way OT: serpentine belt questions for MGoMechanics
Sorry for a really OT post. My 3.5L 2006 Pontiac G6 V6 started rattling as I drove up a mountain tonight. I'm pretty sure it's the serpentine belt. I'm wondering if the MGoMechanics that've helped people out in the past can give me some advice.
From what I can gather online, the problem is likely to be either the belt itself or the tensioner. At least, these are the first things to replace to see if the noise goes away. What I can't figure out is how hard this is to do on my particular car. Is this something that can be tackled in a few hours by an amateur on this car, or should I just pay to have it replaced?
Also, I'm on said mountain, so I have to get down it to get to either a parts store or a repair shop. Is engine braking with a worn serpentine belt (if that's what it is) a particularly stupid idea? I.e., does engine braking put additional stress on the serpentine belt or related components, or is it all internal to the pistons/engine block/whatever? I'd rather not ride my brakes to get down since the pads are kind of low (planning on replacing them when I get home from this trip), but I'm guessing that having the rotors turned is cheaper than having the engine rebuilt.
Finally, I'd probably have to get up the mountain again to do the repair in the parking lot of the place I'm staying, unless it's so easy that I can do it in a parts store's parking lot. Is a rattle a sign of impending breakage, so that trying to come back up the mountain would be a bad idea, or is it a pretty early sign of trouble that can be safely ignored for a little while?
Thanks in advance for any advice, and sorry again for the OT post.
Kind of less OT: one of the nearby peaks is called Mount Wolverine.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:57 AM ^
Pay to have it fixed. The belt will be under pressure no matter what, it is the main belt on the vehicle; geneally hard to access and a knuckle-buster. Get it fixed by a mechanic.
August 14th, 2012 at 1:31 AM ^
August 14th, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
Jiffy Lube did it for about 80 bucks for me many moons ago
August 14th, 2012 at 2:21 AM ^
Things that increase accessory belt power use: Air conditioning, power steering, alternator, power brakes.
Engine braking does not affect the serpentine belt. Actually, braking with the brakes would increase belt power takeoff.
I've never heard of a serpentine belt rattling... usually it chatters and squeals.
August 14th, 2012 at 5:37 AM ^
I definitely agree with MaizeMN - as someone who, years ago, made the mistake of ignoring a worn serpentine belt only to have it rip away from the car on the freeway, I can say that this is one you'll definitely want to pay to replace. On many cars built in the past several years (perhaps also the G6), you're talking about removing things the fan shroud, air filter housing, the cover for the wheel well, and having to put the car on a jack stand to do all this to boot just to get at the belt and tensioner.
August 14th, 2012 at 6:27 AM ^
I have not done it on that particular vehicle, but I have on other GM v6s. It is not the most difficult job, but can be annoying. Use a big pair of channel locks to grab on to the tensioner and hold it in the loose position, then try to slide the belt off of one of the accessories. I dont know how worn your belt is, but you should be safe driving it to and from the store. The only thing you risk is losing power steering, air con, alternator, etc. Good luck.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:14 PM ^
Check the belt itself, check the tensioner--is it rattling/moving around? Turn the a/c on and off while listening for the sound--it could be the a/c clutch getting old causing the rattling. Typically you have to support the engine block with a jack from underneath the car, then remove the bolts holding the engine in place to slip the old belt off. The only hard part about this replacement is getting the tensioner tight. I had to use the lever on my jack to get the tensioner at the right angle to bolt it in. That part really sucked.
August 14th, 2012 at 1:00 PM ^
The only hard part about this replacement is getting the tensioner tight. I had to use the lever on my jack to get the tensioner at the right angle to bolt it in.
I would agree with this. I'm never going to be confused with a mechanic, but replacing the belt was a relatively simple task. Threading it was easy because there's enough belt to fit loosely around all the wheels until you put the tensioner back in place. (I certainly never had to take the engine bolts out.) And while my car was about 11 years older than the OP's G6, it was a GM 3.5L V6, so I would bet the configuration isn't especially different.
