I did mine on my 2008 fit sport at 74258 miles and the belt looks like new. It sure could have gone longer. Also did spark plugs and those looked fine too. Iam in Buffalo NY with hard winters and was surprised how well the belt looked plus the spark plugs because this past winter I had a problem with the coils and replaced all of those but ran the car for a full week before getting new OEM coils online and engine was missing quite a bit by that time which ended up fouling my O'2 sensor which then also had to be replaced so I figured the plugs might have gotten grundged up a bit but they looked great. those iridium plugs sure last long.

 

The belt is too tight and I cannot get it back on. This the original belt that just took off. I have the belt on everything except it is only half-way around the alternator. Bolts A and C are completely removed. The belt seems to be well seated everywhere.

What I am missing here? Do I need to take off the idler pulley?

Thank you.

 

Unless you got a belt that was too short (hey, it happens, not all cross-ref lists are accurate, or you got the wrong country variation) then as long as the alternator is swiveling on a loosened bolt B, the new belt should pop on without undue stress.

Did you see this note earlier in the Topic? Getting to that bolt was the most difficult part of the operation for me, thankfully I have lots of ratchet extensions, some that wobble, and a good set of six point sockets.

 

I had a hard time getting the new belt on. What worked for me was to get the belt on all the pulleys except the crank pulley. Then from underneath I was able to use hook type tool to pull on the belt real hard to get it to go around the crank pulley last. hope that helps as that was quite hard to get it on. Got my replacement belt from Rock Auto online.

 

Getting the belt back on was the hardest part for me - it's a squeeze. I just kept pulling on the belt until it finally slipped over. A new belt is very stiff and it take some pulling to get it to conform to the bends in the run.

 

I know this thread is a little old, but I have a quick question. Going back to the original picture of the DIY posted here. Is the "tension tool" needed? Doesn't seem necessary to me since you are using the tensioner at the alternator to retighten everything.

 

What I did was just feel how tight the belt felt that was on the car before I removed it. Then after getting the new belt on I tightened it up so it felt the same as the belt tension that was on the old belt. I then checked belt tension after about a week. Mine was fine.

 

You are certainly using one of the alternator mounting screws to add tension. However the tool would tell you how much tension to add. There seems to be a widely acceptable range.

 

Just to support DIY, I called the local dealer and asked what it would cost to get a new fanbelt on my car, $220..



Screw the dealers..

 

In the past on other cars without a spring tensioner, I've found using a real belt tension gauge while installing, greatly increases the service life of the belt.. But for a belt I can buy for < 25 bucks its not the biggest worry on my list..

 

I was thinking the same thing. I just wanted to make sure a $75 tool wasn't worth it. On a side note I find it funny how my 1992 lexus LS400 has a spring tensioner while a 15 year-newer car does not.

 

Thanks for the write up, helped me out. I did not loosen bolt C (just couldnt reach it) but did undo the ac lines and the weird electrical connector next to the windshield washer refill.

 

I changed out my idler pulley and swapped the belt. Great write up, however I have a bit of a low hum noise that's engine speed related.

It sounds normal when idling, but when I rev it, the sound comes up. Any ideas? Is the belt on too tight/loose? Or bolt A on too loose?

Any feedback or help would be great!

 

How do you move the alternator? Seems mine is stuck? My bolt A, B and C are loose.

 

