2001 RAV 4 serpentine belt sqeak

[kenny1773]

Anyone else have a problem with belt sqeak?

I have a 2001 RAV 4 (1AZA-FE) and at 17000 miles, the belt started to sqeak (LOUDLY).

Toyota replaced it under warranty no questions asked.

At 37,000 miles (yes 1000 miles out of warranty) it started to do it again on the replacement belt.

I called Toyota and argued that they must have missed the real problem at 17,000 miles and I wanted it looked at again under warranty. With much arguement, they agreed to look.

Toyota claimed no problem found and that they never heard any belt noise. I picked the car up and drove it for about another month and the belt was silent, no noise at all, which was very odd as it was noisey as hell when I left it. Then after about a month it started to squeal again, really loud.

Frustrated with my next call to Toyota (all they could point out was my mileage and I was no longer under warranty, etc, etc even though this was an existing problem in my mind), I just decided to replace the belt myself with a NON-Toyota belt.

I am sure it is the belt, I did a test with belt dressing while it was squeaking. When I sprayed the dressing on the belt the noise went away immediately.

I used a Gates brand belt (hearing it was one of the best and it was only $30) because I wanted to rule out the Toyota belt as being the problem.

The tensioner seemed fine.

So far the 3rd belt (the Gates belt) has been silent, but it has only been about 500 miles.

We will see how it goes, I figure I need to wait about 18,000 miles to figure it out

Anyone else have this problem or have any thoughts?

[kenny1773]

Bump to see any other 2001 RAV 4 owners with belt squeak?

[Mike Kamm]

Found this thread through a search. Did anyone here ever change this belt themselves? If so, how did you do it? I heard there is a special tool to release the tensioner. Has anyone figured out another way without the tool? There's always another way right?

[kenny1773]

My local mechanic charged $25 labor to do it and let me bring the Gates brand belt I described above.

Here I am at about 67,000 miles and the belt is squeaking again. Not bad this time, it squeaks a little bit for the first couple minutes the engine is started only if it is raining outside or extremely humid.

The gates belt performed way better than the Toyota branded belt (no idea who is making that for Toyota). I am fed up with it, so I just live with it for now, doens't seem to be a reliability probem in any way.

From the manual, you need this tool

Hook SST on the hexagonal portion of the drive belt tensioner
bracket, compress the drive belt tension by turning the drive belt
tensioner bracket clockwise, and install the drive belt.
SST 09249–63010
NOTICE:
Compress the drive belt tensioner by taking 3 seconds or
more and installed the drive belt.

by looking at the picture that comes with the manual, I don't see any way around having this tool unless you have an existing combination of rachets and extensions and maybe a universal joint that will let you get to the tensioner bolt.

[Mike Kamm]

Thanks for the insight Kenny. I actually got mine changed by cutting off the old belt and installing the new one by simply prying down the tensioner with a large pry bar against the body seam [inner fenderwell]. You need three hands to do this, so I had my wife push the belt onto the last pulley [the water pump pulley] while I held the tensioner compressed all the way with the pry bar. So as I suspected, there is a way to do it without the special tool.