Remember not to over tighten the bolts on the pulleys, the mechanic did that to our ac compressor pulley and it snapped off, now creating a nightmare extraction job from the side of the engine that couldn't be tighter to try and access. If you're missing your ac compressor pulley, before you go get anything, get a flex mirror and a good light and try to see if you can see into the bolt hole for the broken off bolt inside. Save you a bunch of tear down in the process.
Awesome Video You Did A Great Job - But Pro Tip If You Take The Wheel Off And Put The Driver Side Lower Control Arm On A Jack-Stand You Can Then Lower The Motor Even More And Get The AC Tensioner With A Socket And A Ratchet And Can See Better Which Makes It All Easier 🔧
Thank you so much. I just finished changing all three belts and putting everything back together. This video was really great and now my daughter’s car is not squealing anymore. Great video brother.
I wanted to say thanks alot... Just did my Belt on my 2000 crv manual and Damn must i say i messed up and didn't release the engine mount on the left side. So the leeway for the lower engine torque mount went a 1/2 " so there was no play but i made due and got them on there... Thanks once again...
Thank you for doing this video on the correct order! I initially followed another video that really screwed me up. Then I came across yours and all is well!
Just used this vid to change mine. No more squealing belts at 7AM. Huge pain to remove that AC pivot bolt. Recommend a short socket and a long breaker bar. Anyways thanks a ton
Very helpful video this is such a bad design it shouldn't be this hard to change belts just put tensioner pulleys on them and call it a day what Honda was thinking I have no clue
im a apprentice mechanic had lots of annoying modern cars in, this should be fairly easy for me i think, only part that looks annoying is taking of the engine mount but even that is not hard, i regularly change gearboxes on campervans and those are a real pain sometimes, had one took me near an hour and a few bloody knuckles just to get the engine mount out. thanks for the answer and video :)
This video has helped alot so far however I just can not get thr ac tensioner screw rod lose I'm using a socket on the end but it dont seem to be moving. I'm scared I'm going to shear it.
@@YourCarGuyDR I had done,I managed it in the end with spray grease and by making more room,I removed the headlight to give better positioning. This video helps alot thank you.
Great video...although my alternator was seized in place...got bolt on top loose and but on bottom off...sob wouldn’t budge...I’ll worry about it when the alt dies or the belt breaks
Your Car Guy DR yea I gave up for now...I’ll worry about it when the belt breaks or the alt takes a crap...21 year in the Cleveland area will do that...it’s the original too
lol subarus are no easier to work on than hondas in fact this might be the one example of something thats harder to do than subarus around the same year js
For the alternator I used a long extension wrench which worked best. For the AC I simply used the adjuster, then tightened the nut on it. For the power steering belt I pulled up physically with one hand (holding the power steering pump), then tightened essentially by hand. All 3 belts seem tight, but not crazy tight. Worked liked a charm.
Thanks for the video. It is very easy to follow! How do you determine how tight to make the belts? In the service manual it gives all these forces the belt used flex and using a special tool to measure that, but all the videos I see just shows them putting them back together by eye. Is the super exact tension really that important?
Sean Ross the exact tension isn’t a huge issue. If you make it too tight as in no deflection in the belt it can put more strain on the bearings of the various pulleys. If they are not tight enough you get squealing and premature belt wear. My rule of thumb is to get them tight but make sure I can get about 1/2-1” of deflection in the longest run.
@@YourCarGuyDR 1/2 inch to one inch with how much pressure on the belts? Or pushing pretty firmly and the only give will be at most one inch. I believe my mechanic tighten belts too tight after doing the timing belt. I fired him because of other issues with the car but I have to solve his bad job. it never seems worth to pay others to do things :-( on your car because so often I am fixing the side effects of their bad jobs.
Alexis Tudor yes the 1/2inch to 1 inch rule is a pretty standard one. The deflection should be checked on the section that has the greatest distance between pulleys. Remember that belts that only have short runs definitely need to be on the low side of deflection.
when i replaced the alternator belt, it felt loose... is there a certain way to tighten the alternator belt? its the 4pk0820 belt... i guess (?)... btw, thanks for this very informative video!