I've been chomping at the bit to tackle this project on my 2007 base model fit. I've done other serpentine belts, but they all had the auto tensioner. Didn't think this would be as difficult as some described. Boy was I wrong. Found the OEM belt (BANDO) on amazon for $10. Fit has 83.5k miles and is 10.5 years old so figured it was time. And after doing it, I want the car to hit 200k before I do it again. It was a pain in the butt! The original belt from what I could tell looked to be in decent shape, but I had the new belt so I wanted to get at it. I was gonna wait until 100k to do my tune up, but since the car is 10+ years old, I'm doing it now. This was much more difficult than drives with auto tensioners. I don't know why Honda decided not to have one on this fit. I also have an 18 sport 6 speed so I'm hoping the earth dreams engine comes with an auto tensioner. I'll check tomorrow. Anywho, I appreciate the write up from OP. I read it and did my due diligence. The others who said this will take longer were right. I started at 9p, was about the give up at 2p after trying my damndest to get at bolt B. I couldn't really get at it even after lifting the car more. Didn't have the right breaker bar (mine was too long, and didn't have a shorter one handy). The only thing that allowed me to get a bite on it (had the fit on jack stands set to the second level in the front only) was using a ratchet with a a 12mm socket with a 6" extension. After messing with a bunch of different grips and angles, I decided to spray it with some wd40 and call it a night, but I gave it on last try with this other breaker bar I have and trying to pry the alternator aft. I don't know if it was the wd40 or just messing with bolt b for so long with what seemed to not budge, but it finally moved aft and I quickly slipped the belt off. But it was now 2am, and I thought well, I have to be up for work at 7, but I got the original belt off, I may as well finish the job now. I got the new belt on in about 15 minutes and spent the next 45 trying to get the A and C bolts at the right tension which was arduous and annoying with the ac hose never really truly out of the way, and just having a basic 12mm wrench to get at bolt A since my ratchet was too wide w/ the 12mm socket attached. Ugh. I fired it up, and it runs well. I also sprayed wd40 to the drive pulley. It runs nice and quiet and looks cool with a new belt. Yay.

This job is not that it's difficult per se, it's just if you don't own a ton of tools or a shop, you have to get pretty creative with what you do have and be patient. I think if you had all the right slim type tools to hit all the bolts at all the angles with whatever stuff is in the way then this is easy. Prolly should take no more than 30 minutes if you are lucky enough to have appropriate tools. Otherwise, it's difficult due to the small work area even with moving the ac hoses, ground and orange/black abs connector out of the way. Accessing bolt A was difficult using a regular 12mm wrench, but that's all I had since the ratchet didn't fit. I won't worry about blot B until I actually need to replace my alternator. This can be done wiithout removing that bolt. I didn't have the tension tool so I just checked the tension on the original belt and tried to tension the new one based on feel. Also I removed the entire splash guard b/c it was annoying and getting in my way.

 

Changed out alternator and idler pulley ... 07 Fit, 161k ... this is a good writeup, and very helpful ... did not see it before I had everything apart .. the manual I had did not ref removing the ABS plug... that's a big help. the Tensioning bolt was rusted solid, and the tension bracket bolt at the top of the alternator was pretty much frozen ... ended up removing the two tensioning bracket bolts that attach the bracket to the engine to get the alternator out - then, lots of soaking with WE-40 and patience, I was able to disassemble the tensioning bracket from the alternator and free up (and clean) the tensioning bolt. Had to run a tap into the alternator threads to get the bolts to go back in easily ... used anti seize on them. The bottom intake manifold bolt is also out of sight. Took 6 hours to get the alternator and idler off .... hopefully will take less to put it back together. The plastic push retainers for the splash panels are a real pain ... be prepared to replace many, if not most, of them .. 10 yrs old and very fragile. The tension adjustment is better to err on the not too tight side ... too tight can cause premature bearing failures - can be VERY expensive, especially if far away from home on the road. Thanks, again, for posting and updating the procedure. :-)

 

I just went to Pep Boys to get a quote on installing a new serpentine belt. My '07 is at 140,000 miles. They also, probably routine, suggested a new belt tensioner. So over to you experts. Are these Fit belt tensioners as bullet proof as the other OEM components, or is there a time/mileage that the tensioner should be replaced?? Is there some visible sign of wear that a technician can see or is it just a "nice to do" item? Thanks in advance.

 

In this case it's an idler pulley and not an actual tensioner (splitting hairs here..almost the same thing just ours isn't spring loaded).

I'd classify it as a nice to do item when doing the work. I bought a replacement one to install when I do the 200k service with a new belt, but ours isn't making any bearing noise yet.

 

wow, thanks for that input. If you are nearing 200,000 miles and are still running on the original serpentine belt, maybe I'm jumping the gun here and should wait. At 140,000 miles, I really have no evidence that a new belt is required. I simply thought I was playing with fire a bit by waiting as long as I have.

How about some other owners: when did you first change out your serpentine belt?

 

Changed our belt at around 100k. Planning to do it again at 200k. Just didn't change the pulley when we did it the first time.

Due to age, I'd highly recommend changing the belt. They last so much longer than they used to, but I'd say 11 years is a good run.