KA24DE Drive Belts And Alternator Questions

[Mr240dude]

Hey it's me again.I have a rather noobish question but I can't seem to find the answers online...well completely. I know we use 3 belts alternator,power steering and ac I think? Today I had the alternator belt changed because I was getting a squealing sound when accelerating. Is that the serpentine belt? I just need some clarification on what every belt does and where exactly they are located. Also would a bad serpentine belt cause improper charging of the alternator? Sometimes I had to turn my key several times to get the car to start which made a clicking sound. I know my alternator, starter and battery are good.

Any feedback appreciated.

[daemonyk]

All 3 belts are serpentine belts. A serpentine belt is just a type of belt - it's flat with multiple grooves on the inside, and can be routed around a pulley in either direction. As opposed to an older V belt which is just wedge / V shaped, and cannot be routed backwards around a pulley, and really isn't used on modern cars anymore. Some cars like our 240's use multiple serp belts, other cars use one long serp belt routed to run everything. "Serpentine" has no correlation to what accessory it runs.

Now that you know all 3 are serp belts, I'm sure you can locate which belt is which using the trusty service manual which I'm sure you've downloaded and been reading It's pretty easy. The AC belt is connected to the ac compressor. The alt belt is connected to the alt. The PS belt runs to the PS pump. One of them loops around the water pump pulley. It's all in the manual

A loose belt can cause problems with it's associated accessory, and cause noises, but so can a bad pulley - and may not necessarily be the cause of the starting problem you're experiencing. Clicky sound sounds more like a starter relay issue

[Mr240dude]

Haha thanks again daemonyk. At least now I know. I definitely need to download or buy that manual. One more thing I want to ask though. So all belts are the same size or different?

[daemonyk]

Haha thanks again daemonyk. At least now I know. I definitely need to download or buy that manual. One more thing I want to ask though. So all belts are the same size or different?

LOL just glad to help The ac, ps, and alt belts are 3 different belts of 3 different sizes.

The link to download the manual was left on that other thread of yours. Easiest option. I got my 240sx and my RB manuals from NICO.

Also a handy trick - the internal NICO search can be a little awkward, but you can search google and put the word "nico" in the search somewhere, and it'll usually spit back a fair number of responses from NICO if there are any. Makes it a little easier to find material on here sometimes

[mechanicalmoron]

Well we have serpentine belts, but not what people usually mean when they say that, which is the single belt setup, or a few over-used belts, with lots of bends both directions. They, for obvious reasons, present a much greater chance of slipping or breaking.

If it was squealing, I'm sure they fixed it and all, but you can tension it on your own. My alternator belt used to squeal when the motor was cold, I tensioned it and (even though it's got some visible wear and chunks taken out) it's running just fine a few years later. You can also get belt dressing spray that's like sticky friction-increasing stuff. I spray some on every now and then, since I have a greasy/oily engine bay.

It takes like, a socket with an extender, and an open wrench, or something, to tension it if I remember right. Not hard at all.

If you never had to jump your car, and had that problem for any real amount of time, you have a problem other than the belt. If it simply didn't charge, you would make it like a mile down the road. Maybe you have a solenoid or relay going bad.