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Today I started my car and apon it firing up it made this immense screeching sound from under the bonnet. I use it everyday and its been running well until now.

I would imagine to screeching is a belt slipping under the hood. I ran the car for about 5 seconds and then tried again about 5 times; each time with the belt slipping. Once I had driven forward a few feet and moved the steering, pushed brakes etc, it settled and I drove it to the gym this evening with no probs.

Any idea exactly which belt this could be thats slipping, its got me worried as hell?

(tried to search for 'belts' 'drivebelts' etc but the search on this didnt come up with much....)

a belt slipping can be pretty serious if its not seen to after a while. When belts get old they end up cracking and breaking which will leave you stranded and you might have to get your car towed which is gunna cost you alot more than a $20 serpentine belt.

Your belt might just need adjusting. Find the longest span of a portion of the belt that is not on a pully, push it with your finger and it shouldnt deflect more than 8 to 9mm. If its out of spec you can simply adjust it by the belt adjusters(you have to loosen the tensioner pulley first)

But if your belt is serverly cracked or even chipped ull need to replace it. Or you could simply replace it now. (cheap insurance)

Thanks for the reply.

I didnt have any idea how much it would cost but went to my local garage today. The guy said it would cost £25 for a new belt and £20 to fit it which i thought sounded resonable. He wreckons he will have it don in a few hours

a few hours? are you talking about the timming belt or the serpentine belt?


presuming your car is standard and doesnt have a/c like mine does the belts( alternator and water/pwr steering pump) only took me max 30 min to change. If you only need to change your water/pwr steering pumps belt then it wont take as long seeing as you only have to loosen one tensioner. IIRC the alternator belt is behiond the other belt on the crank pulley so you will have to take off the water/pwr steering pump belt as well which wont take that long. If your mechanically inclined you could EASILY do this job your self its really easy. The one main thing you have to remember is how the old belts were routed cuz if you forget its gunna take you alot longer.

FYI, Dayco recommends that you chnage your belt if there are 4 or more cracks present in a 1 inch span of a serpentine belt.


now a few hours to do a timing belt is reasonable but it should NOT be slipping or your car will not run, so i dont know why your mechanic is saying a cupple hours.

turbine wrote:Thanks for the reply.

I didnt have any idea how much it would cost but went to my local garage today. The guy said it would cost £25 for a new belt and £20 to fit it which i thought sounded resonable. He wreckons he will have it don in a few hours

Ask the mech for the old belt. I keep a set of old belts in w/the spare tire. Handy for emer. replacement if one ever breaks on the road.