dhortz214

i have a 2000 acura tl and one night i just lost some power and the car wont start. at first i thought it was the battery and then when i got the battery charge it did the same thing and looked at the alternator, the belts where all missing.on the right side of the car all the belts are present, while the left side has none. is there also other parts of the car i should check that could have been damage when the belts came loose. does any know the parts number or the name of the belt so i can search. can anyone scan me a copy of their service manual for replacing the ac/alternator belt. im still debating on doing it myself or going to a proffesional. thanks guys

dhortz214

fsttyms1

Id just go to a parts store and get both belts to replace. Both are easy, the Power Steering belt requires you to remove the bolt for the side motor mount to slide it past (you dont need to support any thing) Just be careful not to over tighten the PS belt or you can damage the bearing in the ps pump. The serpentine belt (the one that broke) you just put a wrench on the tensioner and pull/push to release tension on it to get the belt on all the pulleys. Shouldnt take more than a hr for the first timer.

dhortz214

thanks for responding.
is this the belt im looking for?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...TQ:MOTORS:1123
hopefully ther is a guide or a scan of replacing the belt.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

^ Yep, those are it.

Serpentine belt



PS pump belt (first picture is same as removing serpentine belt in those ^ instructions)

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

As fsttyms said, you'll need to remove bolt on side motor mount to get the PS belt off.

dhortz214

thank you so much handycpdt. those and very helpful and now i can i finally order the belt. i guess i should do it myself rather than going to the dealer. i guess they didnt do a good job since its been only a year and less than 10,000 miles has been added to the car and the belt broke already. is there any special tools i need and that i should rent at autozone. thanks again.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

No problem, we're here to help.

No special tools, just a ratchet set. And maybe a breaker bar or a pipe over the ratchet for leverage.

fsttyms1

Nothing special is needed. Just pick up your belts at autozone while you are there. No need ordering them. They should have them.

acutee

The Gator belts will be as good, no need to order them for that much; one belt for 38 bucks, yuck.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

^ That's for both belts.

But I agree, no sense in ordering belts and waiting. Gates or Gator belts from auto parts store are as good, probably even better than OEM.

fsttyms1

dhortz214

thanks for the help again, glad i didnt order the parts yet.hopefully its a better quality than the oem that broke. thanks guys

dhortz214

i just got done installing the belt, i bought the gates belt from oreilly auto but its loose and i check online and its the right belt. also the red part i circled doesnt look the same in the blue one i circled, its top part is like made of rubber while the others where metal so i find that odd. can someone also confirm that this is normal.

dhortz214

i went and bought another belt, it is made by dayco and its a bit smaller than the gates belt but its still loose. am i doing something wrong? is there something i need to adjust

dhortz214

bump

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

How loose are we talking here? Can you take a pic?

And also the red part is the crank pulley, it doesn't look like the other pulleys (in blue). That's normal.

dhortz214

just loose enough that the auto tensioner doesnt even touch it, i didnt even adjust the tensioner i when i put it on, i already bought an oem belt. what i meant in the crank pulley is that it has no treadmarks or that railway kinda thing that you put on the belt. its just rubber. im thinking the belt might slip again.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

That's normal for the crank pulley. The tensioner and the other 2 pulleys are there, it won't slip.

And that is weird that 2 aftermarket belts don't fit. Let us know if OEM works.

dhortz214

the oem is the same size as the others, i tried it on and i still dont even have to move the tensioner, i can put them on easily but loose that the tensioner is barely touching it. what else would i check? is there other things i need to do besides moving the tensioner to tighten it.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

Can you take pics? It might be that you have the belts on in the wrong way. Meaning the wrong serpentine pattern. If that makes any sense...

But seriously, upload some pics of how you have it now. OEM should fit perfectly.

TLer trash

The only other thing I can think of is the tensioner. Does it move freely through it's complete travel? I've seen some stick in one position. You didn't by any chance loosen the tensioner mounting bolt while the belt was under tension. If so, you might have sheared off an indexing tab. [if it has one]

dhortz214

i had a mechanic check and he said theres no harmonic balancer and the crank shaft pulley came off and all of it left is rubber. thats what i was describing before. anyway im going to take some pic just to be sure.

TLer trash

Sounds like mystery solved to me. Get a crank pulley!!! You might consider an aluminum one from one of our vendors. I haven't priced one from the dealer; you might get a performance upgrade and save money too. I do have to say however, if you didn't notice this you should get someone with a little more experience to help you for a while.

hANDYcaptd

iTrader: (5)

Agreed 100%. I'm still wondering how the crank pulley came off...

Oh and the stock pulley is $77 on acuraautomotive; cheaper than the lightweight. You can sometimes get lightweight pulley cheaper on BM though.

dhortz214

dhortz214

so the harmonic balancer and crankshaft pulley are the same thing? is it too hard to do? bec. im trying to save cost, i can do simple remove and put back. can anyone give me a link for cheapest place i can buy from? if i get a light weight for cheap, do i need to change to another size belt and would you recommend buying used or ebay? thanks