Any tricks for getting a tight drive/serpentine belt on?
 

Hi folks - I'm changing the drive belt and tensioner on my 2012 Fit and for the love of god I can't get the new Honda OEM belt back on. The old belt was super tight to begin with so obviously this one is worse, even with the tension released.

Are there any tips or tricks that I'm not aware of? Which pulley should I try to get the belt around last? Like I said, even with the tension released it's just nowhere near loose enough to get around that last pulley. So frustrating. :mad:

For reference this is the belt I purchased. https://www.amazon.com/Genuine-Honda.../dp/B00FZNN766

I can relate to what you are experiencing with the tight OEM belt replacement. When I replaced my belt I had to have the help of a friend to slide the belt over the alternator pulley last while I was under the car pushing on the auto tensioner bolt with a belt removal tool. It was not easy to say the least. Just curious, why did you replace the auto tensioner ?

Good question. I read somewhere on this forum that the tensioner pulley starts to make noise over time, and since the part was not that expensive I decided to make it a maintenance item. I'll do this every 100k miles.

Quick update: I found a trick that worked pretty well for me and only required one person.

1. Remove the negative battery connection.
2. Loosen the lower alternator bolt and remove the upper bolt. This allows the alternator to pivot back slightly towards the passenger cabin allowing for a little more slack on the belt. This may be optional depending on how tight your belt is.
3. Route the new belt starting at the alternator and working your way down towards the ground. Leave the belt off of the A/C pulley (at the bottom) which is what you'll work on last.
4. From below the car, release the belt tension and wrap as much belt on the AC pulley as you can. It should completely wrap around the black outer cover. Ensure the belt is completely on the water pump and crank pulleys!
5. Hand turn the engine clockwise via the crank bolt which will gradually route the belt on the AC pulley. Make sure the belt doesn't route itself off of the crank shaft pulley as you do this! You won't need to release tension at this part, and the belt should easily route itself on all the proper pulleys.

Now you'll need to reinsert the upper alternator bolt which is not possible at the moment because the alternator is being pulled back towards the cabin. Grab a long crow bar and *gently* place it behind alternator near the bolt (not on it!) and pull the alternator forward enough to reinsert the bolt. It won't take much pressure to do this and it should slide right in.

6. Torque down the two alternator bolts down to specs. On my 2012 Fit it's 17 ft/lbs.

That's it! It was pretty easy once I got the routine down. Hope that helps.

Thank you!
 

I was stuck while trying to get a tight serpentine belt on my honda fit. Your instructions saved the day for me! I did it a little bit differently. I used a 19mm wrench to retract the tensioner pully and tied the open end of it to the motor mount using a tie strap. You have to work with it to get it really tight and as far as the tensioner will retract. I did this from the top of course. A helper would make this step easier since a tie strap would not be needed. I then put the vehicle in neutral and put the belt on except the ac unit pulley which would only partially go on its edge. I rotated the engine clockwise (never counterclockwise) and pushed the side of the belt to get the belt on. It did take sever engine rotations to get them all nice and square in the slots. Working with the alternator bolts was not necessary. I hope this helps someone else. Thanks again. Clay

Tensioner pulley
 

By the way, I repacked the bearing on the tensioner pully with some synthetic grease. The seal can be carefully removed with a small knife by prying on the seal from the inner seal area. Slow and carefully is the idea here. After repacking it was nice and smooth although it was not ready to fail and still has some grease on the bearings after 111k miles.

Hi, first post, thanks for all the help on this forum for my new to me 2010 fit. Just went to do drive belt and was way tight even with tensioner pulled all the way back. Honestly couldn't do it. About to give up. Used the suggestion above to tie wrench up as far as it would go with strap. Was able to route over all pulleys ending up at top with alternator half on. Then just was able to kinda of pull it on slowly by some miracle. Thaks so much!

I have a dumb question, but want to be sure, When you mention turning the engine clockwise, that's if you're looking at the end of the engine with the pulleys, right? Thank you.

Orientation
 

Yes,, that's correct.

Best of luck,

Clay

I've never had to do that with any other vehicle that I've owned that had serpentine belts. It was pretty much pull back on the tensioner, route the belt around the pulleys and release the tensioner.

I assumed the pain in the ass installation on 2017 Fit was because I had purchased an aftermarket Gates belt, not OEM Honda? The belts seemed close in length, but the valleys on the ribbed part seemed different on the Gates vs Honda. I figured next time I'd spend the additional money for the Honda belt.

Either everyone had the same issue of aftermarket vs OEM Honda or Honda's engineers need to work on designing a system that's more serviceable? Nobody in this day and age should have to loosen engine components to replace a belt.

I spray some WD40 on the idle pulley once a year after it starts making noise (FIT, TUNDRA, CIVIC, JETTA) and never had to change them.

ill just drop this here for future reference...

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...64f430bfc9.png
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...c62184e5cf.png
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...c0a698a034.png

I'm curious on what belt to use if you don't run A/C...

I've always found it easier to do this with two people (one holding the large wrench in place while another places the belt on the engine) however I've personally done it solo. Once was even on the side of the highway.

If I recall correctly, I've done it in this order: crank pulley, alternator then A/C compressor (or the other way around), and water pump last. It was easier to install on the ribbed pulleys first then slide the belt onto the water pump pulley. Don't quote me on this because I never made an effort to remember how I do it every time. I've done it about four times, by the way. :wavey:

hey julianachos...
when came time to replace your belt on any or all occasions, what lead you to do so? ie. frayed belt, indicator outside of acceptable range, noise, etc

You can see cracks in the ribbed part, then it's time to change or you hit the recommended time/milage interval in the owners manual

418k - replaced the alternator and the original tensioner. Both and the belt were making noise.

469k - broke apart on the highway, causing me to leave the Fit there for a day

490k - because fuck Dayco belts. After having two noisy belts during cold temps caused me to never again get another one. Went OEM (Mitsuboshi) and never looked back.

515k - replaced the A/C compressor. Belts are $12 so why not. Kept the old one as a spare.

Hi.

Just some anecdotal advice.

I was having the same exact problem everyone was having here (2015 Fit with 150k miles) The belt would not fit no matter what angle I was trying!

Started reading some of the suggestions and they seemed very unnecessary.

Using some common sense and background in science, I decided to put the new serpentine belt in direct sunlight in 75F weather for about 15 minutes. Went to attempt number 10 and the belt was a lot more pliable I was able to slip about 70% of it on the bottom pulley by hand. Ianually cranked the pulleys and was easily able to get the belt seated.

Hope this helps some others!



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Cooray
 

Shi- I hear u ... I'm been putting a thermostat on my Mercedes for like three damn weeks, and then I forgot how to put it back together .... and finally today I got everything together and now I can't get the damn belt put back on and I'm pissed ... N not only that I've spent like hundreds of dollars getting tools like a dumbas- ... Then to add I insult to injury I punched the car and thought I broke my hand so I came inside to take a break to calm down

I've never, ever done anything like that. Ever. Except maybe once. Okay, twice. Who am I kidding? This is a description of my entire life. Don't get me started. :D