nismozz

Hello everyone im new here have had a mazda for a while just never been on the site. But i recently needed to replace the belts on my mazda 3 and it was very hard to find a good how to well i just thought i would post this to help others out you guys prob already know how to do this but this is the way i did it and i will also show you and easier way to do it. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR INJURIES THIS IS SIMPLY A HOW TO.Mazda wanted to charge me $95 per belt including labor, when both belts cost about under $30. I actually bought both belts from the mazda dealership because i heard to only use oem like parts i guess other belts dont last as long and you will be back doing this in a few months. I also drew up an example of how the belts look on the pulleys i know my drawing is like first grader style but hope it will help someone. Ok well first thing first there are two belts on the mazda 3 one for the ac compressor to the crankshaft this is the shorter belt of the two. The other belt is for the crankshaft to tensioner to im not sure what that pulley was so i didn't label it, then to the alternator then back to the crankshaft the longest belt of the two. In order to get this belt out you must i repeat you must take off the ac belt first. The crankshaft has two pulleys one for the long belt one for the ac belt the ac belt pulley is the closest to the wheel basicly blocking the longer belt from being removed. I jacked up the zoom zoom took off the tire took off the plastic wheel lining and diffuser from underneath the car for easier access. I also removed the metal cover that was attached to the ac compressor to get better access to the pulley this was just 3 simple 10 mil bolts. last thing i removed was the engine cover at the top of the engine it just pops off. Next its recommended that you cut the ac belt off this is prob the easiest less time consuming way to take the belt off this is what i did. If you dont want to cut it off so you can reuse it or its a new belt and you just need to take it off for some other maintenance/service then there is a way to do it i will explain at the BOTTOM OF THE PAGE. Anyways next is the longer belt this is the easiest of the two belts. Place a socket wrench (i cant remember what size) on the tensioner then rotate towards the rear of the car the belt will become loose and free. Now if you can not easily put THE NEW belt back on by use of just the tensioner and some force then you may have the wrong belt. Make sure the groves are on the pulleys AND LOOK AT MY DRAWING FOR ROUTING OF THE BELT AROUND THE PULLEYS. This part once you have the belt routed around the pulleys and ready to go on the tensioner should literally take under a min to put on. I found this out the hard way the Mazda parts lady gave me the wrong size belt and the belt would not go on once I compared the new with old belt I was about an inch shorter. I went to auto zone got a belt came back home and boom in a few sec I got this new belt on. Im guessing there is a difference between the 2.0 and 2.3 belt size or she just didn't know what she was doing. I even asked are you sure this is for the 2.3 engine response was it doesn't say here but should be the same. Wrong make sure you get the right engine size belt there's a reason why even autozone asked me for the engine size and this is prob why. Anyways got this belt on by again using a socket wrench to move the tensioner pulley moving it towards the rear of the car, the tensioner is like spring loaded as your moving it towards the rear dont let go it will come back with some force. When the tensioner is at its limit slide the rest of the belt on to the tenioner pulley and slowly release the tensioner back to its normal position. Also be careful with the ac lines that are close by you dont want to bend or damage these. Now the part everyone had trouble with the ac belt i tryed for a good 10 min to put this on by hand couldn't do it. DO NOT USE SCREWDRIVERS you can damage the belt. So what i did was take off the ac compressor there is four bolts holding it on one of the four bolts is longer than the other make sure to keep the bolts in order by each hole it came out of. Slide the ac belt over the crankshaft pulley then move the ac compressor a little out so you can slide the rest of the ac belt over the ac compressor pulley. Now slide the ac compressor back in place make sure the bolt holes are aligned and flush with the block itself. Two people would make this part alot easier one person pushes the ac compressor up against the block another person tightens the 4 bolts to attach the ac compressor to the block another way if you dont have a second person is to place another jack under the ac compressor and slowly jack up the compressor and tighten the bolt jack up tighten up slowly in an x patten would work best careful to strip or bend the bolts. This is pretty much it check to make sure all the belt groves are in place put everything back into place you're done. Now the easy way to do this without removing the the ac compressor is this link below explained in the video.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQElFh1ePhw


this tool can remove and install belts i guess more and more newer cars are switching to this stretchy type belt and are getting rid of the tensioner. I wish i had this tool when i did my install but i will now have it in the future i just ordered my kit. Paid $48 plus shipping. Well i hope this helps some of you, post any comments or questions enjoy the pics i forgot to take some of the ac compressor off but you can see the bolts for removal in the pics.

