Car guy's I have a question.
 

I went and had an oil change done the other day and they gave me a list of thing's that they wanted to fix. One of thing's is the Serp belt, I have no clue what that is :helpme . I can't get my car in the shop till Wensday. How safe is it to drive do you think? I wanted to go to Asheville today, it's about 2 hours away. Do you think it would be ok to drive that far?


:helpme

I think generally everytime you get an oil change they suggest all kinds of bullshit that you should repair. I would generally think that while doing an oil change the guys aren't looking at anything that's really vital to your car other than your oil. But then what do I know, I just know they always suggest a bunch of shit just as add on money for them since a lot of times they lowball on the oil change price itself.

Run the fucker until it breaks down...then fix it ...fuck that preventive shit...this is the USA not iraq..BUY BUY BUY...drive :2 cents: to ashville ,blow the motor and buy a new one is what i say.

You should be fine if it was anything major they would tell you just to cover their ass

Need a lil' more info, what kind of car, year, etc.....

FF

and ya generally it should be fine to drive it for a few days, from what i can remember the serpentine (serp as you referred to it) DO get old / dried out / blistered / and eventually can either displace or fall of their teeth. I "believe" once again....that the serps (not google ;)) control the alternator, power steering, and coolant / water pump, so ya losing one or having it bust would be shitty... you'd def. be screwed...

but once again these things are just common maintenance for your vehicle which should be replaced every 60,000+ miles or so. I know some friends that have drove on bad belts for thousands of miles so not a panic thing, just a when ya have time thing.

But if your ride breaks down because you didn't fix it this week, you didn't read any of this text,...... but i'm sure if it was really really damaged or cracked the mechanic would have been a lil' more adament about getting it fixed pronto.

FF

You should be fine with the belt. If your worried take a look at it...not that hard. Its just a rubber belt that will either be on the side of the engine or the front depending on the type of engine it is. If its hanging on a thread then I would replace it asap otherwise no biggie.

Serpentine belts getting replaced always seem to be a money grab, for GM dealers anyway. They are considered fine as long as there are no more than 3 cracks per inch on them, and no chunks missing.

You will be fucked though if it breaks.

That's why I hate getting my fucken oil changed. They ALWAYS do that shit to me. Ask me 10,000 stupid questions about crap that they know I have no idea about.

"When was the last time you had _____ changed?; How old is this ______?; What kind of _____ do you use for ______?; Have you had the _______ replaced?"

I know they're just waiting to assrape me because I'm always standing there with this look on my face like "how the fuck should I know?". It's one of the few things I miss about having a husband. At least he always took my car in for all that junk.

My Mach 1 got a flat tire yesterday, and I had to have it fixed before the drive to Vegas this morning. Much to my surprise when I got there they had the car up in the air and the hood open. When I asked what it was, they told me they do a ten point inspection to every car that comes into their shop. My car has 14k miles on it so it's brand new, they didn't recomend anything.

A serpantine belt is the belt that runs all the accesories on your car. A/C, water pump, air pump, alternator, etc etc... It's a flat belt with grooves in it. (different than the older fan belts that are a V shape)

Newer cars usually only have one of these that runs everything. If you have never replaced it and you have over 50K miles chances are it needs replacing. If it breaks then nothing will work and you could cause more damage or be stranded somewhere.

If you dont have it replaced at least go to a parts store and buy the correct replacement and keep it in the trunk for when it does break you will have it and not be stranded for too long.

your be alright
its just the belt that turns your alt powerstearing pump, water pump etc etc
they get old and dry rot but its a pretty good idea to replace it
although i would do it myself and save $$

bump for angel

I have no idea turboangel but here's a bump for you sweety

i hate the fucking bullshit an oil change always turns into.

When I had my jeeps I just did my own work. Was a hell of a lot easier and nicer taking it to my shop than to some dork who is going to rip it apart to find something else to fix.

Some shops do have a policy to have an inspection done before it leaves... covers their ass so they can say "Well it wasn't completely shot, but I did warn them it needed to be replaced." They document all of it just in case.
Do you really blame them with all the morons out there that go "You changed my oil and now my belts snapped!"

I change my own oil. No BS.

Unless your belt is all cracked, or squeeky, or if your car has like 100K on it, I wouldn't bother.

do what BV said, get a spare one and keep it in your trunk so if it does break you won't be stranded, I had to change one about 6 years ago, was driving a t-bird at the time, broke a couple nails doing it but it wasn't as bad as i though it would be took me about three tries to get it on. anyway if you have AAA plus and the extra belt in your trunk you should be ok.

depending on the car they are like $50 tops ..
better safe than sorry
they probally just look at your odometer and recommend stuff based on milage .

let me tell you , if it goes and you don't have one .. its not gonna be a good day , cause YOU KNOW it wont blow in town , it will blow when your in the middle of nowhere .. guarranteed .

bah humbug, your car is perfectly fine

if you plan to do some serious highway driving you're better off getting the belt checked by someone you trust and replaced if needed. losing power steering while doing highway speeds is dangerous if your not strong enough to steer the fucker. Not acusing you of being weak but most people seriously aren't strong enough to steer a dead car in panick mode.

If you do buy a spare, keep in mind you'll prolly need a tool to pull the tension pulley back. The correct path to run the belt should be on a sticker near your radiator.

Edit - also, I've been told, never tried it myself, that in a bind you can use nylons as a temporary replacement to limp to a shop.

RULE # 1

Never Ever Ever Never Ever Ever get your car fixed at an oil change place.

The serpentine belt go to your nearest auto parts store a pick up a can of belt dressing spray alittle of that on the belts and you should be good to go. :2 cents:

better safe than sorry being a woman on the roads

If it has cracks in it, it can break but there's no way to know when. Buy one at Autozone and install it, it should be fairly easy to do and cost like $30 for the belt.

just change ur oil thats alll!

anything else u do is bullshit they just trying to rip u off!

so many wrong answers, if the belt tears down, your engine is gone....do the math.

its not that easy if you dont know what you are doing.
you can always ask the repair man to show you the belt.

Thank you guys for all the info, I went ahead and went to Asheville. It was real nice I'll post some pics in a bit. I'm going to take my car to the shop on Monday and they can change the belt, I can't do it myself I might break a nail LOL.


:)