Repair 7

How to Change the Belts on a 1995 Nissan Pickup

The hard body Nissan pickups were built between 1986 and 1997. The 1995 Nissan Pickup comes equipped with two separate belts that operate all of the engine accessories. The first belt is a serpentine belt and the second belt is a v-belt. These belts operate the alternator, power steering pump, air conditioner compressor and the cooling fan at the same time. Over time the serpentine belt and the v-belt will fray and crack. Change the belt as soon as the fraying or cracking is evident to prevent the belts from breaking.

Instructions

Replacing the Serpentine Belt

1

Open the hood and make note of the serpentine belt routing diagram. This diagram holds the instructions for how the serpentine belt is routed around each pulley. Use this diagram to properly route the new belt around the pulleys.

2

locate the serpentine belt on the front of the engine. The serpentine belt is a single belt with ribs on the inside of the belt that travel inside of the pulleys. The serpentine belt is tightened by a spring loaded tensioner on the front left hand side of the engine. Use the bolt head that secures the pulley to the bottom of the tensioner to relieve the tension from the belt.

3

Position a metric socket and a breaker bar onto the tensioner pulley bolt. Turn the breaker bar counter-clockwise to release the tension from the belt. Slide the belt off of the tensioner pulley and release the breaker bar.

4

Pull the serpentine belt out of the other accessory pulleys and out of the engine bay. Route the new serpentine belt around the same pulleys as described by the belt routing diagram. Put the breaker bar and socket back onto the tensioner pulley bolt. Rotate the breaker bar counter-clockwise and slide the new belt around the tensioner pulley. Release the breaker bar and remove it from the engine bay.

Replacing the V-Belt

5

Locate the v-belt that is routed around the remaining accessory pulleys. The v-belt is tightened by an adjustment bracket on top of the alternator. Loosen the bolt in the middle of the adjustment bracket with a ratchet and a metric socket.

6

Loosen the top alternator mounting bolt with the ratchet and socket.

7

Turn the adjustment bolt at the end of the adjustment bracket counter-clockwise until the belt is loose. Pull the belt out of the accessory pulleys and out of the engine bay.

8

Route the new v-belt around the accessory pulleys. Tighten the belt by turning the adjustment bolt clockwise with the ratchet and socket. Check the tension of the belt by pushing inward on the belt with your hand. The belt should have no more than a half-inch of slack. Adjust the belt as needed to get a half-inch of tension in the belt. Tighten the bolt in the middle of the adjustment bracket and the top alternator mounting bolt with the ratchet and socket.

9

Crank the engine for fifteen to twenty seconds. Turn the engine off and inspect the belts. Make sure that the serpentine belt is properly inside of each pulley. Make sure that the v-belt is inside of each pulley and also recheck the tension of the v-belt with your hand. Close the hood.