1989 Prado Faulty Drive Belt

[PaulW]

 

My 1989 Prado 3.4L petrol recently developed an annoying fan belt squeak.
I had replaced all the drivebelts only 12 months ago and the car had done very few km since.

I checked the tension on all 3 drivebelts and they were fine. I tried all the usual tests such as spaying water and belt dressing on the belts to no avail.

I also listened for bearing noises in the various driven components such as the alternator.

As a last resort I decided to remove all the drive belts to inspect them and the various pulleys.

This is a real PITA as you have to remove the stone-guards under the car and undo 3 lots of belt tensioners.

What I found was a section of grooved belt missing on the alternator belt, see photos below.

 

 

 

I took the belt back to Repco who replaced it immediately even though it was well outside the warranty period.
They thought it was a manufacturing fault.

Regards

Paul

Edited September 8, 2021 by PaulW
Spelling correction

[campbeam]

1 hour ago, PaulW said:

This is a real PITA as you have to remove the stone-guards under the car and undo 3 lots of belt tensioners.

What I found was a section of grooved belt missing on the alternator belt, see photos below.

3 belt tensioners certainly qualifies for the PITA award.

Good customer service from Repco to replace the belt. It certainly is an unexpected manufacturing defect.

I am using Aerospace 303 Protectant as a belt dressing. This post has just reminded me to give the serpentine belt on my vehicles a follow up spray.

I bought a replacement serpentine belt for the girlfriend's car and it is still in a plastic bag after being given a treatment.

Located this YouTube video that may be relevant as a preventative maintenance item.

 

[Tony Prodigy]

3 hours ago, campbeam said:

3 belt tensioners certainly qualifies for the PITA award.

Yep. The 5VZ-FE has three seperate belts, hence three seperate tensioners. All of which are the tradional old school threaded bolts in slide plates. Best to spray them with penetration fluid before attempting to loosen the main tensioner bolt as they have a tendency to seize and potentially snap if you're too vigorous in your removal application 😄

Luckily enough on these cars, the engine is North-South and clearance is a plenty, unlike the 2GR-FE which is a proper PIA as you all know..

Here's a video I found by the lovely "Faye". Enjoy fellas.. She's really cute😜

 

 

Edited September 8, 2021 by Tony Prodigy

[PaulW]

4 hours ago, Tony Prodigy said:

Yep. The 5VZ-FE has three seperate belts, hence three seperate tensioners. All of which are the tradional old school threaded bolts in slide plates. Best to spray them with penetration fluid before attempting to loosen the main tensioner bolt as they have a tendency to seize and potentially snap if you're too vigorous in your removal application 😄

I can confirm the "tendency to seize and potentially snap" as this happened on my Prado.

I omitted some detail in the original posting to keep it short. 
The bolts retaining the stone-guards were rusted in and heads rounded off. I could not get the guards off so I took the car to a local garage (this is before I had my own hoist installed). They removed the bolts and offered to install the belts at the same time. I supplied the belts and left it with them.

When I came to pick the car up they explained that the A/C tensioner was that badly seized that it snapped off. The belt was then tensioned the old fashioned way by using a lever.

I used the same method to tension the A/C belts when I recently replaced the faulty alternator belt.
One day I will replace the A/C belt tensioner but it looks to be a major job.

[ablaeh]

On 9/8/2021 at 7:17 PM, campbeam said:

3 belt tensioners certainly qualifies for the PITA award.

Good customer service from Repco to replace the belt. It certainly is an unexpected manufacturing defect.

I am using Aerospace 303 Protectant as a belt dressing. This post has just reminded me to give the serpentine belt on my vehicles a follow up spray.

I bought a replacement serpentine belt for the girlfriend's car and it is still in a plastic bag after being given a treatment.

Located this YouTube video that may be relevant as a preventative maintenance item.

 

Save money on expensive technician bills by supplanting your own drive belt. Before you start, visit your neighborhood Supercheap Auto to get a substitution belt.

 

192.168.100.1 192.168.1

Edited May 21, 2022 by ablaeh

[Tony Prodigy]

10 hours ago, ablaeh said:

Save money on expensive technician bills by supplanting your own drive belt. Before you start, visit your neighborhood Supercheap Auto to get a substitution belt.

 

192.168.100.1 192.168.1

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