I have a 02 with 65K miles and was wondering if there was a writeup on how to change the drive belt, and where is the cheapest place to get the belt?

Btw, I tried using the search but I didn't find what I was looking for.

TIA

 

bump.. i need to do this too

 

It's pretty simple. Take a 14mm wrench and put it on the tensioner bolt, pull the tensioner away from the belt, and take the belt off. Re-route the belt like it came off.

 

You may need to remove the stock airbox to get some room to work, but it really IS that simple.

 

Why are you replacing the belt with only 65,000 miles on the car? Is it in bad shape? I've got nearly twice as many miles and I'm still on the original belt. I had it off the other day while replacing the thermostat and it shows virtually no signs of wear or cracking.

 

Probably just doing preventative maintenance. Guessing they do stretch with age and the rubber becomes more brittle.

 

There's wear indicators on the tensioner, to show if the belt is stretched.

Don't be a cheapskate and look for a crap belt. Go to the dealer and get an OEM belt. I hope I don't need to explain myself here and show you why

 

As billman stated, there's an indicator mark on the tensioner to show if the belt is stretched. And you can visually inspect the grooved side of the belt for any deteriation. The reason I asked why replace it was to find out if the original poster did actually have any stretching or wear. If so, at only 65,000 miles, that would indicate a bigger problem that might not be solved by replacing the belt.

 

At what mileage does the owner's manual say to change the belt? I don't have the thing handy right now (and I'll probably forget to check later).

Warren

 

What do the indicators look like, and where is the tensioner located? (Sorry, this is the first car I'm working on)

Also, I thought it was a given that I was going to get an OEM belt, I was just wondering if there's any place online I can get it rather than pay double and buy it from the dealer.

I was only asking about the drive belt because I recently purchased my S2K and it says in the manual that it should be inspected every 2 years, and since my car is a 2002 and it's almost 06 I figured it's time to change it, I didn't know there are indicators.