cracks in drive belt

I suppose you could ask them to show you the belt and the cracks. If there are indeed cracks I would change the belt.

Yes engine oil change should include oil filter change.

Good luck!

 

Hi Laura,

It is likely that the serpentine (aka drive) belt has cracks in it since your car is six years old. It would be good preventive maintenance practice to replace it now since, if the belt breaks, the engine water pump will stop turning, the engine will quickly overheat, and you will be dead on the side of the road.

It is a bad assumption to think that the belt would have been replaced when you bought the car one year ago. If you were lucky, the engine oil, oil filter, and engine air filter would have been changed and the engine compartment steam-cleaned for cosmetic reasons. That's about all you can hope for.

Regarding the engine and cabin air filters, they should be replaced at least at 30K mile intervals. It is really easy to remove both filters so that you can assess whether they need to be replaced or not (do a search if you need to learn how.)

Regarding the engine air filter, the dirty side is on the bottom so you need to remove the filter to see what it looks like. Hold the filter up to the sun. If you cannot see sunlight coming through, then replace the filter.

Regarding the cabin air filter, the criteria is whether you can stand to breathe through the dirt and leaves that have accumulated on it, or not. In severe cases the ventilation system will show impairment such as reduced air flow and fogging up even when the outside air vent is open.

 

There is one drive belt that costs around $15 (maybe $22 MSRP) and it should take one hour of labor time or less.

So I would say $190 is not a fair price. If you have independents in your area that work on Toyota cars, call around and see what they can do for you.

 

its not really the drivebelt..
its just one small belt that drive's the oil pump.
there is no drivebelt like in other cars in the prius so 190 dollar is more in line with the drivebelt in other cars and not the prius.

 

Dear friends,

The serpentine drive belt spins the engine water pump. Not the oil pump.

Work done by an independent shop would void your warranty only if a problem can be attributed to the work the shop did. For example, they replace the serpentine drive belt but do a poor job so the belt falls off the pulleys, your engine overheats and seizes, and you try to file a claim under your 5 year/60K mile drivetrain warranty. In that case Toyota would reasonably tell you to pound sand.

 

Sorry to hear that - I've seen similar problems with female friends going alone into a shop. Terrible business practice - boycot any that do that! And tell all your friends!

I have my oil changed at an oil change shop. They check the air filter and will change one for free if I bring it in (they don't usually stock one to fit the Prius). Be sure to keep all records of changes for warranty purposes. Toyota can't void your warranty for going to an independent oil shop (again, like has been mentioned, only if they left the oil out or something and killed the engine, in which case it would be their insurance to cover it, not Toyota).

Personally, I wouldn't pay $190 for a belt change. I also wouldn't go back to that shop if I were in your place. You might ask friends where they get their oil changes. Maybe you can find a more "gender neutral" shop.

If you were in Colorado I'd send you to my son-in-law's shop - he tends to give the ladies a break because so many get that treatment, and he gets their business and their friend's business for being fair. He also has a female mechanic, a graduate of the NASCAR mechanic school. I believe she will be leavng come summer as she has a new job on a NASCAR team!

 

I personally think that $190 is excessive, but I do this work myself. The experienced Toyota tech probably takes 30 minutes or less to change the belt.

Any Toyota dealer's service dept can be used. Hopefully you'll find one in your area that is fair and reasonable.

You may find it is worth your time to learn how to DIY simple things such as filter replacement - unless you are earning income at the rate of $16 per minute (using your example above.) This is ~$1K per hour.

 

Yes I believe all Toyota dealers have the obligation to do warranty work on Toyota cars. You may also look up the Car Talk website for independent mechanics that other people recommend. If you have several dealers to choose from you may e-mail them to get quotes before going. Good luck!

 

I bought my now 17 year old Honda used about 6 years ago. When I purchased it, from a Honda Dealer, it had the "fabled" 30pt inspection, of course everything was marked that it was in excellent shape. Less than a month later I bring it in for a service and they come out and start telling me about the 10-20 things it needs immediately, including brake pads. Which were part of the supposed "inspection". When I complained that supposedly many of these items were checked and how could they go from "Excellent" to "Bad" in less than a month when the only thing that had changed was that I had bought the automobile, they suddenly started to back track severely. Suddenly it didn't need all the things they had marked and I even got a free brake job out of it.

My only advice being sometimes if you've just bought a used car from a dealer and then they try to soak you for repairs, you might complain...the squeaky used wheel gets the grease. You've got nothing to lose.

 

My belt went over 100,000 miles and is still good, albeit I
don't live in FL where there's more heat on rubber parts. I changed
it anyway and documented it and have the old one as a
spare; it's quite easy to do with basic tools and Toyota is totally
talking out their butts trying to tell you the labor costs that much.
.
I'm convinced that running that belt too tight is primarily
responsible for short life. It only has to run the water pump, it's
not carrying any serious power and really only has to be tight
enough to stay on the pulleys plus just a little bit. Tight
belts will also wear water pump and idler bearings prematurely.
.
_H*

 

Since you don't have the Scheduled Maintenance Guide that came with the car originally, see the link below for Toyota's recommended regular maintenance items.
Toyota Parts and Service

 

Re: cracks in drive belt/dealership update

Thanks for keeping us updated and if you are willing to spend the time you can go to DealerRater.com - Car Dealer Reviews, Car Dealer Directory, FREE Dealership Classified Ads to write about your experience with the dealer. Have fun!

 

We took 2005 Prius to dealer for recall work and wheel alignment. We were told there were cracks in the drive belt and given an estimate of $175 to replace it.
After reading this thread, I called Jim, the independant mechanic I usually go to ( we've been doing every 3rd Maintenence at the Dealer and the rest to Jim's shop). Jim looked it up and gave me an estimate of $85 to replace the belt. He ordered the belt for us.

Thank you for useful thread.