Dealership saying drive belt and tensioner?

[bmninada]

70k miles. Dealer saying belt tensioner and belt needs replacing. Quoted $640. Seems very high.
How to double check?
I am used to flipping water pump and water pump belt when doing this job in my earlier car. Worth doing the same or just do the belt+tensioner+water pump belt only?

 

[RedBaron]

70k miles. Dealer saying belt tensioner and belt needs replacing.

That's likely to be true, but should be easy DIY. $640 seems very high.

 

[Jmaz]

Forget the dealer and yes their price is outrageous and they can even do the job with the aid of a lift.
> use the search and read prior threads about this to get a better understanding. If you changed water pumps on cars before you should be able to do this job.
Suggest new belts at this point and the serpentine needs removed anyway to change the tensioner so a new belt goes back on instead of old.
I changed my tensioner and it's a tight squeeze. The tensioner has a raised hex that takes a 14mm (IIRC) wrench to compress it to remove the belt. I used the box end of a long combination wrench. No room for a ratchet/breaker bar and socket. The tensioner is held on with a small nut (12mm IIRC) and 12mm bolt. Use good lighting too.
Two important things:
> you do not want to strip the nut or bolt head or the job has now become complicated.
> the bolt can not be totally removed because the head hits the frame but the tensioner casting has a slot to allow the bolt to slide out of the slot when the tensioner body is rotated. Easy to remove at this point.
Last summer I tried to change belts using new OEM Mazda belts. I made the mistake(?) of cutting the very tight original water pump belt off and after bruises and scraped/bloody forearms trying to fit the WP stretch belt, I drove one street over to my mechanic who put both belts on for me (electric steering was nice, even if only running on battery power). It was $40 well spent at that point. When asked, my mechanic said it's a job better done on a lift and the stretch belt still was a b***h to install.
So, after reading about other members experiences, they must have the right technique to make installing the WP belt easy, and as tight as the new Mazda belt was, I can't imagine trying to install a smaller aftermarket belt.
Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the bear gets you.
Maybe some other members will chime in with their experiences and helpful tips.

 

[bmninada]

Very good inputs @Jmaz . I will take a print-out of the points to watch out for and how to slide the of the slot (bolt).

I have a very trusted mechanic. Taking it to him. He quoted a much, much reasonable price and he allows me to bring my parts, so can buy the tensioner and belts from Med Center maybe.

 

[HyFlyer]

I did our 2016.5 serpentine, tensioner and water pump belts last year. I found the job pretty easy and didn't have any trouble at all with the water pump stretch belt go figure. I was ready for a fight from reading others who've done the job. All I did was heat it up real nice with Mrs. Hyflyer's hair dryer (shhhhhhhh, don't tell her! )

I used the INA tensioner from Rock Auto at a fraction of of the cost of OEM. Seems to be the same as OEM to me.

The belts I used OEM Mazda parts.

That was probably at 160,000 miles on the original belts and they looked pretty good and I never had any tensioner leak problems with ours. I just figured I'd change them out and that would take it to 300k miles give or take.

Have fun DIY ... No way I'd ever pay a dealer north of $600 for this job. I did it during an oil change / tire rotation in my driveway with basic tools and it couldn't have added an hour to the job I don't think

 

[Jmaz]

I did our 2016.5 serpentine, tensioner and water pump belts last year. I found the job pretty easy and didn't have any trouble at all with the water pump stretch belt go figure. I was ready for a fight from reading others who've done the job. All I did was heat it up real nice with Mrs. Hyflyer's hair dryer (shhhhhhhh, don't tell her! )

I used the INA tensioner from Rock Auto at a fraction of of the cost of OEM. Seems to be the same as OEM to me.

The belts I used OEM Mazda parts.

That was probably at 160,000 miles on the original belts and they looked pretty good and I never had any tensioner leak problems with ours. I just figured I'd change them out and that would take it to 300k miles give or take.

Have fun DIY ... No way I'd ever pay a dealer north of $600 for this job. I did it during an oil change / tire rotation in my driveway with basic tools and it couldn't have added an hour to the job I don't think

Thanks for the hair dryer tip. Never woulda thought to do that. My old serpentine belt didn't look real bad(fraying, deep cracks etc) but had many small cracks after 10-1/2 years and looked a bit dried out. On rubber items I go by time as well as mileage and condition. I doubt it would have lasted 160,000 miles like yours. Speaking of dried out, that's why I won't use Gates serpentine belts anymore. On my previous car they were dried out and cracked within 3 years and 30k miles.

 

[bmninada]

Hello - I took the car into my trusted mechanic. He said - the belt is relatively fine. For 9 yrs., its in great condition. The problem he said is the tensioner. There's hydraulic fluid inside it and it's leaking and he's finding oil on the belt. He checked and apparently Mazda has had issues with the tensioner. He told me to get only OEM and make sure to get the latest iteration only and I told him to purchase on my behalf.

The part # is PE03-15-980C. He said there's PE03-15-980, PE03-15-980B, PE03-15-980A -> and all of them may have issues. C is the latest iteration. He said it'll be $140.

The belt itself is darn cheap, OEM - PY01-15-909A $30.
He also got- water pump belt: PY01-15-908 for $15 and
tensioner bolt: 9YA0-2A-818 for $5

He's good in this way - he'll order on my behalf, keep invoice, does not open packaging till I show up.

Hope the part numbers are okay and he's right.

