i have the occasional squealing when starting from "cold" (here cold is +15 deg C) and this has me thinking that i need a new belt for my 2az-fe. currently have 50,000 miles. the squeal goes away after a few seconds, today was the longest, maybe after 20 seconds it was gone.
Toyota 2AZ-FE Serpentine Belt Life
- Thread starter The Critic
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Recently, I have my low mileage OE Toyota serpentine belt replaced with Gates (bought from Rock Auto for 25bucks) due to a stone chip puncture. It's been very smooth and quiet on my wifey's 04 2AZFE Camry (clocked close to 10,000kms to date).
Also: please ensure that it's not your belt that's causing this (squeal). While you are at it: also inspect your water pump to see if there's a drag or leak from the weep hole. Get a replacement Aisin from Rock Auto if it's deemed questionable.
Also: please ensure that it's not your belt that's causing this (squeal). While you are at it: also inspect your water pump to see if there's a drag or leak from the weep hole. Get a replacement Aisin from Rock Auto if it's deemed questionable.
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UPDATE
it was the hydraulic tensioner assy that is leaking oil through a seal on the lower right, larger pulley if you look at the belt side of the engine head on. mechanic showed me the film of greasy dust. i could also see this greasy dust around the other parts int hat area flung off from the belt and pulley. it explains the squeal.
They recommended replacement of the hydraulic tensioner which is a $600 job unfortunately. BTW it has 93,000km or 58,000 miles. Will also be replacing belt. Water pump and seals are all OK.
where does the hydraulic fluid fed from seeing as it's a hydraulic tensioner?
it was the hydraulic tensioner assy that is leaking oil through a seal on the lower right, larger pulley if you look at the belt side of the engine head on. mechanic showed me the film of greasy dust. i could also see this greasy dust around the other parts int hat area flung off from the belt and pulley. it explains the squeal.
They recommended replacement of the hydraulic tensioner which is a $600 job unfortunately. BTW it has 93,000km or 58,000 miles. Will also be replacing belt. Water pump and seals are all OK.
where does the hydraulic fluid fed from seeing as it's a hydraulic tensioner?
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Engine oil operates the hydraulic tensioner.
It isn't an uncommon problem, there's an updated tensioner assembly from Toyota that it supposed to be better.
@crinkles:
04 Camry 2AZFE typically suffers from the following 3 common problems:
(1) hydraulic strut for the serpentine belt tensioner becomes leaky or the tensioner bearing squeaky, causing it to have cold squeak/squeals. Replacing the unit with a new one (RockAuto sells is for approx. 120USD) solves the problem.
(2)factory water pump weeping hole becomes wet around 60kmiles. This is prolly a water pump supplier/QC issues that can be resolved with a replacement Aisin/factory OE water pump. I got mine done under warranty when you purchase our 04Camry used (bought it through stealership).
(3)serpentine belt groove contamination. With flinging grease/oil from hydraulic strut on the idler tensioner pulley and/or coolant seepage from the water pump, you're deemed to get squeaky in relatively short period of time. While my belt has been replaced along with water pump during factory servicing (part of the agreement for the purchasing of our camry), unfortunately, our 2nd OE factory belt was "punctured" after a road trip to cali due to a jammed piece of rock on the pulley along the highway ride. Bought a new Gates micro-V belt from Rock Auto (25USD), replaced it about 1.5yrs ago and it's been really good since then.
My understanding with this all-in-1 setup using 1 serpentine belt to drive everything is the reduction in complexity required (only 1 belt instead of 3 or more to drive all the accessories, etc.) and that saves a lot of time during factory assembly part. However, it will suffer from catastrophic failure if this very belt snaps on you in the middle of nowhere. My take is to stock up on 1 spare and keep it in your trunk in case of emergencies. Also: as the idler tensioner (for serpentine belt) bearing becomes loose over time, your belt will start to experience abnormal rib wear due to the tensioner bearing wear. When that happens, you shall consider replacing the entire hydraulic tensioner assembly as a whole.
Q.
04 Camry 2AZFE typically suffers from the following 3 common problems:
(1) hydraulic strut for the serpentine belt tensioner becomes leaky or the tensioner bearing squeaky, causing it to have cold squeak/squeals. Replacing the unit with a new one (RockAuto sells is for approx. 120USD) solves the problem.
(2)factory water pump weeping hole becomes wet around 60kmiles. This is prolly a water pump supplier/QC issues that can be resolved with a replacement Aisin/factory OE water pump. I got mine done under warranty when you purchase our 04Camry used (bought it through stealership).
(3)serpentine belt groove contamination. With flinging grease/oil from hydraulic strut on the idler tensioner pulley and/or coolant seepage from the water pump, you're deemed to get squeaky in relatively short period of time. While my belt has been replaced along with water pump during factory servicing (part of the agreement for the purchasing of our camry), unfortunately, our 2nd OE factory belt was "punctured" after a road trip to cali due to a jammed piece of rock on the pulley along the highway ride. Bought a new Gates micro-V belt from Rock Auto (25USD), replaced it about 1.5yrs ago and it's been really good since then.
My understanding with this all-in-1 setup using 1 serpentine belt to drive everything is the reduction in complexity required (only 1 belt instead of 3 or more to drive all the accessories, etc.) and that saves a lot of time during factory assembly part. However, it will suffer from catastrophic failure if this very belt snaps on you in the middle of nowhere. My take is to stock up on 1 spare and keep it in your trunk in case of emergencies. Also: as the idler tensioner (for serpentine belt) bearing becomes loose over time, your belt will start to experience abnormal rib wear due to the tensioner bearing wear. When that happens, you shall consider replacing the entire hydraulic tensioner assembly as a whole.
Q.
Originally Posted By: The Critic
My friend has an '04 Camry with the 2.4L 2AZ-FE engine. It has about 60k miles on it and the serpentine belt is in need of replacement. The belt squeals constantly, especially with the colder weather lately.
I find 60k to be a short life for a serpentine belt, especially for one that is automatically tensioned. This isn't the first time that I have seen a Toyota serpentine belt require replacement before 100k, is this a common problem with Toyotas?
What would be a good replacement belt? I told him to order a Gates serpentine belt from Amazon for $27. Hopefully it will last longer than the OE one.
It may only have 60K miles, but it's likely close to 7 years old.
Mileage is not the only factor that impacts the belt. Time does it's work on it as well.
Perhaps it's time (pardon the pun) to replace the belt.
EDITED to add. Good grief, holy thread resurrection. Time is still a factor, but I gotta check the date of the original post more closely.
My friend has an '04 Camry with the 2.4L 2AZ-FE engine. It has about 60k miles on it and the serpentine belt is in need of replacement. The belt squeals constantly, especially with the colder weather lately.
I find 60k to be a short life for a serpentine belt, especially for one that is automatically tensioned. This isn't the first time that I have seen a Toyota serpentine belt require replacement before 100k, is this a common problem with Toyotas?
What would be a good replacement belt? I told him to order a Gates serpentine belt from Amazon for $27. Hopefully it will last longer than the OE one.
It may only have 60K miles, but it's likely close to 7 years old.
Mileage is not the only factor that impacts the belt. Time does it's work on it as well.
Perhaps it's time (pardon the pun) to replace the belt.
EDITED to add. Good grief, holy thread resurrection. Time is still a factor, but I gotta check the date of the original post more closely.
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