nismozz

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fullofzen

Nismozz -- gotta show some love for this suggestion, nismozz. In dire straits about my inability to install the A/C belt, I went searching for any and every suggested solution. The Haynes manual recommends using a set of tools from Mazda -- some of this and other boards indicate that Mazda no longer sells these so-called "jigs."

Stumbled on to this, watched the video -- what a genius tool! Picked one up at Amazon and it worked just fine.

One quick note is that there is what a I think is an AC hose in the way of the top of the crankshaft pulley -- see picture:



You can just unbolt the few screws that mount that hose to the side of the car and push it around until you get the stretchy belt tool in place.

nismozz

very nice glad i could help someone out and the best part this tool can be used to remove and install belts and is universal for almost all makes models have not found a make of car that it does not work on yet.

tho323

Hi all. Just want to post this while it is fresh.
Thanks for this thread, with the information provided I was able to replace by belts today. It's very well covered above, I'll only add what I did differently (good and bad).

First, I bought the Stretch Mate Belt Kit to use on this project, the kit comes with both the "Install" and "Remove" tool.
I got both belts from Mazda (and thankfully they proved out to be the correct size).
Oh, and I should say that I used one of my all time favorite tools, a ratcheting breaker bar, on the pulley (22mm socket, btw). This tool has a 1/2" driver so I had to use a 1/2 to 3/8 adapter for my 3/8" socket.
Both items are shown in the attached picture.

Removal of AC Belt:

A cinch with this tool, just like the video. Interestingly enough, you do not have to remove neither the protective bracket under the AC compressor nor the AC lines. The "Remove" tool just clears the lines, to remove the belt.
Note: As the tool comes around to remove the belt, it and the belt pop off towards you, so either wear eye protection of display ninja speed head shifts.

Removal of the Serpentine belt:
Just as described in previous posts, a piece of cake. BTW: 14mm socket (it's in the pictures of the previous threads).

Installation of the new Serpentine belt:
Just as described, piece of cake.


Installation of the new Serpentine belt:
Here I had some challenges.
First: The AC line bracket must be removed, because the "Install" tool is wider than the "Remove" tool, thus the AC lines as installed will interfere with the tool in action. From my experience on working on older cars I was hesitant, but really it's just two 10mm nuts, wasn't a problem. Once that line is loose you can then move it forward a bit to prevent the interference.
Then: Being the first time I used this tool, I had 2 unsuccessful belt installations. Both times, the belt on the AC pulley would not stay on the correct grooves. There isn't really a lip on it, so it was easy for this to occur. The problem is that tool does engage the belt on the crank pulley, but as it goes around it is actually causing the portion of the AC pulley to miss one groove. As I wrote, it happened twice.
Give up on tool?: I thought about it, and decided to instead remove the AC compressor. Easy enough, belt went in fine, but caution, caution, caution, this is a really good way to mess the threads on the aluminum bosses. You really need to be careful here...again, from my working on older cars (aluminum heads), I decided to not risk it. So I torqued the compressor back, sans belt, and went back to the "Install" tool.
Here's how I got it right on the 3rd try: The trick was to remove the protective plate under the AC compressor, and make believe that you have three arms. The trick was to guide both ends of the belt at the compressor pulley (much easier to see and do w/o that plate), while you guide the tool with the belt at the crank pulley, while you turn the crank with the breaker bar. Once you figure out how to do that, then the tool works just like the video and the belt is properly placed on both pulleys.

So that's it, that's what I can contribute.
For the record I replaced the belts at 86K on my odometer.

Thanks again for this thread's guidance on this little project/preventative maintenance.


EDIT:
Oooh, just noticed, this is my first post. Forum lurker no more I guess.

Amanda Doughty

can you email me info on the belt size, part number, or any info to help me get the correct serpentine belt? amandac122800@gmail.com tia