Drive belt change

[daveb222]

Nissan note 2008 1.6 Petrol 

Having listened to my drive belt squealing like a strangled cat thought it best I changed it, car has done 140,000 on what I think was the original belt.

First as it’s a 1.6 petrol it only has one belt, cheapest place was Halfords at £17. Next watched videos on how to change it, easy I thought, so set to work. Jacked up and on axle stand removed drivers side wheel then attacked the inner wing lining, lots of popper fittings and screws, lot of poppers broke on removal, made sure I had spares. Now I can see the drive belt, well cracked and shiny, slacked tensioner pulley bolt (13 mm) and removed the belt, easy. Checked out belt against new, all ok but could I get the new belt on, no way. Tried the tensioner pulley adjuster, this was a nightmare to get at as you cannot see it all touchy feelly, anyway the adjuster was rusted and not for moving, only option left was to remove the pulley. Cleaned it up and freed up adjuster, next challenge was to re fit the adjuster, which you have to do blind and you can only use one hand, after a lot of cursing I still couldn’t get the thing into position. Looked how to gain better access, remove the front grill and then get another pair of hands to hold the adjuster in place while I re fitted the pulley, easy. Put the new drive belt on and now with relatively easy access to the adjuster tensioned the belt. No more squealing, job took in total about three hours around two hours longer than needed.

So before I do my wife’s car going to ensure the tensioner bolt is lubricated, was the main cause of the delay. Will also just remove the front grill and see if it can be changed without having to remove inner wheel arch liner.

Hope my experience saves people time and effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trevor]

Thank you very much for sharing your experience and useful hints and tips
I'm sure it will definitely make it much easier for anyone else attempting this job