Sunday, November 21, 2010

How do you change the serpentine/drive belt on a Mazda6?

I had no problem changing the belts on my old Mustang, but I now have a Mazda6 2.3L and the belt is realy close to the engine. Any idea which pulley is the tension one. Or if it's even worth changing it yourself? I'm trying to avoid paying $80 bucks labor for a $25 dollar belt.How do you change the serpentine/drive belt on a Mazda6?
Some of them can be tough to thread around all the pulleys without raising the front of the car so you can get under the engine to position the belt. Then you need car ramps and jack stands for safety. One of the pulleys is the tensioner pulley which probably has a 1/2 inch (or similar metric) drive insert for a breaker bar to release its tension.How do you change the serpentine/drive belt on a Mazda6?
there should be a diagraphm under the hood to show you the routing of the belt, don't try taking the belt off until you have the diagraphm or you will be pulling your hair out, once you find the tensioner it's a simple process, just release the tension on it and you will see the belt frees right up so you can take it off and then you just follow the diagraphm to route the new one, pull the tensioner back again and when the belt is where you want it just release the tensioner and your done.