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Broken serpantine belt?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by plantz, Sep 6, 2014.

  1. plantz

    plantz Junior Member

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    Has anyone ever had a serpentine belt break?

    My 2005 Prius has 132,000 miles on the original belt, so I thought it's probably due for replacement. I went to an independent garage to get an estimate ($80). But the owner said that he has never heard of one actually breaking. He said that they are reinforced with fiberglass, so they just don't break. He recommended that I look for missing chunks and listen for squealing.

    The dealer has been warning me about a cracked belt and leaking water pump for over two years, some 30K miles ago. I haven't lost any coolant, nor do I see any signs of water pump leakage since then. I've decided not to have the dealer work on my car.

    From some posted videos I see, it looks fairly straightforward to replace it myself. Not nearly as easy as when I replaced fan belts back in the 1950s and 60s (I worked in a gas station, and they did such things back in those days), but it doesn't look too bad.

    On the other hand, if I have the (independent, not the dealer) mechanic do it, and he determines that the water pump really does need replacement, I would save some money by having him do it at the same time he's doing the belt. I know that I don't want to replace the water pump myself. I do deserve to pamper myself a little bit at my age. :)
     
    #1 plantz, Sep 6, 2014
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    do the belt and the pump as well. you can inspect the inside of the belt for dry cracking, but at 132k, i would just replace it and the same with the water pump. then, no worries.(y)
     
    #2 bisco, Sep 6, 2014
  3. nh7o

    nh7o Off grid since 1980

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    When was the last coolant replacement? It should have been done at 100K miles. If that needs to be done as well, then you might as well do the lot. If you decide to have the work done, be aware that purging all the air out of the Prius engine coolant loop requires some additional attention to details. Plenty of help for that on this site. Also know that there are posts about Toyota mechanics not getting all the air out on the first try, so they are not necessarily the first choice.
     
    #3 nh7o, Sep 6, 2014
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