Ford v10 serpentine belt replacement
2 questions... How hard is it to replace? And to make sure I get the right length, should I just go to the ford dealer?
Forum Discussion
The serpentine belt on a V10 operates all of the engine accessories, the most critical of which is the water pump. When we first bought our 2003 Class C I bought a spare belt as a precaution. It is necessary to remove the air filter assembly to get to the spring loaded idler pulley and the alternator. As a pre-trip test, I tried using my 1/2" breaker bar to loosen the idler but was unable to do so due to space limitations. I bought a serpentine belt tool which worked great. Our spare belt is a Motorcraft 2C2E-8626-DC.
While a belt failure is a rare event we actually had it happen to us while camping at Pebble Creek about 20 miles from anywhere in the northeast corner of Yellowstone. When I started the engine in the morning there was a clunk followed by a whap, whap, whap sound. Upon opening the hood I discovered that a ground squirrel had been in the engine area and had been caught in the belt. The squirrel had paid the ultimate price and the belt was badly damaged. The spare belt and belt tool saved us that day.
While a belt failure is a rare event we actually had it happen to us while camping at Pebble Creek about 20 miles from anywhere in the northeast corner of Yellowstone. When I started the engine in the morning there was a clunk followed by a whap, whap, whap sound. Upon opening the hood I discovered that a ground squirrel had been in the engine area and had been caught in the belt. The squirrel had paid the ultimate price and the belt was badly damaged. The spare belt and belt tool saved us that day.
