Spring Car Care Tips

Ever heard of the Serpentine Belt?

You know that long belt that snakes around the front of your engine? It’s called the serpentine belt. The best is driven by the engine as it turns. It powers your alternator, air conditioning compressor, and power steering pump. On some vehicles, it also runs the water pump, radiator fan, and power brakes. Sounds like a lot of important stuff doesn’t it?

If your serpentine belt were to break, your battery would die in a few miles. If it runs your fan or water pump, your engine could overheat. And steering and braking could be more difficult. Obviously, the best thing is to replace your serpentine belt before it breaks.

Check your owner’s manual for when it’s recommended to replace your serpentine belt—or just ask your Honest-1 service manager. He can inspect the belt as well to see if it’s in trouble. You may have been told to look for cracks in your belt to see if it needs to be replaced. Of course, cracks are still a concern, but modern belt material doesn’t crack as often as old belts did.

What we look for these days is the thickness of the belt. We have a special little tool that measures the depth of the grooves in the belt to see if it needs replacing. A worn belt can slip or be misaligned, putting undue stress on the accessories it runs.

Now you can imagine it’s important for the belt to be tight, so there’s a tensioner pulley on your engine that puts pressure on the belt to keep it at the right tension. The spring on the tensioner wears out over time so we recommend replacing the tensioner pulley at the same time as the serpentine belt. Replacing your serpentine belt on schedule, or when an inspection warrants it, will keep you from an unexpected breakdown. 

Inspection of all Belts and Hoses on your vehicle

 May 30, 2012

Your belts and hoses are basically the blood line to keeping your engine operating at its peak performance.  When a hose or a belt fails, can or will cause an engine to overheat, loss of power steering and loss of the electrical charging system.  When a hose leaks coolant or the main belt turning the water pump snaps, the entire cooling systems becomes inoperable. If you engine overheats, this could cause serious internal damage to the engine with a very expensive repair bill.

Check your Coolant and heater hoses

Hoses are the weakest part of the coolant systems structural components. Hoses are made of flexible rubber compounds so it can absorb vibrations between the engine and the radiator or the case of a heater hoses, the engine and the body’s firewall. Hoses are designed to hold coolant under high pressure; hoses will fluctuate with different extremes of heat, cold, dirt, oils and sludge.

One of the most common failures of hoses is called electrochemical degradation (ECD), not an easy thing to detect by many automotive experts. The main reason is the damage starts from inside the hoses, causing tiny cracks; acids and contaminants in the coolant can then weaken the yarn material that reinforces the hoses.  Eventually pinholes will develop or the weaken hoses will finally rupture from the intense heat, pressure or the constant flexing.

Basic Maintenance in preventing coolant hose failure

-Always check the coolant-recovery tank often ensures proper fluid level. You will see marks on the tank indicating the proper level of engine coolant when engine is either cold or hot. Keep an eye for white, light green or pink coolant traces in the engine bay, which is residue left from a leaking coolant

-When the engine is cool, squeeze the hoses with your thumb and forefinger near the clamps, this is where (ECD) mostly occurs. A good hose will have a nice firm but pliant feel to it.

-Inspect for cracks, bulges or nicks, do this when the engine is still hot.

-Check for parallel cracks around the bends, hardened glassy surface (heat damage) or it could be abrasive damage caused by hose rubbing.

-Always flushing your coolant system by follow the recommendation on your owner’s manual, this will definitely help prevent (ECD)

-NEVER remove the radiator cap when the engine is hot, also keep in mind that an electrical fan may come on at any time.

Some of the automotive experts suggest that all hoses should be replaced every four years as the compounds in the rubber have hardened and become weak from (ECD) and all the other factors we talked about. If you change your hoses, have your coolant system flushed and checked as recommended in your owner’s manual, you will save much grief and a lot of money on avoidable repairs to your vehicle.

Accessory belts on your vehicle

Many of the same damaging factors that attack and weakened your hose will also have similar effects on your belts, heat, oil ozone and abrasion. With today’s technology  almost every car or truck on the road have a single multi-grooved serpentine belt that operates the alternator, water pump, power-steering pump as well as your air conditioning compressor. The serpentine belt is rated to with stand a life expectation of approximately 36,000 miles or 57,600 klms. The crucial point of a serpentine belt is at 50,000 miles or 80,000 klms. These belts should be change when you see any signs of excessive wear, some of the composite belts don’t show any sign of wear until failure occurs.

Tips for Inspecting belts
-check for any visible cracks, fraying, or splits on the top cover.
-check for any signs of glazing on the belt's sides
-Glazed or slick belts can slip, overheat or crack.
-Also twist the serpentine belt to look for separating layers, cracks, or missing chunks of the groves on the underside of the belt.

When you do encounter any of the above factors you should have your serpentine belt replaced, the length and width  should be the same size. Serpentine belts are kept tight with an automatic tensioner. If you ever hear a loud high pitched whining, chirping or vibration noise, this is a sign your belt tensioner is failing and needs attention and in most case has to be replaced.

Automatic Tensioner
will keep your belt tight and running properly

RJ PICK UP SERVICE
241A Main Street North
Uxbridge, Ontario, L9P 1C3
Phone 905-852-4238
Email: rjpickupservice@hotmail.com
TIRECRAFT!!   We're driving towards a cure with every car we serviceshow your support and go pink!!

 Subscribe in a reader

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Pardon me, but is that your snake lying on the ground?

by Rob Hopp, Cars for Keeps Owner

The big black rubber band looking thingy, the black strip of rubber you see lying in the middle of a traffic lane, is not a snake; it's a "serpentine" belt.

Every time you see a broken drive belt lying on the ground at a stop light, you see the evidence that someone’s not going to get where they’re going today without some surprises.

When you see a belt on the ground do you wonder what would happen on your car? Do you wonder if your belt (or belts) are getting ready to do the same thing?

Well… Here are a few facts:

a. No belt is impervious to damage from a foreign object. Modern belts are much tougher though and have a more predictable life span. It’s worth noting that most modern vehicles also utilize protector panels keeping out sticks & stones & worse. If a minimum wage quickie lube guy left one off, would you know?

b. Due to the need for cooling, charging and most critically, power steering, most vehicles can’t run for long without a drive belt. The power steering pump is driven by a belt on the vast majority of vehicles, leaving the steering very stiff if the belt fails. Note that your steering won't fail, but to feel the difference, try turning your steering wheel without the engine running… Other reasons are cooling, as usually the water pump stops turning (all the hot coolant just sits still) and charging, because the alternator is no longer being driven, meaning all of the electricity your vehicle is coming directly from the battery which typically won't last long.

c. The belts are one of the more critical items we inspect during your regular pit stops. We follow clear performance and wear specifications to determine if the belt system has the best chance of reliably performing through till the next seasonal pit stop.

What could you expect if the same were to happen to you? The first thing you would probably notice is the battery or alternator warning light on your instrument panel, steering will suddenly become stiff, requiring significantly more effort to turn and the engine will start to run warmer than normal. While each situation is unique, the old standard of continuing the same direction as much as possible, finding the nearest place to pull off the road safely and then turn you heater up all the way before the temperature gets out of control (in winter to give you some cabin warmth you may need for a few minutes). Keep in mind, when the engine temperature gauge goes into the red, damage is occurring, the longer in red, the more lifespan is consumed. Too long and engine replacement is the only option. Don't hesitate to call for help, if you are unsure who to call, we hope you'll think of us (that card in the glovebox?) we'll be glad to guide you in getting the help you need.

The best thing to keep this from happening to you? Get regular maintenance inspections (not just a quickie lube). Our clients get our Seasonal Pit Stops free!