[wolph69]

frankh21, there are wear marks on the idler pulley for the serpentine belt. They are right in the front so you can tell how much wear your belt has on it. Basically, as it wears and stretched the tensioner moves and the tick mark gets closer to the "replace me" mark. They aren't hard to find but if you want a pic I can post one.

 

[frankh21]

[quote author=wolph69 link=topic=163197.msg3534376#msg3534376 date=1265515934]
frankh21, there are wear marks on the idler pulley for the serpentine belt. They are right in the front so you can tell how much wear your belt has on it. Basically, as it wears and stretched the tensioner moves and the tick mark gets closer to the "replace me" mark. They aren't hard to find but if you want a pic I can post one.
[/quote]

Wolph69, that would be awesome! I see the marks but which mark is the "time to change me mark".

Thanks

 

[wolph69]

the closer it is to the bottom mark the more stretched out the belt it. When you loosen the tensioner that mark should move upwards and when you put a new belt it should be alot farther away from that bottom mark. (new belt is slightly shorter because no wear)

 

[brawndo]

Just replaced my serpentine belt, not A/C, but let me add 2 things.

1.) On my car (2004 2.3), right above the pulley on the a/c, there was a stud that the a/c compressor hung on once the bolts were out, gave me just enough play to get the belt on. I used the jack method to get the compressor lined back up.

2.) One of the four bolts is longer than the others - pay attention to where it came from; for my car, it was the bolt closest to the front on the driver's side.

Great write up, thanks again.

 

[mzd3silver]

I am looking to replace those belts too.

I have a 2004 2.3l.
I found the following prices from finish line Rozental.

12/07/2010
Drive Belt 2.3L Auto Trans - L372-15-909A-9U - $21.95
A/C Belt - LF50-15-908A - $15.95

I believe those are stock.
Any other sources?

 

[jadekins]

mzd3silver,

picked up a set for my 04 2.3L
a/c: LF50-15-908A
Drive belt: L372-15-909A-9U

 

[incarceration]

I just did this job in less than 2 hours (it was my first time). I replaced both the AC Belt and the Serpentine Belt.

First I'd like to note I did NOT need to use a tool or a jig and I did NOT need to loosen or remove the AC Compressor.

This is how I did it from start to finish:
1. Drove vehicle up on front ramps
2. Opened the hood and disconnected the negative (-) terminal
3. Removed vehicle underskirt
4. Removed the cover attached to the AC compressor
5. Cut the AC belt with a pair of bolt cutters (I didn’t know if it would pop and snap me in the face so I picked something that I knew would cut it and that would have long arms to give me distance)
6. Released tension with socket wrench on the tension pully
7. Removed Serpentine belt
8. Install new Serpentine belt
*Now the fun part*
9. Put on the AC belt around the pulley attached to the AC compressor ONLY. I put it completely around the AC pulley as much as I could and the same for the pulley attached to the other end as much as possible on the RIGHT side
10. I put my finger along the RIGHT side on the belt as I turned the pulley with my long tool that I use to loosen the lug nuts on my tires
11. Eventually the belt slipped on
12. Verified the belt was in the proper grooves for both the AC belt and the Serpentine belt
13. Put everything back together (cover over the AC compressor, vehicle underskirt, negative battery terminal, and battery cover)

I did run into a snag, because I was kind of doing it as I went along while making sure not to damage either belt (primarily the AC belt). I had not been watching the belt turn on the AC compressor and it slipped up and went a tad on the side of the pulley after it was slipped into place on the end with the Serpentine belt. To fix this I just went in reverse with the old belt I cut going between the new AC belt and the pulley and it just slipped into place (making a half-full rotation to get the cut belt from under the new belt that's going around the pulley to prevent it from digging into the new belt)

I hope this helps, sorry I didn’t take any pictures but if anyone would like I can try to later if absoloutely necessary. I found out after getting down there that neither belt really needed to be changed; the only reason I did it was because I started hearing the slipping noise every now and then when accelerating. My vehicle has ~53,000miles on it and it’s a 2006 Mazda 3 S 2.3L

 

[vol245]

I decided to replace the belts on my '04 3 hatchback with 130k. The belts still looked good. I just thought with 6+ years and 130k it may be a good idea to replace them. My son drives the car now and I don't need him getting stranded somewhere due to the belts. I bought Gates belts, a tensioner and an a/c belt installation tool from Rock Auto. The installation tool for the a/c belt was useless. There is no place I could find to use it.

