

I do it strictly by feel, but those measurements are obtained by laying a straight edge along the longest run usually and measured by pushing down on the belt and measured from S/E to belt. Notice the main belt is pretty tite, thats cool. The A/C is looser because you have less distribution of pulley/bearing/seal stress. A stressed A/C pulley will wipe out the seal and will cause compressor malfunction/failure.

If they squeal, turn them another 1/2 - 3/4 turn till they stop and feel the tension. Next time you will be able to just go by feel

 

Hey... I am about to change my belts on my FX35 (which is basically the same motor)... Are you saying that there really is no need to buy a belt tension gauge (I found one for $50)? I am thinking that the current belts probably have the correct tension on them as they were installed by the dealer. If I figure out how hard I need to push down on the belt to get it to bend 4-5 mm on the main belt and 9-10 mm on the AC belt (which is the tolerances for a used belt) and then push the same amount on the new belt and then adjust it to 3.5-4.5 mm on the main belt and 8-9 mm on the AC belt I should be fine?

Or do you have a better method as I would prefer to not have to buy the used tool for $50 (it appears all the belt tension tools on the market are not high enough to calilbrate a new belt anyways as they typically measure from 30-180 lbs...

 

BUMP, anyone got anything new to add to this? What should belts run for? Gator belts?!?

TIA!

 

would u guy recomend changing the belts? im at 35k havent had any issues with squeeling etc.

 

You don't change them because they are squeeling, you change them because they are cracking, cording, spliting. Squeeling is usually a sign that they are too loose and are slipping.

 

i cant see anywhere really should i just swapem and be done with it?

 

they are relatively inexpensive and it's cheap insurance to prevent having one fail on you. Do you have 35K miles or 35 Km on the car? 35K miles is about where I would start worrying about replacing them.

 

thanks 35k miles im gonna replace them over the winter while shes in storage