 

[AL Cx5]

Gates, who makes WPs, serp belts and tensioners said a tensioner moves 1,000,000 times over 100,000 miles. 70k on the tensioner is not so bad. I just changed out a WP/Tensioner/serp belt and thermostat on another vehicle at 40K. The tensioner bearings were pretty sloppy and setting up a vibration that would soon be taking out the WP and wearing more expensive parts.

At 100,000K mi, I'll change out the WP/tensioner/serp belt and T stat with new coolant on our Mazda as part of the 100k TUNE UP. I'll change of a few sensors at that time as well: O2s/MAP/MAF and crank/cam position sensors. Then look at the suspension for wear and tear.

The following video, it looks like the WP is a straight forward install. The tech DIDN'T replace the tensioner. He lost some points with me over that oversight....

Belt Tensioner:

 

[AL Cx5]

Hello - I took the car into my trusted mechanic. He said - the belt is relatively fine. For 9 yrs., its in great condition. The problem he said is the tensioner. There's hydraulic fluid inside it and it's leaking and he's finding oil on the belt. He checked and apparently Mazda has had issues with the tensioner. He told me to get only OEM and make sure to get the latest iteration only and I told him to purchase on my behalf.

The part # is PE03-15-980C. He said there's PE03-15-980, PE03-15-980B, PE03-15-980A -> and all of them may have issues. C is the latest iteration. He said it'll be $140.

The belt itself is darn cheap, OEM - PY01-15-909A $30.
He also got- water pump belt: PY01-15-908 for $15 and
tensioner bolt: 9YA0-2A-818 for $5

He's good in this way - he'll order on my behalf, keep invoice, does not open packaging till I show up.

Hope the part numbers are okay and he's right.

While he is into it, change out the water pump? My experience, if the tensioner is vibrating, the water pump bearing or seal will be going out next.

 

[HyFlyer]

While he is into it, change out the water pump? My experience, if the tensioner is vibrating, the water pump bearing or seal will be going out next.

I was considering the same thought when I did the belts ... "I'm in this far, water pump is just a few bolts further". The answer (for me) was it's a very simple procedure and easy to get back into it in the future if the water pump needs replaced so I left it alone. (now north of 190,000 miles on original water pump) .

 

[Jmaz]

While he is into it, change out the water pump? My experience, if the tensioner is vibrating, the water pump bearing or seal will be going out next.

No need to change the water pump especially in light of the high mileage CX-5's with original pump. Also, the water pump is driven by it's own (stretch) belt. The tensioner is only for the serpentine.

 

[AL Cx5]

No need to change the water pump especially in light of the high mileage CX-5's with original pump. Also, the water pump is driven by it's own (stretch) belt. The tensioner is only for the serpentine.

Maybe that's why the WP lasts and lasts. I'll just watch mine then.

Mazda does some quirky stuff that WORKS...!

 

[bmninada]

[FINAL UPDATE} This time used "Mazda Swag" and got all the parts. The belt and the water pump was easy peachy from bottom but the tensioner was a real bi$$h. I had to go all crazy. I just cut the water pump belt. For those attempting DIY and if tensioner is not in plan - then go for it otherwise be ready for some crazy cuts, bruises and arm gymnastics.
The dealership was right --> the belt was fully coated with oil and tensioner was leaking like crazy. WTH? Anyways - hope the newer version of the tensioner, Mazda fixed the issue. 1 thing - Everywhere is categorical - go with Mazda OEM tensioner only.

 

[Silly Wabbit]

Just changed my belt and tensioner also. Belt was easier but the tensioner required a lot of patience to maneuver it. Belt for the water pump was fine for me so I didn't change it

 

[cz5gt]

They updated the tensioner allright but it still leaks over time its a known little detail on the skyactivs.
Good that you sorted it out.

 

[Jmaz]

Glad you got it sorted out. Yup, changing the tensioner is a tight squeeze. My tensioner leaked about 7 years ago at 29k miles. The dealer said they usually leak around 40k miles. Was out of 3/36 B-B factory warranty and not covered by 5/60 drivetrain warranty. The dealer quoted $450 for new tensioner and belts. I said screw that and bought an OEM Mazda tensioner from online Mazda dealer for ~$100. The belts looked really good so obviously didn't get changed. The tensioner still hasn't leaked yet.

 

[SWCX5R]

Shoot. I'm at 36k and they say tensioner leaking and belt cracked $574. It's there right now for warranty work on the timing cover leaking....

 

[Jmaz]

Shoot. I'm at 36k and they say tensioner leaking and belt cracked $574. It's there right now for warranty work on the timing cover leaking....

Well, I would think that if you read the above conversations that it probably isn't in your best interest financially to have the dealer do the job for$574. I find it suspect that the belt (assuming serpentine belt) is cracked at 36,000 miles. Maybe (that's maybe) some oil from the tensioner. The water pump belt should be fine and not need changing. The dealers seem to quote new belts automatically even with low mileage leaking tensioners where the belts are still good. Assuming no other contributory problems, at 36K miles the belts should have plenty of life left. they routinely last up to100k, more for some.

 

[HyFlyer]

Shoot. I'm at 36k and they say tensioner leaking and belt cracked $574. It's there right now for warranty work on the timing cover leaking....

If you're in getting warranty timing chain cover work, wouldn't they have the belt and tensioner removed anyway to work on it? So why extra labor? Seems like a $574 quote price would be what they would charge for that job by itself.

Smells like a "stealership" scam to me.

 

[SWCX5R]

I'd guess they consider belts and tensioners to be wear and tear components?