Today’s Willoughby Hills Auto Repair article focuses on your serpentine belt. Your serpentine belt is driven by the engine as it turns. It powers your alternator, air conditioning compressor and power steering pump. In some vehicles, power steering may have an electric drive and power brakes can be vacuum driven.
And, on many vehicles, the serpentine belt powers the water pump (on some cars, the water pump is powered by the timing belt).
Your Willoughby Hills Auto Repair service technician can perform a visual inspection of the belt to see if it has any cracks that signal the belt could fail soon. The technician will also measure the amount of belt material to make sure there is enough.
Willoughby Hills drivers should be aware that there’s a special, spring-loaded pulley attached to the engine called the tensioner pulley and sometimes an extra pulley call the idler pulley. Their job is to make sure there’s constant tension on the serpentine belt so that it doesn’t slip. The spring can become worn and no longer provide the necessary pressure to keep the belt tight. That’s why it’s often recommended that the tensioner, and the idler pulley if so equipped, be replaced at the same time as the serpentine belt.
All in all, the serpentine belt’s an important part for the function of your vehicle. And it’s not that expensive to replace at Willoughby Hills Auto Repair – so it’s good to do so before it fails.
At Willoughby Hills Auto Repair we install quality NAPA replacement parts.