The dealer screwed up my belt!

Happy Independence Day everyone! I’m not here to bash Toyota dealers(I’m an auto tech myself) but this was concerning and disappointing for me and I would like to inform everyone so this can hopefully be avoided in the future.

About a week ago my 2015 Tundra 5.7 was an at the Toyota dealer for warranty replacement of the radio and water pump. I was told the work was done and everything went well so I went and picked it up. When I started my truck in the dealer parking lot it made a horrible belt squealing noise for about 30 seconds after start up.... This was concerning to me but I figured there probably had been fluids spilled on the belt causing it to slip but I figured it would go away after a couple days so I left the dealer. Well the noise continued... every start up... worse when A/C was on or the engine was cold. I investigated myself and here’s what I found.

The belt was slipping on the crankshaft(I could tell this by checking which pulley was warm after a startup and some squealing) which obviously drives all the other pulleys. Therefore I quickly decided I had better check routing. Sure enough after pulling up a belt routing diagram I compared it to my engine and found... my belt was running crank, alternator, tensioner, power steering pump. It should run crank, tensioner, alternator, power steering pump. I rerouted the belt and no more squealing. The belt was not slipping because it was not tight enough, the belt was slipping because it did not have enough contact(grip) to its main drive pulley.

I hope the pictures help to explain the issue, red is bad, green is good. I told the service manager at my Toyota dealer about their mistake and hopefully he relays it to his technicians... As an auto tech I always have belt routing up on my phone in front of me whenever I’m installing a belt.

 

That...Plus fairly certain the tensioner pulley would be designed to move in direction more/less parallel with correctly routed belt sides to maximize effect. The way it was routed before puts tensioner movement more/less perpendicular to belt sides, which would make the tensioner close to useless.

Thanks for an informative post.

 

I’ve seen people do this before. It can happen especially if the pump was replaced under warranty, Toyota under pays a fair bit for the labor so techs are usually in a hurry to get it done. As long as its rerouted you should have any issues after that. Maybe get a new belt if it looks glazed over (dealer should pay for it)

 

I'm glad to see the low level of service review that is done (by the service manager) by the dealership before releasing it for return to the customer. Goodness gracious.

 

service manager review? the sad thing is in most cases service managers can barely work on their own car

 

Eggzactly.

 

That seems like something pretty big to miss seeing (not routed around the tensioner). Like another poster said, I am surprised it was not caught before it came out of service.

 

Yeah I’ll be the first to tell you mistakes can happen, but when my truck was started after the work was done I’m sure everyone in that shop heard it squeal. Should have been a red flag for someone... yes I agree they should give me a new belt for their mistake but that probably won’t happen.

 

It was routed around the tensioner. The belt was still tight, but it was not routed corrected to have proper contact with the crankshaft pulley.

 

I guess these trucks are so reliable that the dealers forget how to fix them.

 

@vanoss101 this sucks to hear but, good info. Did you ever let them know what happened? (Fixing it yourself) Sounds like a free service appointment should be in your near future

 

I did tell the service manager that I fixed the problem myself but he didn’t act like it was a big deal at all. Giving me a free service appointment wouldn’t benefit me at all because I do all my work myself. Only chance they get at it is warranty work... and even that makes me very nervous...

 

@vanoss101 Well.....a year or two of free oil filters might come in handy. I feel you though. Not worth letting them touch anything unless absolutely need be

 

Thanks much, vanoss101. Just got my '21 back from the body shop. Exact same symptoms you experienced, exact same improper routing of the belt. Do you think it's safe to drive the ten or so miles back to the shop tomorrow morning?