Squeeeeeeek!

[Burning Feet Man]

Well my Celica 140 has been slowly getting a larger sqeak!. It started off to be only in damp weather but it is now constant. I took it into toyota today and he sprayed some lube on it and it stopped, he then said its the belt. Thing is, he reckons about 300 to change it and the tensioner. Now, i bought it from Toyota dealer only 9 months ago, is the belt and/or tensioner replacement covered under the 'manufacturers equivalent' warranty? I would appreciate all your answere, especially from those 'in the know'. Thank you !

Mike

[Boro Sera]

Which belt??

Usually a squeal like you're describing is the 'accessory' belt, usually referred to as the fanbelt. If it's this one then they are dirt cheap. These are usually tensioned by a screw arrangement on the alternator, so any talk of a tensioner shouldn't apply.

When you mention a tensioner that usually refers to the timing belt - which I've never known to squeak !

I'm not familiar with the Gen7 engine setup, but I'd recommend trying somewhere else for a second opinion.

If it is the alternator/aircon/power steering belt ( V belt and not a toothed one ) then you can check the tension on it yourself by twisting it in the middle of the longest straight span - you shouldn't be able to twist it more than about 90 degrees. Spraying any sort of lube on these isn't the way to go though as this masks the problem rather than curing it.

Good luck Mike

Rich

[Burning Feet Man]

It is the belt that sites on the right side of the engine (from the drivers seat) and it appears to drive several components such as the aircon, waterpump, power steering and more. There is a tensioner on it, the chap pointed it out, i have heard of the tensioner on Gen7 to be subject to fault. But surely 300 for a tensioner and belt, thats far too much?

I am not keen on the idea of spraying lube on a belt at all, like you say, it purely masks the problem. Im afraid something may give way in the engine, and then i will be left with a rather large bill.

Does anybody know if this belt is changed on a service? mine has done just over 60k so im guessing it needs a service now (even though i have not even had it a year! ) ??

ty for your reply Boro Sera

(Sorry if post was in wrong forum! )

[Boro Sera]

moved to Celica section for more exposure !

[eddiew]

Well my Celica 140 has been slowly getting a larger sqeak!. It started off to be only in damp weather but it is now constant. I took it into toyota today and he sprayed some lube on it and it stopped, he then said its the belt. Thing is, he reckons about 300 to change it and the tensioner. Now, i bought it from Toyota dealer only 9 months ago, is the belt and/or tensioner replacement covered under the 'manufacturers equivalent' warranty? I would appreciate all your answere, especially from those 'in the know'. Thank you !

Mike

I've got the same problem on my celica (140, 2001, 58K) just squeeking on cold mornings at the moment, started about a month ago. My mechanic looked at it, he said the drive belt is slipping due to extra load on it in the mornings when the alternator is kicking in. suggested that i just change the belt. Said he do it but have to get the belt from toyota but havent priced it yet.

Also test drove another celica from a toyota garage about 7 months ago and that also had the slipping belt problem, mabye is a common problem!

Ed

[sotal]

It isn't the timing belt as they don't have one - they have a chain,

According to the data for the car the Aux Drive Belt is first checked/adjusted at 70,000 miles/72 months, then checked every 10,000/12 months

Here is the setup of the Aux Belt:

[Cantlaybiz]

It isn't the timing belt as they don't have one - they have a chain,

According to the data for the car the Aux Drive Belt is first checked/adjusted at 70,000 miles/72 months, then checked every 10,000/12 months

Here is the setup of the Aux Belt:

I changed mine last week because it was squealing, and it only took about 20 mins. The new belt cost me £14 from the local motor factors. Basically all you have to do is remove the driver's side plastic engine cover and release the belt pre-tensioner (which is simply a hydraulic piston) using a 19mm ring spanner. Slip the old belt off and put the new one on. Below is a link to a good tutorial.

http://www.celica-club.co.uk/wiki/index.php/140_VVTI_G7

[eddiew]

I changed mine last week because it was squealing, and it only took about 20 mins. The new belt cost me £14 from the local motor factors. Basically all you have to do is remove the driver's side plastic engine cover and release the belt pre-tensioner (which is simply a hydraulic piston) using a 19mm ring spanner. Slip the old belt off and put the new one on. Below is a link to a good tutorial.

http://www.celica-club.co.uk/wiki/index.php/140_VVTI_G7

Thats some handy advice for my squeeky belt, especially bad around all this crappy weather! must get mine sorted.

Cheers

[Burning Feet Man]

Thats a great tutorial there, thanks for the info and the liink! Changing the pre-tensioner...is this an easy job also? Im no div, but im scared to death of tackling anything on my car in case i mess it up!!

[Boro Sera]

Like any job on a car, plan it first so you're familiar with what you're expected to do.

Be methodical and tidy ( really helps when you're reassembling ! )

Changing the pretensioner is straight forward enough.

If you're in any doubt about your abilities/confidence etc then it's handy to have a mate with you who's mechanically minded - even if it's just for peace of mind/safety net.

You at least know roughly what the job entails - and that it's not a 300 quid job ! You could always get independant garage quotes for the work if you're not sure enough to tackle it yourself .

Good Luck

Rich

[Burning Feet Man]

Do you know of a tutorial for changing the pre-tensioner? and that bar used for levering it during an accesory belt change...is there that much torque in it that a bar is necessary? i dont have a bar to hand ya see :S

[Cantlaybiz]

Do you know of a tutorial for changing the pre-tensioner? and that bar used for levering it during an accesory belt change...is there that much torque in it that a bar is necessary? i dont have a bar to hand ya see :S

I managed it with a regular ring spanner which was about 10 inches long. You only have to release the tension for a few seconds, just long enough to slip the belt off the alternator flywheel, and, of course, when you slip the new one back on.