This is a really good video. Thanks for posting it. I have a 2000 CRV. Before seeing your video, I started to replace all the belts, got Pwr Strng belt off, loosened AC belt and then discovered the wretched motor mount. I don't have a floor jack or jack stands "yet", so I did an about-face and reinstalled the belts. My question is, what size floor jack (tons) should I use to support engine and where did you place the jack when jacking up the engine? Did you use any additional jack stands in other spots to support the vehicle while doing this? Any advice appreciated.
P S the two most important things are to be safe and not damage anything. When I lift or support the engine I use a block of wood on my jack or jack stand between the engine and the oil pan. This will spread out the load and keep from breaking the oil pan. Just make sure not to lift to the point that you are lifting the vehicle. If you have the tire off I use a jack stand on the frame or k-member that supports the engine.
That's a lot of work for just replacing belts. Why did they make it so complicated? So many repairs in this car is hard to do, even changing the oil can be hard with short oil filter.
Thanks for the video. Followed this for a 97 with a missing ac belt but am getting some squealing when the ac is turned on and sometimes when turning. So they are too loose?
lol i have to do this tommorow and thought the opposite, easy other than the motor mount, should try most modern cars they are heinous, most of what i get at work is modern french cars and stuff and they are god awful
@@charlieward7606 Honestly modern cars have a single serpentine belt to change now and they're pretty easy especially since they mostly have auto-tensioners. The Crv also has the worst cabin filter design I have seen and I was a bmw mechanic.
@@pdoherty926 you could, but if for whatever reason your new belts are not the correct length you would not be able to reinstall the old belt. You will still need everything loose to get the new belts on.
@@YourCarGuyDR Good point! Anyways, thanks for the video. I'm weighing my options for replacing my alternator and may use your video to do the belts at the same time.
Artistic Drywall when supporting the engine you can go under the oil pan but use a board between the jack and the engine the to spread the load. The front or rear of the engine subframe works for a point to put the jack stand.
If I am just to adjust the belt on the alternator which a lame mechanic tightened too much, do you feel I can access those belts without dropping the engine?
@@YourCarGuyDR Thanks for the response. THings got a bit more complicated, My useless mechanic rounded off the bolt to the power steering mount so I cant get that out of the way. You think I can access the mounting bolt from the A/C from the bottom. I guess the only way to get the mounting bolt on the power steering is to grind it off and then take the pump off and then back the bolt out unless you know of a better way. Getting help in TN short of useless is challenging unless you want to pay a dealer a hundred dollars for each turn of a bolt :-(..
@@TheDerrty111 Thanks Derrty. I got lucky with my gator grip by grind the edges of the bolt back that were rounded and sticking the gator grip on. I will check out the Irwin's though because there is plenty of shitty mechanics rounding bolt.
George Wade I will accept both the criticism and the complement. This was one of my first videos and due to the limited space very difficult to shoot. Still working on producing better videos but hopefully this is still helpful. Thank you for the feedback.
@@YourCarGuyDR Well damn man I really appreciate that you read this. I was being harsh but I'm glad you care enough to appreciate the feedback and try to improve. That's badass.
I'm sure people really appreciate you making the video , i'm not being sarcastic. But what was the point of just loosening the power steering pump if you were going to take it out anyway, you could've just taken it out in the first place. Also you need a new camera man
as someone who just replaced all of these belts i love you
I was having a hard freaking time installing the AC Compressor belt this afternoon and was all bit a failure! Thank you so much for this tutorial!
Remember not to over tighten the bolts on the pulleys, the mechanic did that to our ac compressor pulley and it snapped off, now creating a nightmare extraction job from the side of the engine that couldn't be tighter to try and access. If you're missing your ac compressor pulley, before you go get anything, get a flex mirror and a good light and try to see if you can see into the bolt hole for the broken off bolt inside. Save you a bunch of tear down in the process.
I had to replace my belts today. Your post was very helpful.
