How to Replace Serpentine Belt 2003-11 Honda Element

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Hey everyone, Sue here from 1A Auto. Today on our 06 Honda Element, we're going to be replacing the serp belt/drive belt. If you need any parts of your car, click on the link below and head on over to 1aauto.com.

I'm going to take two of these plastic pins out. There's one. The plastic clips on this car are all busted. They have been since the first day. I'm replacing all of them. Hopefully, you don't have this frustration and yours are working properly. I never thought I'd say make sure you're wearing safety glasses when you take plastic clips off.

Now with all those clips out of the way, we can bring this plastic shield down enough that we can get to the belt. Now I'm going to bring the vehicle down and get from the top.

I'm going to be removing this front mount. I already have a floor Jack underneath on this end with a wooden block on it and I'm just snugging on top of the oil pan. Not a big fan about using the oil pan, but we're not going to actually be jacking or hoisting anything up. We're just supporting it. We're probably going to move it up like two inches.

First thing I'm going to do is disconnect the three mounting bolts for this. That's a 17 millimeter socket. I already took the liberty of spraying these things down because it doesn't look like they've been off for years. You want that engine supported right now even though you're just loosening these up because the engine will actually start to, as the mount is on, they will start to pivot down and the bolts will get pressure on them and you could end up crossing threads, stripping it actually.

I can take the nut and the washer off. Oh, there's no washer. Take the nut off, the side that's not on this mount, and I can still work on the other two bolts. Now I can take the nut off that long stud. This side has a washer definitely. There we go. Several washes and then the bolt.

Now with the engine supported, I'm going to pull this, I have to take this ground strap off, 10 millimeter. Now we can really see the serp belt tensioner and how easy it's going to be and that movement that we have. It's a 14 millimeter wrench. I'm going to put pressure on it. Actually, I'm going to pull on it. That releases the tension. Now I can slide the belt off. Bring that tensioner down. Get the belt go out of my way. Now there's a crank down below and the AC compressor. That's why I took that plastic splash shield off earlier. Sometimes, because the belt is so wide, you just have to twist it and guide it up, pull it up.

Even though we looked this belt up and I hoped, you know I put in that it has power steering and AC, I always double check before I go in there and get all frustrated. I basically put my two thumbs in and confirm that they're pretty much the same length. There's no obvious difference here other than that this is worn out and this has got some kinks in it from packaging. Now we're clear to go ahead and install this. I'm guiding the new belt, keeping it flat as I can so that I can guide it down between the actual car frame, or body shall I say, and the engine block. This can be a bit frustrating.

I'm going down below and I'm going to make sure that I can route it around the AC and the crank. Then I can take the top part of it and bring it around the water pump pulley. Once you have wrestled with that belt and you've got it all lined up, come up on the top here and you're going to pull the tensioner. Before I let go of this tension, I'm going to make sure the belt is in all grooves, it's not miss aligned. Then I'm going to bring that tensioner down.

Now it's time to reinstall the mount. First thing I'm going to do is take that ground strap off. I'm going to line up everything the best I can here before I lower the engine. I'm just going to snug that and make sure it's out of my way. Now with everything pretty much, at least it's on the long stud, I'm going to lower that engine slowly. I'm going to let it down in small portions, make sure it lines up. I'm going to put that bolt in before I let that jack completely down and I'm going to thread those other two bolts on, nuts on. I'm going to add the washers that were on there. Now I can just thread all these bolts and the two nuts down with my 17 millimeter socket. Don't forget to tighten up that 10 millimeter.

Now it's clear to lift the engine the rest of the way down and remove your jack. Now I've got new clips to put in the splash shield. Just line up the holes and push the tab in. There was three that we took out to do the drive belt. There we go.

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