Once I had figured out what was wrong and what parts I needed and had a fair idea how to fix it, the whole operation took about 45 minutes. At least half that was spent tightening the tensioner, because it's not optimally placed. Had no idea there were special tools to do so - I did it with my torque wrench. It was good enough to get me back on the road where I was going, and then back home three weeks later, at which point I enlisted some help further tightening it (still not from a mechanic though.) Only cost to me was about $30, for a new belt and tensioner since the old one was destroyed. This is why I'm not buying the mechanic advice. It can be done if the engine configuration lets you in to do it. Only reason I'd recommend a mechanic for this is if you have to take too much stuff out in order to reach the belt. Otherwise it can be a DIY project, and BTW, as a result of this experience, a spare serpentine belt is now part of my car's emergency kit.
August 14th, 2012 at 10:42 PM ^
possibly located between Rosamond CA and Gorman CA? If so, flee immediately---you don't want to be another victim of Billy the Mountain!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_the_Mountain#Story
(edit)"The moral of the story is stated in song: "a mountain is something you don't want to fuck with, don't fuck around." '
August 15th, 2012 at 12:55 PM ^
Mount Wolverine was a hint :-)
August 14th, 2012 at 6:41 AM ^
Not to thread jack, while we're talking about cars (and it looks like the mgoMechanics answered the OPs question pretty well):
My 2000 Dodge Intrepid has been making a whistling noise, almost like a tea pot at times when I've been driving. Most of the time it starts at highway speeds, and seems to stop briefly when I touch the brakes. Sometimes it keeps going for a few seconds even after I turn the car off. I'm pretty certain it is a vacuum seal leak. Is this something serious, and should I have it repaired immediately, or can I just ignore it until I get rid of the car fairly soon? I don't want to keep putting money into this car, as the value of it is pretty low and it's not really worth it at this point.
EDIT: The car still drives fine, no rough idling or anything like that. I just don't want this to blow up in my face when I'm driving to work or something.
August 14th, 2012 at 8:29 AM ^
August 14th, 2012 at 8:45 AM ^
I ran into this exact same problem with my wife's '99 Chevy Malibu. On her car, there was a little rubber stopper that plugged the vaccuum seal, and it had a crack in it, so the air was escaping through the crack. Being the cheapos we are, I just covered the hole up with some electrical tape, and it's been fine since. It was located pretty conveniently too, right in front of the engine block, so it was a snap.
Take that with a grain of salt though, because I am far from even being an amateur. I'm an amateur amateur. But it's worked for us.
August 14th, 2012 at 6:49 AM ^
This thread is hilarious. I'm not sure if you're properly describing the noise, but I've never heard of rattling being associated with a serpentine belt. If your S belt is worn out, the only way you'll know is by looking at it and seeing cracks and/or chipped off pieces. A worn serpentine belt doesn't sound any different than a new one. You have something entirely different going on.
August 14th, 2012 at 7:35 AM ^
August 15th, 2012 at 3:38 PM ^
It definitely could be the bearing in the idler pulley, but again, that has nothing to do with the serpentine belt being worn out. The ONLY way to tell if the S belt is worn is if it breaks (obviously), or by looking at it.
August 15th, 2012 at 12:56 PM ^
it must be hard to remember all the stuff you know, but it turns out the stupid thing was dirty. wiped it off. no more rattle. you may now go downvote this stupid thread i wasted your time with.
August 14th, 2012 at 7:49 AM ^
sounds like there's no hope..... I'd just take it to the junk yard!
/s
I have a friend who's pretty handy, and he's replaced it himself. but he's also pretty handy. I'd take it in. I had a tensioner break before, not a cool experience. I recommend getting it fixed ASAP.
August 14th, 2012 at 8:32 AM ^
August 14th, 2012 at 8:46 AM ^
I dealt with a serpentine belt problem on my old car (a 95 Olds) lo these many moons ago. I will tell you this: there was no rattling or advance warning. The bearings in the tensioner seized up, causing it to stop turning, which overheated and shredded the belt. The car remained driveable, I just did not have power steering (or power anything.) I didn't realize what was happening until the power steering went out.
