Stretch Belts

[Andy H]

Changed the oil on my Mazda Premacy a couple of weeks back and thought it was about time to change the rubber belts.

The Mazda is based on the same floorpan as a Ford Focus and shares lots of parts.

It has chain driven cams and two poly V belts. The main one has a tensioner,  to get it off you have to first remove the air con compressor belt that doesn't have a tensioner.

Workshop manual says to cut the old one off and to turn the engine over and use a wedge to force the new one on.

Thoughts anyone? Is it pish easy to do? Or a mare of a job?

[biggriffin]

Run belt round all pulleys, then tie wrap it to bottom pulley, as you turn the pully belts goes on, then cut tie wrap off..

[Andy H]

Sounds easy enough

The A/C compressor is tucked in tight underneath the the crankshaft, the belt is very short and only goes round two pulleys so I don't see it stretching that easily - I will get hold of some man sized cable ties first

[Sir Tigger KC]

If it looks easy enough and sounds easy enough, it's bound to turn out to be a complete and utter PITA of a job! 

[STEMO]

Sounds easy enough

The A/C compressor is tucked in tight underneath the the crankshaft, the belt is very short and only goes round two pulleys so I don't see it stretching that easily - I will get hold of some man sized cable ties first

And don't forget a little YouTube vid, it's good to wake up to a laugh first thing 

[Marks DTM Calib]

I have had the missfortune of doing one of these.

Its a from below job and I can't see you getting a zip tie in, I just got it nominally on by rotating the crank and hoilding the belt in place (it grips better than you think) and then further rotattion to feed it onto the puley fully (it tends to sit on the edge to start).

[Doctor Gollum]

Would warming the belt in hot water help any?

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

I would try levering the old one off with a screwdriver in the hope I could reuse it. 

[JasonH]

You can get them off and on. It seems horrible dragging it onto the pulley but the belts seem to take it. I contrived a clamp to stop the belt falling off then rotated the crank until the belt was on (this is on a BMW). Do make sure the new belt is definitely a stretch belt.

[Lizzie Zoom]

If all else fails, try the pair of tights solution

Well, they do stretch!