I was able to get the new tensioner and serpentine belt on very easily. I had a lot of problems with the a/c belt. I failed the first time and waited about a month before trying again. I did it today by unbolting the compressor. I was able to get the belt on both pullies easily. The tough part was getting all four bolts back into the compressor. I used a floor jack and was able to get the two bolts toward the front of the car in very easily. The other two bolts were extremely difficult to get line up. I must have moved the jack around 50 times trying different angles. I also used a big screwdriver to pry it into alignment. I was pushing on the oil sump and was very careful doing that. It is aluminum and could have broke if I pushed too hard. Eventually I got it done. I'm not sure if I will ever replace those belts again. Maybe in six more years.

A couple things that may help others. Three of the four bolts that hold the compressor on are the same length and one is longer. The longer one on my car was on the passenger side (close to the right front wheel) toward the rear. I didn't have a 12mm deep socket so I used a 12mm wrench which worked just fine. One of the four bolts was a little loose when I was removing them. I will check them when I'm changing the oil in the future.

Thanks for the tip on using a floor jack to get the a/c belt on. I never would have thought of that. These car forums are very handy.

 

[MichaelFuller]

Thanks!
I'm nearing 150K miles and am going to do this soon!

 

[mzd3silver]

I finally replaced the belts on my mzd3-04-2.3l (bought the belt in December).

I had to use a jack to install the AC belt. I could not line up the AC compressor by hand.

Without using a jack I could align the compressor to put in one or two bolts but not the others.

I was tempted to put a couple of bolt and tighten those to help the allignment but I did not do that.
I was concerned that too much force could damage the thread (aluminum).
Instead I used a jack with a piece of wood on the back of the compressor to convince it to get alligned to have at least 3 bolts in.
That worked ok after two tries.
The AC belt probably streched a little in the process.
I am not sure if I had a better angle on the second try or if the belt was simply more streched.

BTW I did not have to cut the original AC belt. I could remove it without dammage.
The AC belt was ok.
So there is a way to replace the serpentine belt and re-use the old AC belt.

The pros is that you save $15 and it's probably much easier to put back the old AC belt as it is already streched.
The cons is that you have an old AC belt.

 

[Ramza21]

I had some one tell me that installing the a/c belt does not require taking off the compressor instead he said that I could install it By bumping the engine over. He said "Yes, you'll need a friend to turn the ignition on/off quickly to install the belt, multiple times until the belt is over the pulley."

Has anyone tried this?

 

[deluxman]

Does anyone know if the Belt Tensioner has to be replaced as well whenever you have replaced the AC and serpentine belt? My car has 102k miles already.

 

[DannyIndeed]

Replaced the serpentine belt and a thermostat on my 2005 2.3 this past Monday. Never did anything under the hood more in-depth than a jump start in my life, but my buddy and I managed to get the serpentine belt done in about 2 hours, following LG Paul's instructions. Worked like a charm, and I saved myself a ton of money compared to what the shop wanted. Serpentine belt cost me about $20. Shop was gonna sell me one at $60, with an AC belt for $50, and then throw another $140 in labor on top of that. Didn't have to cut the AC belt, and didn't need a special tool to put it back on. Seems ridiculous to destroy a perfectly good part to get at the faulty one, but then again, I don't sell AC belts.