Awesome Video You Did A Great Job - But Pro Tip If You Take The Wheel Off And Put The Driver Side Lower Control Arm On A Jack-Stand You Can Then Lower The Motor Even More And Get The AC Tensioner With A Socket And A Ratchet And Can See Better Which Makes It All Easier 🔧
Thank you so much. I just finished changing all three belts and putting everything back together. This video was really great and now my daughter’s car is not squealing anymore. Great video brother.
C Quinn thank you for the feedback.
Thank you for posting this video.
6 hours later and they are all changed.
Thank you so much! Used this video as a guide to tension a loose alternator belt and my car is running so quiet now!
i found it hard to tension my loose alternator belt... any specific thing you did for it to get the required tension?
I've just managed to replace all 3 belts with the help of this video. Thanks so much, you saved me an awful lot of time and messing around.
I wanted to say thanks alot... Just did my Belt on my 2000 crv manual and Damn must i say i messed up and didn't release the engine mount on the left side. So the leeway for the lower engine torque mount went a 1/2 " so there was no play but i made due and got them on there... Thanks once again...
Who ever has this problem! Go ahead and do it this is a great video explains it well.
Thank you for doing this video on the correct order! I initially followed another video that really screwed me up. Then I came across yours and all is well!
thanks fixed my 2001 slowly! with this video fortunately. appreciate it
Adam Neville yep it’s not a quick job.
@@YourCarGuyDR especially since my engine mount was even more SHOT lol
Successfully did my a/c and power steering belt thanks to you. Thank you you teacher
Just used this vid to change mine. No more squealing belts at 7AM. Huge pain to remove that AC pivot bolt. Recommend a short socket and a long breaker bar. Anyways thanks a ton
Right 😭
Gunna do this myself now thanks, all the mechanics quoted this work as 1000-1400$ and that's beyond rediculous.
Good job would have loved to see a before and after
Other than the audio, the video was pretty good and informative. Thank you.
very informative step by step, i had to change the belts while doing my ac compressor and condensor
lgero I am glad it was helpful.
thank you for you generosity...from Argentina.
One of the best step by step videos I have seen really good and well explain 👍🏻
Teka Martinez thank you.
Very helpful video this is such a bad design it shouldn't be this hard to change belts just put tensioner pulleys on them and call it a day what Honda was thinking I have no clue
Thank you for saving me time
Thanks good job, good teach, is a lot of work but is a challenge do it myself...thanks again
Thanks for the video! It made my life alot easier. If you dont have a impact drill grab yourself a breaker bar :)
Great stuff.Thanks so much
Great video. Thanks
Very detail I appreciate it alot
Thanks for the help!
That's a good video, James. Scene transitions could use a little work, but very helpful with the car repair
great guide, seems straight forward enough except motor mount, got to change one of these tomorrow so atleast i know whats up before hand
Charlie Ward good luck with it. This is one of the more difficult vehicles to change belts on.
im a apprentice mechanic had lots of annoying modern cars in, this should be fairly easy for me i think, only part that looks annoying is taking of the engine mount but even that is not hard, i regularly change gearboxes on campervans and those are a real pain sometimes, had one took me near an hour and a few bloody knuckles just to get the engine mount out. thanks for the answer and video :)
Charlie Ward your welcome. Keep doing great work.
13:05 for this bolt best position to operate is in front from the bottom.
Quite helpful.
Thank you! I'm doing mine right now. And this helps so much man.
Matt Sowders glad to hear it is helpful.
I love the fenagling bar. Lol
Diana Phillips my favorite tool.
Great video!
Thank you. Very helpful
This video has helped alot so far however I just can not get thr ac tensioner screw rod lose I'm using a socket on the end but it dont seem to be moving. I'm scared I'm going to shear it.
Rule the roost make sure you loosen the pulley first.
@@YourCarGuyDR I had done,I managed it in the end with spray grease and by making more room,I removed the headlight to give better positioning. This video helps alot thank you.
great video thank you
Nice video. Sure helping me.
Thank you for this video
So if I’m just replacing the alternator should I just even mess with any other belts ?
Great video...although my alternator was seized in place...got bolt on top loose and but on bottom off...sob wouldn’t budge...I’ll worry about it when the alt dies or the belt breaks
Joel 1 they can be a pain when they are seized in place.
