How To Replace Serpentine Belt (2024)

d_mode

Is the old belt totally broken or still in place? It's not a hard job.

1) Jack right front corner of car (support on jack stands or etc).

2) Remove passenger side front wheel (right side).

3) Remove (or partially drop) the engine splash guard behind said wheel.

4) You will be able to see much of the belt from here. Make a drawing or take a photo so you can correctly install the new belt.

5) Using a breaker bar (or long wrench with plenty of leverage) rotate the belt tensioner and remove the old belt. It's a 19mm socket (I think). The belt tensioner is the pulley between the crankshaft and power steering pump. It has sort of a shock-absorber looking device attached to the top. The tensioner has two large bolt heads facing away from the motor, one is the actual pivot bolt (don't use this), the other is not actually a bolt but is a bolt head cast into the metal just above the pivot bolt. Place the socket on the second, cast, bolt head and pull the wrench toward the front of the car. This will relieve the belt tension and allow you to remove the old belt.

6) Reroute the new belt (refer to drawing or pictures). I leave the alternator pulley for last and use the wrench on the belt tensioner to provide enough slack to slip the belt over the alternator pulley.

7) Replace splash guard, wheel & etc.

Good luck,

Tom in KC

d_mode

Thanks for these tips. This will definitely help. The problem is that I took the old one off a few months ago (I bought a Prius since then) and did not make a drawing of how it went on. Now that I've gotten around to fixing the Corolla, I don't remember how it went on. My dad and I tried, but it seemed like it had way too much slack in the new belt. Perhaps the belt tensioner might have been the problem. At the time, I assumed it would be easy to find a diagram of how the belt goes on easily online!

danny

K_Watson

Yes, don't bother jacking up the car; just start at step 5 of Tom's guide. Starting from the alternator, it is routed like this:

Alternator, ribs in, down to...

water pump, ribs out, down to...

A/C compressor, ribs in, towards the back to...

crankshaft, ribs in, up to...

belt tensioner pulley, ribs out, up to...

power steering pump in the back, ribs in, and comes out the front back to alternator.

You should be able to visualize this mentally. My suggestion is to position it on all the other pulleys first and finally slip it on alternator when pulling on the tensioner.

My repair manual has pictures for the belt routing.

After changing them several times, I don't really need the picture any more.

The length of the belt is also a clue as to which items it goes over/under.

You can also tell by the alignment of the pulleys.

A good idea to put over alternator last as it can be loosened for installation and then tightened.

Sometimes a slight prying with a large screwdriver also is helpful in pursuading it to go on.

Hope this helps.

Yeah, you can do it on that generation Bike - but on the 1998+ Corollas, you shouldn't loosen anything other than the belt tensioner. Makes it a little trickier - as you have to apply some pressure to the belt tensioner, as you slip the belt over the last pulley (alternator just happens to be the easiest one to get to). But the process is essentially the same - route the belt the correct way over all but one of the pulleys - pull on the belt tensioner, cince up the belt over the pulleys and over the last one. Much easier with two people - one to pull on the tensioner and one to slip and watch the belt over the pulleys. Only good thing about the newer ones is that you don't have to mess with the tension - as it is preset. No need to pry on the alternator and check belt deflection anymore.

The first time I changed the belt it took me 30 minutes to figure out how it went back on so the second time I used my digital camera and took a picture of the belt configuration and so it took me only 5 minutes to change.

Hence the phrase "Practice makes perfect".

Yeah, you can do it on that generation Bike - but on the 1998+ Corollas, you shouldn't loosen anything other than the belt tensioner. Makes it a little trickier - as you have to apply some pressure to the belt tensioner, as you slip the belt over the last pulley (alternator just happens to be the easiest one to get to). But the process is essentially the same - route the belt the correct way over all but one of the pulleys - pull on the belt tensioner, cince up the belt over the pulleys and over the last one. Much easier with two people - one to pull on the tensioner and one to slip and watch the belt over the pulleys. Only good thing about the newer ones is that you don't have to mess with the tension - as it is preset. No need to pry on the alternator and check belt deflection anymore.

Thanks for the clarification on the newer models - I have never done it on a '98 or later.

Is it possible to do as I usually do (by myself) and use a tire iron on the tensioner tightened down by bungee cords as I tighten everything down?

I frequently am the only one around as I work on the cars and I have to get creative when it comes to a normally two-person job.

Dave,

Were you able to get it back on?

tdk.

There's an excellent DIY guide with photos here:

DIY: squeaky serpentine belt replacement (with pics)

Thanks for the clarification on the newer models - I have never done it on a '98 or later. Is it possible to do as I usually do (by myself) and use a tire iron on the tensioner tightened down by bungee cords as I tighten everything down? I frequently am the only one around as I work on the cars and I have to get creative when it comes to a normally two-person job.

Possible on the 8th gen - but it would be easier to have a long handled socket wrench on the belt tensioner (like a breaker bar), get everything lined up, tug on the tensioner and simultaneously slip the belt over the last pulley. As long as the belt hasn't fallen off any of the other pulleys - you are golden, otherwise, you have to do something creative - like put some masking tape over some of the bottommost and inside pulleys to keep the belt from slipping. Plus you have to fight the new belt for a little bit - as it is pretty stiff, sometimes letting it sit out in the sun for a few minutes will soften it up - kind of like slipping in a bedliner for a truck, the kind that fits under the bed rails, when cold - nearly impossible to slip in, but when warmed up a bit - drop and go.

That's the only thing I like about the ones that adjust by the alternator bracket - you got plenty of time to mess with everything, and some belts like a bit more tension on them than others (ex. double v-belts on older MOPARs with AC). Having the tensioner there makes me a bit lazy, but I guess works pretty well. I've gotten quite a bit more life out of the ones in the newer Corolla than on some older Toyotas that I used to have. Just changed one on a 2000 Corolla with about 137K miles on it - the guy said it was the original belt. He would have kept it in there if it wasn't sqeaking on him.

Also, I found the belt diagram online on the Gates belt website, popped them into my Photobucket site for reference:

8th gen Corolla with A/C

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/fis...ms/8thgenAC.jpg

8th gen Corolla without A/C

https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v620/fis.../8thgennoAC.jpg

Hope that helps.

Also, note that these are images should also apply to the 9th gen Corolla and Matrix as well - just verified looking at my Matrix, looks the same.

Looks fairly simple in the diagrams.