Are you sure your pre-tensioner needs replacing?

[discodave]

Just to let you know that it should be covered under Toyota used car warranty, get it in to them and get it changed.

[Burning Feet Man]

Well i have just bought my new belt, im going to fit it whilst at work as i have plenty of tools there. Just to let you all know that euro car parts had it in stock and cost me £10.39 inc VAT so only thing left to do is fit is :S

[Edmond_trini]

Well i have just bought my new belt, im going to fit it whilst at work as i have plenty of tools there. Just to let you all know that euro car parts had it in stock and cost me £10.39 inc VAT so only thing left to do is fit is :S

Hi, i'm new to this forum. I own a Celica Gen7 VVTLI. The previous owner (apparently)had the Auxilary belt changed as it started squeaking at 35,000 miles. When I bought the car from him it had done 41,000 miles and the belt started squeaking about 3 weeks later. I purchased a form factored belt from the local accessory shop for £14 and fitted it in 1 hour.

This is what i did:

I got a friend to slowly lever the automatic tensioner with a ring spanner, i then unhooked the belt off the alternator pully then cleaned all 6 pulleys with brake clean and a paint brush paying particular attention to the tensioner idler pully. The new belt was then fitted from the crankshaft pulley upwards following the drawing which another forum member has provided and then hooked back over the alternator pulley after the tension was eased off. I then rocked the car forward in gear to make sure that the belt was properly seated around all 6 pulleys, then started the engine -presto no more sqeeeeks!

I suspect that part of the problem lies with the automatic tensioner as i detected slight traces of fluid leak from the hydraulic mechanism and there was slight play on the tensioner pulley.

As far as i'm aware, the tensioner can be removed with the engine in situ but the left engine (viewed from the front of the car) side needs to be jacked up a bit after removing the its engine mount bracket as the tensioner securing bolt apparently does not have enough clearance to be fully removed sideways.

Has anyone replaced tensioner? Thanks and good luck.

[Burning Feet Man]

Well replacing the belt was nice and easy. Even though the old belt was not perished in any way, the new belt has resolved the problem. It is quite easily a 1 man job. Space is a little limited but it only slows the process down, it should not prevent anybody from doing the job. I like the idea of rocking it forward in gear, i attempted a start and released the key before the engine had fully started. I would say the job gets a 3/10 for difficulty. Anyone thinking of attempting this to solve the problem should :)

If there is a similarly in-depth article on changing the pre-tensioner it would be greatly received in this post by me and several others!

Thank you for all your help!

[sue_amishka]

Hello,

Just to clarify are you all changing timing chains or timing belts- as previously stated my car has a chain and has this problem.

Thanks,

Sue.

[fazzer]

The easist way to remove the belt tensioner is to support the engine with a jack(be careful not to damage the oil pan,undo the 3 mount bolts from the inner wing and jack the engine up until the 17mm bolt has clearance to be removed(only needs jacking up slightly) then remove the 12mm nut.i found it easier to remove the stud completly using mole grips and that is it and fitting is the opposite to removal.i hope this helps,

it is very a simple and straight forward job to do

[Vince W]

Hello,

Just to clarify are you all changing timing chains or timing belts- as previously stated my car has a chain and has this problem.

Thanks,

Sue.

The fan belt, the one you can see that drives the alternator water pump and air-con compressor. :)

[Burning Feet Man]

If you open the bonnet and look at the engine the belt on the left hand side (drivers side) it runs in a circuit front to back of the engine bay. It is the accessory drive belt that drives the alternator, power steering, aircon etc. I dont believe it drives the fan, isnt that at the front of then engine? If you click on the tutorial earlier in this post it shows very clearly which belt it is. hope you all sort it. Ive had no problems with mine since :)

[midfieldwarrior]

Just wanted to add my thanks for the tutorial help here. I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty but it always makes a job quicker if you have seen what's involved first, rather than having to figure it all out for yourself!

Took me about 15 mins and squeaky noise is all gone! Now off to Toyota to get a load of new plastic clips for the trim, after I lost four of the middles in the engine bay. (I'm a bit of a butter fingers) D'oh!

[Burning Feet Man]

LOL, i know what you mean about those clips, and i wish they would just drop onto the floor instead of onto the tray underneath...grrrrr.

Anyway, if you get those clips can ya let us know roughly how much they cost?

Im loving my non squeeeky Celica BTW :D

[midfieldwarrior]

Tell me about it - I can still see some of them in there, but can't get at the damn things. Of course, in their own time they'll drop out on the motorway, or some such really useful place. :grr:

MrT has charged me about £1 per clip. Blimmin' steep if you ask me, for what they actually are, but being a fussy git, I'd rather have them than the cable ties that I've used for the time being.

[Valve-Lift]

Tell me about it - I can still see some of them in there, but can't get at the damn things. Of course, in their own time they'll drop out on the motorway, or some such really useful place. :grr:

MrT has charged me about £1 per clip. Blimmin' steep if you ask me, for what they actually are, but being a fussy git, I'd rather have them than the cable ties that I've used for the time being.

i lost about 3 clips as well, im using cable ties as well at the moment, hey they do the job, i was thinking of using some sort of clip i could clip on and off, hven't came up with nething yet though

[simonincubus]

This has been really handy cheers because although i have a gen 6 celica also mines squeaking and getting slowly worse, seems to be squeaking more when i full lock aswell if this rings any bells with anyone? I already bought belts a while back but didnt want to change them yet because the belts were fine and the squeakiness sounded like it was coming from the alternator itself but had the annoyin fan belt squeal!? Can anyone re-assure me that even on my gen6 it might be the same solution? p.s sorry for being a noob if this is covered on gen6's elsewhere, cheers