Dealership saying drive belt and tensioner?

[Jmaz]

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.

Good catch! This smells even worse since they're already removing those parts as part of the warranty repair.

 

[HyFlyer]

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

And that's fine. What I'm saying is they already have those components (tensioner and belt) removed for the timing chain cover work so they should only charge for the new parts and no labor (if you want new parts). The labor is already there, just a matter of what to put back on, new part or old parts.

 

[Silly Wabbit]

And that's fine. What I'm saying is they already have those components (tensioner and belt) removed for the timing chain cover work so they should only charge for the new parts and no labor (if you want new parts). The labor is already there, just a matter of what to put back on, new part or old parts.

Keyword should. And there's a reason why dealerships have certain nick names

But I'm kinda surprised the belt needs to be replaced so early. To me it's a pics or it didn't happen type of situation.

 

[Jmaz]

Keyword should. And there's a reason why dealerships have certain nick names

But I'm kinda surprised the belt needs to be replaced so early. To me it's a pics or it didn't happen type of situation.

The belt most likely doesn't need replacing. As I posted earlier, the dealers seem to automatically want to replace belts even with low(er) mileage. My tensioner leaked at 29k miles and the dealer quoted new belts( yes, water pump belt too) as part of the job. As you said...... something about a nickname.

 

[txt990]

How long do these belts last on 2016 Cx-5 sport? I had the leaking tensioner changed at about 60k along with the drive belt (both Mazda parts). The mechanic didn't change the water pump belt. So, trying to figure out when I replace both belts now. I have about 96k on the car and live in South Florida where it really gets hot in the summers.

 

[stickerbush]

Time is a factor in addition to mileage. A hot climate is also a factor. Inspecting the belts for cracking is a good way to determine if they need replacement.

 

[GFrosty]

How long do these belts last on 2016 Cx-5 sport? I had the leaking tensioner changed at about 60k along with the drive belt (both Mazda parts). The mechanic didn't change the water pump belt. So, trying to figure out when I replace both belts now. I have about 96k on the car and live in South Florida where it really gets hot in the summers.

Purchased a pre-owned 2016.5 GT awhile back. At about ~90Kmi my accessory belt snapped, and I replaced the tensioner+belt. Almost certainly it was the original. At 150Kmi I'll be swapping them again, to try to keep ahead of things.

Myself, I do a lot of zippy acceleration from stop signs, and I'm frequently using either the heater or A/C. So, with my usage it gets a bit of load on it. Uncertain what sort of loads the prior owner put on it.

No idea if this is typical.

I'd think somewhere in the 75-100Kmi range it's reasonable to expect the tensioner and/or belt to be showing age. Heavily dependent on conditions, usage and luck of the cards of course.

 

[HyFlyer]

How long do these belts last on 2016 Cx-5 sport? ...

As others have mentioned, time is a factor with rubber parts as well as mileage and environmental factors.
As an example, I changed out both serpentine and water pump belts (and tensioner) last year on our 2016.5 touring with 180,000 miles and they both seemed to be in great shape. Looked like they'd last much longer. I just figured, at 8 years and 180k miles, that's probably half the life of the vehicle so may as well change them to take it to the end.

Some of the thought process (for me) when thinking about when to preventatively change out parts is ...

What will happen if the part fails?
How big of a problem will it cause? Life threatening? Inconvenient? Expensive?

How difficult is it to change the part?
Can I get to that part easily?

How disruptive to my life will a part failure be?
Is it my car and I'm very capable of handling issues and have a spare vehicle? Or maybe it's a ___ (fill in the blank ... Kid/spouse/elderly parent) car located away from you that's gonna be a PITA and/or essssssspensive to deal with the problem?

Haha, life certainly IS replete with choices isn't it.

 

[dunhillmc]

The cost of the belts is just a tiny part of the total. The main cost is in the labor because most dealers bill 2 hours for the job

 

[ceric]

I have four Mazdas since new (now 3)

'14 Mazda3: no tensioner issue
'16 Mazda6: tensioner leaked and replaced
'17 CX5: tensioner leaked and replaced. (sold)
'22 CX5: no tensioner issue (yet)

This issue seems to happen with model years '16-'18.
Bad tensioner was used by Mazda.

DIY-able if you are up to it.
Otherwise, dealer I went to charge $400-500 in SF Bay Area.