I do not think you would have a problem driving the car to a parts store. I drove the car (carefully) to a hotel for the night and the parts store the next day without issue. I don't think I would go hurtling down the freeway, but surface streets are OK. You should be safe engine-braking the car down the hill - the belt is turned by the engine and is used to generate electricity from the engine's output. Be mindful that without the serpentine belt, the engine isn't charging the battery so you ARE at risk of running it down. But the main point is, you can't hurt the engine by running it without the belt.
You need to pop the hood and inspect the belt yourself. The car's manual should tell you where it is and what it loops around and how to thread it. Mine did. Rattling could simply be caused by a loose tensioner, causing the belt to flap around. If you still have power steering, though, it's not a belt problem.
It MAY be possible to fix yourself. I did and had no further problems with the belt. I was lucky, the belt was relatively accessible and I didn't have to move very much out of the way. If you have a torque wrench set and some basic screwdrivers, and you always should, depending on the belt's accessibility you might not need to shell out to fix it, but either way you should inspect it yourself and determine if you can do it.
August 14th, 2012 at 10:41 AM ^
The only caveat here is that the serpentine belt frequently runs the water pump. So, no belt, no cooling. I'm not sure how far you can drive without overheating the engine and doing serious damage. If the belt breaks, keep a close eye on the temp gauge and don't push it.
August 15th, 2012 at 1:09 PM ^
it's good to know exactly what the serpentine belt does. sounds like (since i have free towing with AAA and 2 weeks to get back to michigan from utah) i can, with some care, drive the thing until/unless symptoms return, since the worse case scenario seems to be that i have to pull over and get a tow.
August 14th, 2012 at 8:53 AM ^
The right tools are your friend my friend. If you think you can do it by yourself go to your local auto parts place, buy new belt, borrow free belt tensioner bar tool. Most places loan tools with only a driver license necessary. There is a special tool for the serpentine belts and it makes the job soooooooo easy. At the least you will save $20 bucks on the price of the belt when you take it to the mechanic so they can't jack up the price.
The reason they only charge $80-100 bucks is it literally only takes them about 10 minutes because they have the right tool.
August 15th, 2012 at 1:02 PM ^
it's amazing how easy basic car repairs are with the right tools. if the problem returns (see above), i'll do it myself if i'm at home with my tools. (i assume more tools than just the belt tensioner are required.)
August 14th, 2012 at 9:11 AM ^
It's worked out pretty well for me, especially with auto related stuff. (I'm pretty handy, have plenty of tools, etc)
I would take it to a shop and have them do it. May cost a bit more, but they can do it quicker. The last thing you want to do is get the parts off and not finish/fix it AND then take it to a shop. Mechanics LOVE fixing mistakes made by DIY'ers - they get to charge more to fix it correctly!
August 14th, 2012 at 11:37 AM ^
Your grandfathers are rolling over in their graves. "If you have to ask how to do something you can't"? Really? How many of us know how to do something the first time? You will bust your knuckles and will have a hard time doing it but next time you will know how. We are talking about changing a belt not rebuilding a transmission. Release the tensioner and put a new belt on. I also think that a rattling sound might be the tensioner. I have had them go out on a GM V-6 because it was a pice of plastic with a bearing in it. The replacement was built better. There is always a diagram for how to run the belt.
August 14th, 2012 at 12:17 PM ^
stay off the lawn!
August 15th, 2012 at 12:58 PM ^
i have to ask how to do everything because, y'know, they don't exactly tell kids who are michigan-bound to take shop classes in high school. but it's really not that hard. i realized one day that most things that people with GEDs can routinely do is well within my powers. (that's arrogant, but hey, michigan.) everything is easy with the right tools, anyway.
Finally, I figured out everything about serpentine belts. Thanks a lot
March 30th, 2020 at 10:24 AM ^
When it comes to the serpentine belt, I find it very cool. Personally, I want to have it in my car. I came to the conclusion that this is a necessary thing and I have read of Gates serpentine belt on iasecon.net website. So, now I want where to buy it.