hitthepin

After a couple of months of AC belt squealing, I'm just going to replace the AC belt on the Rx300.

TunedRx300 posted a nice DIY on tightening the belt to take away the cold start squeal.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...elt+tightening

What I'm afraid of is, it looks to be fairly straight forward. So I'd like some feedback on any "gotcha's".

What should I know before starting the job? What should I be careful "not" to do?...etc. Even obvious things that might not be in the above thread is welcome feedback as I haven't changed a belt on this vehicle before.

Thanks in advance.

bob2200

My mechanic replaced my belts last summer. He went in from different directions. He removed the plastic piece over the radiator (about 6 pop-fasteners) for some of the acess with a long ratchet extension. Also, he removed the right front tire and removed an access plate there for the remaining access.

hitthepin

I'm not removing the P/S belt so I didn't need to take apart the plastic piece of the radiator nor the wheel.

Got up early to tackle this one. The job "is" pretty straight forward. Just have to take your time. TunedRx wasn't kidding in his post about not have much room to work with. As he said, a ratcheting wrench will save you lots of agony and its well worth the $10 bucks. I'm glad I decided to buy a 12mm ratchet wrench, I wouldn't have wanted to do the job without one.

No squealing so far.

SilverSprt

when I replaced my belts, my mechanic removed the front right tire as mentioned above. Looked kinda complicated, so I just paid him to do it for me. Didn't get a chance to look at TunedRX's DIY so it might be something easy to do..

hitthepin

I wasn't going to change the lower P/S belt so there was no need to take off the front tire. What your mechanic did is good feedback though when time comes to replace that belt.

For the A/C belt I was just looking for gotcha's if any. Things like don't over loosen any of the bolts, washers or other things that might be delicate or can pop off and then hard to fine afterwards. This job is really straight forward, just have to be patient. Also,

I only adjusted the belt loose enough where it took a little effort to pull the belt off. Anyone who's tired of the ear piercing squeal should change it provided they have the correct tools.