Had some recall work done on my '98 E320 4Matic about two months ago at the dealership. Got a call from them today informing me that my V Belt, or Serpentine Belt, had come in. Apparently while working on my car they noticed the belt was worn and needed to be replaced and had ordered it for me unbeknownst to me. The cost of the belt and installation they tell me is about $100.00.
I did pop the hood today and got a look at it as best as I could and did notice some seperation on one edge of the belt.
What would happen if I let it go and it busted? Would it do any damage to the car if this happens while I'm driving it? If it is just now slightly seperating on the edge, does that me the big snap will be occuring soon? It this something I should not wait on?
If it breaks, you'll have to be prepared to park IMMEDIATELY as you won't have any power steering, charging system or water circulation. Even if you can stand the first two, the latter will reduce your engine to garbage very quickly. It's possible that if it shreds/strands on you instead of simply snapping, then the pieces whipping around in the engine compartment could catch wiring, etc. and do other damage, but it isn't like a timing belt that will take out major parts with it.
$100 is a fair price for that job, particularly at the dealer. I think the belt is about $50-60 at a discount but if you take it anywhere they'll mark that up, so the dealer is not really gouging you. Seems odd they wouldn't have mentioned it at the time, though. 55K is good life; mine was done about 45K.
Bottom line: particularly since it is showing signs of wear, I'd definitely get it in and get it changed. It's not something you want to wait on, you know Murphy's law, it's going to fail at the absolute worst possible time. [:(]
How long do these belts usually last? The reason why I ask is because I have about 43K miles and I just had my Harmonic Balancer replaced and according to my dealer that my belts still looks good and shows no signs of cracks or tears.
Greg you had yours replaced at 45K, did yours show any cracks or tears in it? I'm just curious because my friend also had his replaced at 45k and he had some tiny cracks that were visible. Will these cracks start to show on mine when I reach 45K?
There is no hard and fast rule on distance so far as I know. If you live in an extreme climate -- either hot or cold -- the belt will not last as long. My car started life in upstate NY, so it suffered through some cold winters; I bought it right after it's lease so that's how I know when it was replaced. Since our thread starter lives in Utah, where it can get pretty cold as well, you could expect shorter life. There are a few other variables as well (spilling oil on them is not good, for example) but climate is a key.
Now down in the OC where you are, Olivengco, you don't have any extremes, so you can expect your belt to last longer. Since your dealer just did a visual inspection on it, you can rest easy. Inspection is part of the regular A and B services (every 10K) so you can be assured it will be caught. If you take it in as scheduled you don't have to worry about inspecting it yourself.
FYI, the most common way to tell it's reaching the end of it's life is to turn the belt over along one of the straight runs and then bend it so it flexes the "teeth" out. This makes stress cracks (they run perpendicular to the belt teeth) more apparent. Cracks also will appear at joint where the teeth meet the main belt and run longitudinally along that joint. A few cracks here or there is not a big deal, when pieces start falling off (or you have shredding) it's time to change it.
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