 

[dayohoh4]

I just replaced both belts in less than 20 minutes. Absolutely no need to touch the AC compressor .
I bought my parts from PartsGeek.com , look for the AC belt WITH the special tool. Added like $5.
Easy peasey.. Loop the AC belt around the comp pulley guide it up the left side of the crank pulley
Loop on the tool, which basically holds the belt in track and guides it over the pulley flange as you rotate the motor using a 21mm
socket on the crank pulley. Just keep rotating until the tool falls off. I had to rotate a few more times to ensure the belt tracking was perfect.

Piece of cake

 

[okellyr]

20 minutes, one rachet, various socket sizes and a box cutter (to take the AC belt off)... Left the AC in place and worked he AC belt on by looping it over the main fly wheel ad turning it slowly as I worked it onto the AC wheel... Seriously never did this before and it took me longer to get my splash shield off ( haha all the bolt are messed up) than it did to do the belts! ...

Went with a popular belt type (Goodyear) and am totally happy

 

[gtg749m]

I just replaced both belts in less than 20 minutes. Absolutely no need to touch the AC compressor .
I bought my parts from PartsGeek.com , look for the AC belt WITH the special tool. Added like $5.
Easy peasey.. Loop the AC belt around the comp pulley guide it up the left side of the crank pulley
Loop on the tool, which basically holds the belt in track and guides it over the pulley flange as you rotate the motor using a 21mm
socket on the crank pulley. Just keep rotating until the tool falls off. I had to rotate a few more times to ensure the belt tracking was perfect.

Piece of cake

^^^Thanks for the tip. Did exactly what you said and was a pretty easy maintenance item.

Just to add to it, I got the Mitsuboshi AC belt from partsgeek for my 2008 3i.

Part from Partsgeek is: (This is the one with the special tool, it comes with a tool to guide the belt onto the pulley, and another hook like tool to keep the bottom belt on track and prevent it from rotating.)
2008 Mazda 3 Multi Rib Belt - Air Conditioning - Mitsuboshi W0133-1904020


I got the Bando Serpentine belt and that part is:
2008 Mazda 3 Multi Rib Belt - Alternator and Water Pump - Bando W0133-1633816


Serpentine belt was super easy. Just turn tension pulley counterclockwise, take off belt and install new.

For the AC belt, I had to take off the main cover underneath (splash plate??), then there was another plastic cover behind the front passenger wheel that i took off(2 bolts and plastic screw), and last, I took off the AC compressor metal shield (3 nuts).

I then cut the original AC belt. Put on the new AC Belt around bottom pulley, installed the 'special tool' at around 9 oclock on the crank pulley, installed the metal hook tool (also included with AC belt special tool) on the bottom pulley, then used the socket on the crank pulley.

 

[Dan_Jordy]

Do you need to replace the A/C belt when you replace the Serpentine belt? I had my A/C compressor replaced, and when they did that they put a new A/C belt on, but left the original serpentine on. I'm hoping I could re-use the A/C belt, since it's not as old as the serpentine belt, however I saw somewhere that once you remove the A/C belt you need to put a brand new one on (because it's stretched to fit?).

Is there any risk in doing this?

 

[machr85]

Do you really need the jig tool for the AC belt? has any else installed it without using this tool? i read on here someone took the ac compressor off and then bolt it back on with the belt on so i guess this sounds like the one way to do it if you dont have the tool? Thanks

 

[dayohoh4]

No need for any tool. I had to re-replace my belts. My tensioner had a problem and split my serp belt. I used goodyear gatorback belts this time. Went on easy with no tool. Feed the belt over the large pulley and completely on the small one. I rotated the motor using a socket and just fed the belt onto the large pulley. That's why it's a stretch belt...

 

[dayohoh4]

Do you need to replace the A/C belt when you replace the Serpentine belt? I had my A/C compressor replaced, and when they did that they put a new A/C belt on, but left the original serpentine on. I'm hoping I could re-use the A/C belt, since it's not as old as the serpentine belt, however I saw somewhere that once you remove the A/C belt you need to put a brand new one on (because it's stretched to fit?).

Is there any risk in doing this?

If you want to re-use the belt I would drop the compressor. Super easy. 3 nuts for the cover 4 bolts for the comp.