Drive Belt: Service and Repair

Important
^ Routine inspection of the belt may reveal cracks in the belt ribs. These cracks will not impair belt performance and therefore should not be considered a problem requiring belt replacement. However, the belt should be replaced if belt slip occurs or if sections of the belt ribs are missing.
^ A single (serpentine) belt is used to drive the generator and A/C compressor. They are rigidly mounted with belt tension maintained by a spring loaded tensioner. On vehicles not equipped with A/C, an idler pulley is used in place of the A/C compressor so that the. same drive belt can be used for both applications.
^ The drive belt tensioner has the ability to control belt tension over a fairly broad range of belt lengths. However, there are limits to the tensioner's ability to compensate for varying lengths of belts. With the tensioner outside of its operating range, the result can be poor tension control and/or damage to the tensioner.

Clean
^ If fraying of belt is noticed, check to make sure both the belt and tensioner assembly are properly aligned and that the belt edges are not in contact with the flanges of the generator or compressor pulleys.
^ If a whining noise is heard around tensioner or idler assemblies, check for possible bearing failure.

Serpentine Belt Routing:

Remove or install the serpentine drive belt by rotating tensioner as shown in the illustration.

CAUTION: To avoid personal injury when rotating the serpentine belt tensioner, use a tight fitting 13 mm wrench that is at least 61 cm (24") long.

This operation can be done using available tool J 37059 (or equivalent).