Q&A

 Enthusiast

No answers? Disappointing. For #1, the way I ascertained that the serpentine belt in my 1999 Ford Explorer did indeed need replacing when the dealer said so (I had it in there for something totally unrelated which could only be done for free at the dealer's - I give them a lot of credit for pointing it out to me) was to visually inspect it, i.e. look at it. If it looks worn, and/or even frayed, the mechanic is speaking the truth. If not, ASK WHY. I'm hoping someone else will have answers to #2 and #3 - for myself as well.

 Rookie

1. visually inspect it yourself. get a flashlight. look at the belt, look at the inside part of it where the groves are. if you see white v shaped things,then the belt is cracked. but no need to rush to get it replaced if there are only a few of em, but if you see numerous cracks, replace em.
2. its usually in the car manual. but i heard its about 30k miles.
3. i searched at craigslist for a mechanic, he charged me $10 for 2 cars (corolla 99 and outlander 03). bought the belts myself at kragen for $12 and $18 respectively. i had my outlander's belt replaced at a shop one time and they charged me $93 and made me wait for almost 2 hours for a 10 minute job. i looked at how he did it, i think i can replace it myself, just need the right tools.

had the serpentine belt replaced at 60,000+ miles very little ware on it. 2006 mercury granrd marquis. cost 65.00.