OEM Belts

How Can I Tell if the Belts in My Toyota are Bad? Look for the Signs

Imagine. Your behind the wheel of your Toyota Corolla. You start hearing something weird under the hood. It starts as a squeak, turn into a squeal or chirp. Then the battery light -- or worse, the dreaded Check Engine light -- shows up on the dash.

Suddenly, the air conditioning stops working. The power steering follows. You notice the temperature gauge on the dash; the engine's running hot. Maybe it's even started overheating. At any rate, you smell something like burning rubber. It's official: your Corolla probably has a bad belt somewhere.

Luckily, home's nearby, or a Toyota dealer; maybe it's right here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. You run an inspection (or a tech from the service center does), and find just that: a crack or split in some belt, like the serpentine belt, for instance, or some fraying; the sides of it are glazed, or worse, it's separating. Maybe there's even oil or coolant all over it!

What to Do About Belt Failure

At any rate, you'll need to replace that belt ASAP. After all, you saw firsthand just how important belts are to a Toyota vehicle running right. Just imagine not having, say, a working timing belt or chain to coordinate the camshaft and crankshaft and keep engine parts from colliding with each other.

Otherwise, when to replace belts is straightforward. Do it fairly regularly, according to the maintenance schedules in your owner's manual (or on the advice of the pros). The serpentine belt, that's every 90,000 miles, and the timing belt, that's every 60,000 to 90,000 miles or so. (Timing chains, on the other hand, generally last an engine's lifetime, but should be swapped out for new ones if they break.)

Let faulty belts go long enough, and the average replacement costs involved -- they can really add up. Serpentine belts can run $115 to $140 on average, while timing belts can run between $600 and $780. Luckily, you've come to the right Toyota parts store for replacements.

Shop OEM Belts for Toyota from Irving TX

We carry genuine Toyota, and for less; buy now. We'll ship anywhere nationwide, and fast. Contact us with any questions.