Automotive Preventative Maintenance-Checking the Belts

By John Dorian

The best reason to embark on a maintenance program for your vehicle is to save yourself both money and time. By avoiding the need for expensive repairs, you save both the cost of those repairs and the time spent completing them. Maintenance is of course keeping a check on your oil and changing it or having it changed on a regular basis. It is also about keeping the proper air pressure in your tires and checking the tread for wear or cracks. Thirdly, ensure that the belts in your vehicle are kept in good condition and replaced as required.

How to check the belts in your vehicle:

At your vehicle's sixty-thousand mile tune-up make sure that your belts are changed, whether or not they are showing signs of wear. Your mechanic should not charge you any additional labor charges to do so as changing the timing belt is already part of the service.

The first step to checking the belts is to be sure that your engine is switched off. To avoid injury, ensure that you don't attempt to touch the belts until both they and the engine have fully cooled. The hood release can be found under the dashboard. Then simply slide your hand under the front of the hood to find the safety catch, which will need to be either squeezed or slid to open the hood.

As you look into the engine from the front of the vehicle you will see there are belts in front of the vehicle's engine The engine's orientation depends on whether your vehicle is rear or front wheel drive. In rear wheel drive vehicles the engine is set closer to the front, whereas the engine is set further back in front wheel drive vehicles.

Check how many belts you can see.

Depending on the type of vehicle, you may find a varying number of belts. The belts are responsible for driving components such as the alternator, fan and water, smog and power steering pumps. As such, they are collectively called drive belts. There may be two belts or even more depending on your vehicle. The belts run over pulleys and as you locate them you can press the belt lightly with your thumb in the middle of the longest part of the belt. What you are checking for is tension of the belt. Your owner's manual will provide you with details of how much give there should be in each belt. In most cases, pressing gently should cause the belt to give less than an inch.

This is also a good time to check the belt for any signs of cracks or drying out. You will probably notice a little bit of cracking and this is fine but there should not be chunks missing. You may also notice some minor rust discoloration. This is also fine. Many belts, especially the one for the air conditioning clutch, can rust over time due to the dust created as it operates. The dust does not do any damage. If you find obvious signs of wear, or the belt seems to have too much give, then you will need to have the belt replaced before it breaks. A screeching sound when you hit the gas is an indication that the belt is too lose. In this case, the belt will need to either be replaced or tightened. It can work out to be quite costly should a belt break.

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