Gabish Posted July 15, 2003 Posted July 15, 2003 Hello all, I'm new here..and desperate for help. Recently my 95 ES300's a/c alt drive belt broke while starting my car, shredding the belt and causing a bunch of black dust to cover the inside of my car. Anyhoo, I cleaned all of that, and bought a new ac/alt drive belt for my car from autozone. The problem is, it doesn't fit! Not even close...the belt can manage to fit over two of the pulleys, but can never reach the third. The drive belt is supposed to wrap around both the a/c pulley alt pulley AND the power steering pulley right? If anyone has any idea what I'm talking about, please help.. thanks.
steviej Posted July 16, 2003 Posted July 16, 2003 return the belt to Autozone. Get your belt from Toyota or Lexus. Shouldn't be that much different in price. I have had multiple experiences with Autozone belts not fitting or not even being the right belt. If the belt is as little as 10 mm in length different is can travel off the pulley. There should be a diagram near the belts to show which goes to what and the threading of each belt. However, it may be faded. If the belt shredded, be sure the pulleys are clear and the tensioner didn't slip to allow the belt to "walk" off a pulley. This happens all to frequently. Belts get old too, they are rubber and can harden or crack. If you get it at Lexus, ask them to photocopy the diagram from the actual shop manual. If they won't, ask to speak to the parts manager and tell him you will take the business elsewhere. good luck. steviej
Gabish Posted July 17, 2003 Author Posted July 17, 2003 Thank you very much, I'll definately try doing that :) edit: By the way, is there anywhere I could order the actual lexus belt? Cause at the moment..I er uh..have no vehicle, and it'd probably be easy to just get it delivered to me if at all possible, thanks.
SKperformance Posted July 17, 2003 Posted July 17, 2003 i guesss first where are you located as to which dealer migth be closest and also the camry on for the same year is available and will fit from a toyota dealer if they are closer also check the LOC's vendors like lexus parts they mayy be able to express ship you one quickly
Gabish Posted July 17, 2003 Author Posted July 17, 2003 :chairshot: Well I just bought the belt from a local Toyota dealership..and it ended up the belt was the same size, and still does not fit, doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Would you happen to know how to loosen the pulley's a bit? I've heard you could, but from looking at it there aren't any obvious answers..bleh, thanks for all of the help.
amf1932 Posted July 17, 2003 Posted July 17, 2003 Are you sure that you loosened the alternator pivot and locking bolt and moved the alternator all the way in before you tried installing the new belt? If you didn't do this first than the new belt cannot be installed.:)
steviej Posted July 18, 2003 Posted July 18, 2003 help me out guys. a 95 also has the 1MZ-FE, right? Gabish, in all the belt mayhem, did you shred BOTH belts? I have an 02 with the 1MZ-FE and there is a big belt that goes around the center pulley, the A/C and the Alt. There is a smaller belt that is goes around the center pulley (inside of the AC/ALT belt) to the power steering pump. I may be reading too deep into your question but are you trying to put one belt on the center pulley, AC, ALT and the PS? steviej
SKperformance Posted July 18, 2003 Posted July 18, 2003 you can't just slip the new belt on it needs to have the alternator adjsutment screw bacekd up to give the new belt some play and slip on
Gabish Posted July 18, 2003 Author Posted July 18, 2003 Sorry..egh...I figured that since the old one broke it would be simple enough to just slip another on, I'm no mechanic as you can probably tell. And no, in all of the mayhem, the other did not shred..just the alt/ac. So is there anyway to describe what bolt needs to be loosened? I really don't have the money to get my car towed and worked on..it'd be a lot better if I could do this myself..being the poor college kid driving a lexus that I am.(yes it doesn't make sense). Thanks again for all the input guys..
SKperformance Posted July 18, 2003 Posted July 18, 2003 if you know what the alt is then look at its pully and right below it it has a long bolt and 2 nuts the nnuts need to be loosend first then back out the bolt which lowers the alt and its pully to create more space or for the belt just lenghten the bolt once it is slipped on usually it is about $30 to have the belt changed which might be a better idea or ask a local mechanic to do it at you house it is easy enough and they know it plus only 2 nuts and a bolt and maybe 5 minutes with the right experiance see if you over tighten it you can cause more problem than you could ever want
Gabish Posted July 21, 2003 Author Posted July 21, 2003 Ugh..ends up my a/c compressor locked up, which caused it to shred the belt in the first place...so firestone says it'll cost at least 950 dollars to get a new one installed and all. A sad ending to a sad story :(
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