Last year as I was driving my parents car which in retrospect is a great 1999 Ford Taurus that has never had anything major wrong with it up to this point I suddenly began to hear a loud squealing sound coming from under the hood, which can only be described as sounding exactly like one of the belts was literally screaming at me to pull over…and right now, please.

Since I was travelling on a 4 lane, one-way road in the middle of a town in Iowa, finding a place to pull over was going to be a little tricky and would take at least a few minutes.  As my daughter was looking for a convenient side road or parking lot for us to ease into, the Taurus had other ideas (and no doubt a mind of its’ own) because no sooner had I managed to maneuver into the far right lane, when the power steering went out.  Thankfully, there was a college entrance less than a few yards up ahead.  Cranking the steering wheel to make the right hand turn into the college entrance proved to be somewhat difficult, but I managed it and was thankful there wasn’t another car heading out or I would have surely hit it.

After I pulled the car into the desolated parking lot (it was Saturday), I turned off the ignition, popped the hood and noticed my serpentine belt was mangled, broken and flopped over the top of the engine like a dead snake.

What is a serpentine belt and why is it important?

The serpentine belt (named as such because of the way it “snakes” around pulleys) controls the power steering pump, alternator and battery, air conditioning and water pump, so when it breaks, you’re really at the mercy of a tow truck because basically you’ve got nothing left to get you where you need to go.   I called a tow truck from my daughter’s cell phone and then called my son who was nice enough to give us a ride home.

Replacing a serpentine belt is easy when you have the correct tools like a serpentine belt tool made especially for this purpose – and without this tool, I would suggest leaving it up to the professionals. By all means though, if you’d like to take a crack at it yourself (with the tool or without), please don’t hesitate to try, but if you’re new to cars, this is probably a project best left to your local mechanic. On the other hand, how are you ever going to learn what a serpentine belt looks like and why it’s important, if you don’t get your hands dirty?  Even if you never change it yourself, you should at least inspect the belt every month for signs of wear, cracks, frays, holes and missing chunks and if it looks like it’s seen better days, have it replaced right away. Remember there are various procedures for removing and installing a new belt, depending on the make, model and year of your vehicle, so be certain to consult your auto manual for important information before beginning to do it yourself. 

• The belt will run you approximately $50.00 or so.  The belt is going to wrap around several pulleys, so you’ll need to consult the belt map, which is located in the manual for your vehicle (there may be a diagram under the hood of the car, as well). 

• Remove the old belt by rotating the idler or spring load tensioner out of the way. You can do this by using a socket wrench with the correct size socket and rotate counter-clockwise, relieving the tension on the belt, which will make it easy for removal.  A Serpentine belt tool has an extension which adjusts to get into hard to reach areas and releases tension on serpentine belts with a spring loaded idler pulley.

• To install the new belt, just reverse the procedure.

• Make certain to get the right size belt for your vehicle. If the belt is too long, you can’t wrap it around any extra parts and hope for the best and if it’s too short, it’s not going to fit no matter how hard you pull and tug.   

• Remember that replacing the serpentine belt takes time and you may have to try it a few times before you get it right, making certain to get the belt around all pulleys, but it can be done.

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