How hard is it to replaced the belts on a 99' RX300. The inside one is squeeking and I dont have a shop manual for it. I have replaced many GM belts but cant quite get a good look at the RX300 front end to see what I need to loosen.

Thanks in advance!

 

egawenda,

Welcome to ClubLexus! You accidently posted your question in the GS section instead of the RX forum area, I'm moving your post there to see if someone can help you out.

 

squeak is due to cold whether, not because it is old, you have to check to see if the belt is cracking or not
if there is cracking, then you should replace it, don't know how hard is it to replace the belt on the RX, it can't be that bad, definitely nothing compare to the timming belt

may want to consider replace the timing belt too, if you have 90K+ mile already

 

i'm also getting a lot of squeaking from the belts. i have only 40,000 miles on the rx and it's 100 degrees farenheit in houston! i to the service rep, but he said there was nothing wrong with it. what a load of bull. i'm gonna talk directly to the tech next time and see if there's anything i can do without having them do it and charge me an arm and a leg!
peter.

 

It been in the 60's here, Lexus srpayed some belt dressing on it and it lasted about 2 days. I sprayed wd-40 on each belt and found out the noise went away when the inner belt was sprayed.
I am pretty sure its either the belt of the tension on the belt but have not really looked at how to replace or tighten/loosen the belts. Just want to know what it takes and how long it would take.

Thanks.

 

happen to me, belt squeek really bad, almost all the time in cold weather... told my service rep one and they spray there magic on it... worked for a bit then came back, and i told them to replace it no matter what because i dont want no spray that last a day or 2 and have the problem arise again...

tell your service dood to replace it under warrenty!

 

Just wanted to add my 2 cents here:

The squeaking can be because the belt is slipping: ask a mechanic to check the tension on the belts. I believe that some cars come with automatic tensioners, though.

On my old beater Nissan, the water pump was dying quietly and destroying / losing its bearings in the process. I asked a mechanic to check the belts and he said everything was fine (despite squeaking under throttle). Then one day, the WP died completely. What happened was that by losing the bearings, the WP pulley was not spinning in its proper plane, thus chewing through the front engine cover (achieving a knife-like edge) and making the squeaking sound.

Definitely have it checked out and replace everything that happens to be in the vicinity (other belts, radiator hoses, etc. to save on labor costs - belts and hoses aren't that expensive usually).

Good luck.

 

P/S belt and AC/Alternator Belts need to be replaced at 60k miles else you will hear a high pitched squeaking noise at start up. This is especially more evident in cold weather.

 

When I had my new belts put on December 2004, around 82K or so from my recollection including timing belt, they made this high squeak and it took a few months for it to go away.