I got my oil changed today at the Nissan dealership. They told me that my drive belts need to be replaced (they have cracks in them).
My last oil change (before this one) was at car spa, on the check sheet, it said my serpentine belt was OK. This was back in December 2009.
I find it odd that after only about 4 months the belts now have cracks in them and need to be replaced immediately.
This is of course serpentine belt and drive belts are two different things. So are they the same thing? What is the difference?
I drive a 05 Nissan Sentra.
Serpentine belt and Drive Belt?
serpentine belt runs all your accessories like power steering, alternator, water pump and air conditioner, the drive belt is the timing belt and that cannot be seen from outside the engine and there is no way physically possible for a mechanic to see that belt to say it needs replaced without tearing the front of the engine apart, apparently he is going by the mileage on your vehicle and the factory recommended change interval.
Serpentine belt and Drive Belt?
On a 4 cylinder engine there is usually only 1 serpentine belt and it's the drive belt (might be different on a sentra). If you live in a place with variable temperature it's likely that a belt would need to be replaced after 5 years. Actually in this case I would trust the dealership more than an independent provider.
Whoever called them drive belts, do not go back to them. They have drive belts on some motorcycles but there isn't any car that I know of that has a drive belt. If you have a serpentine belt, it runs everything but the cam shaft.
One more thing. An oil change at a dealership. When you went in for that they knew you didn't know much about cars and that's why they said you need a belt. Never go to the dealership for an oil change, you'll get charged twice as much and they'll try to get you for something else.
Most cars have 1 belt but some have 2. Some have 1 that goes from crank pulling to the water pump. And another one that drives all the accessories.
Take a few close-up picture of the belt and post another question. If you see cracks, take pictures of those specifically.
Then you'll get a yahoo answer on if the dealership was trying to do unnecessary maintenance.
For the question you asked here, I I think they mean the same thing in Serpentine and Drive belt.
not all cars have serpentine belts. But given the year I would say yes on serpentine! A serpentine belt Is one belt that runs A/C, Crank, Water pump, Alternator,And on most cars the power steering if the car has more than one belt then you have drive belts and some cars are driven by chain on the power steering that is why some of them are NOT on the serp belt! Hope this helps
