I got an oil change and was told that my serpentine belt needs to be replaced. The mechanic gave me an estimate of $100 (parts and labor), but that seemed a bit high. Anyone have a sense of how much this should cost?
$100.
$10,000 if you have a Bugatti Veyron. You don’t say what you have.
Seriously, $100 is not at all unreasonable for this. I make that as an hour’s shop time at $75 plus $25 for the belt. Most shops now have a minimum $100 fee for any work just to cover the cost of having the bay tied up and the cost of any incidental difficulties they might encounter.
I agree that $100.00 is not out of line, given that we don’t know either the make of vehicle or the area where the OP resides. Without any specific information from the OP, I have to say that $100.00 sounds about right for a shop price.
Do you trust your mechanic? If not, find another. If you do, get it done, it could leave you stranded. What make/model/year is it? So the obvious question is, can you or someone you know do it? It’s not too difficult on some cars.
Was this at a Quicky-Lube kind of place? If so, I’d definitely take it to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
What vehicle and what year. Some vehicles are harder then others. My 4-runner was EASY. My wifes Lexus is a pain in the butt
OH… The serpentine belt is for her car! I’m glad that’s settled.
This is usually a simple job that most people can do themselves. You need to find the label that shows the routing of the belt around the various pulleys and you need to know how to relieve the pressure applied by the idler/tensioner wheel. Usually, a wrench is used to push the wheel away from the belt which puts enough slack in the belt to remove the old and install the new. In my experience this job is tough when it is hard to reach & see all the places the belt has to be routed past, or when there are enough obstructions to make putting the new belt in position difficult.
The belts are cheap. If $100 is a lot of money, pop the hood on your car and study your old belt. Find the little diagram, look at how the belt would be removed from the car; locate the idler wheel, look for a bolt head for a wrench to fit. If you can see everything, chances are you can have the new belt on in about 10 minutes.
If you have to pay to have it done, $100 is about right.
Speaking of the serpentine belt, what will I lose when the belt fails? I have a '98 Saturn SL2 (1.9L DOHC). I can see the alternator, PS pump, and AC compressor. Anything else? Water pump? Emission controls? The Owners Manual doesn’t say. The reason I’m pondering this is that something has started to go “chirp chirp” when the engine is cold, and with the hood up, it sounds like it could be the AC compressor. If the compressor seizes and shreds the belt (as happened on my previous car), how long can I keep running without an alternator, etc.? I’m wondering if there is a stock size smaller belt that I should keep as a spare until the compressor gets fixed (if it fails), the idea being to just bypass the failed compressor. Is this a plausible roadside repair, or should I just keep my auto club membership paid up? My previous car had the AC compressor on its own belt, so failure was just an inconvenience.
If you tell us the make and model then more help would be on the way. Is the tensioner going to be changed too?
Suspect the idler/tensioner wheel first.