Your Car Guy DR yea I gave up for now...I’ll worry about it when the belt breaks or the alt takes a crap...21 year in the Cleveland area will do that...it’s the original too
Joel 1 those Honda’s are hard to kill.
Wow this makes me love working on a Subaru even more.
lol subarus are no easier to work on than hondas in fact this might be the one example of something thats harder to do than subarus around the same year js
Which of the three is the hydraulic steering belt?
It is the first belt in the video.
but what is the number of the band of the hydraulic guide?
Pliss?
How tight should the belt be on the alternator?
For the alternator I used a long extension wrench which worked best. For the AC I simply used the adjuster, then tightened the nut on it. For the power steering belt I pulled up physically with one hand (holding the power steering pump), then tightened essentially by hand. All 3 belts seem tight, but not crazy tight. Worked liked a charm.
great video
lgero thank you
Thanks for the video. It is very easy to follow! How do you determine how tight to make the belts? In the service manual it gives all these forces the belt used flex and using a special tool to measure that, but all the videos I see just shows them putting them back together by eye. Is the super exact tension really that important?
Sean Ross the exact tension isn’t a huge issue. If you make it too tight as in no deflection in the belt it can put more strain on the bearings of the various pulleys. If they are not tight enough you get squealing and premature belt wear. My rule of thumb is to get them tight but make sure I can get about 1/2-1” of deflection in the longest run.
Perfect. Thanks so much for the quick reply!
@@YourCarGuyDR 1/2 inch to one inch with how much pressure on the belts? Or pushing pretty firmly and the only give will be at most one inch. I believe my mechanic tighten belts too tight after doing the timing belt. I fired him because of other issues with the car but I have to solve his bad job. it never seems worth to pay others to do things :-( on your car because so often I am fixing the side effects of their bad jobs.
Alexis Tudor yes the 1/2inch to 1 inch rule is a pretty standard one. The deflection should be checked on the section that has the greatest distance between pulleys. Remember that belts that only have short runs definitely need to be on the low side of deflection.
when i replaced the alternator belt, it felt loose... is there a certain way to tighten the alternator belt? its the 4pk0820 belt... i guess (?)... btw, thanks for this very informative video!
This is a really good video. Thanks for posting it. I have a 2000 CRV. Before seeing your video, I started to replace all the belts, got Pwr Strng belt off, loosened AC belt and then discovered the wretched motor mount. I don't have a floor jack or jack stands "yet", so I did an about-face and reinstalled the belts. My question is, what size floor jack (tons) should I use to support engine and where did you place the jack when jacking up the engine? Did you use any additional jack stands in other spots to support the vehicle while doing this? Any advice appreciated.
P S the two most important things are to be safe and not damage anything. When I lift or support the engine I use a block of wood on my jack or jack stand between the engine and the oil pan. This will spread out the load and keep from breaking the oil pan. Just make sure not to lift to the point that you are lifting the vehicle. If you have the tire off I use a jack stand on the frame or k-member that supports the engine.
That's a lot of work for just replacing belts. Why did they make it so complicated? So many repairs in this car is hard to do, even changing the oil can be hard with short oil filter.
I did it and DID NOT Take off the Motor Mount!!
Are u able to change the power steering belt without unscrewing the motor mount? Would I just be harder to put the belt on
That is one lucky kid
Awesome video great help!
Hery Perez thank you for the feedback.
Thanks for the video. Followed this for a 97 with a missing ac belt but am getting some squealing when the ac is turned on and sometimes when turning. So they are too loose?
cresha270 if the belts are new then yes they likely need to be tightened a little bit.
You forgot to tighten both bolts on the a/c idler pulley/tensioner
Is it the same instructions for a -97-98 crv?
Hi can you please tell me the sizes of the alternator and steering pump belts?
What a pain in the ass to replace a/c belt...have to remove a motor mount...a tire...power steering pump...holy small hands batman
lol i have to do this tommorow and thought the opposite, easy other than the motor mount, should try most modern cars they are heinous, most of what i get at work is modern french cars and stuff and they are god awful
I never remove the motor mount when i did my belts.
@@charlieward7606 Honestly modern cars have a single serpentine belt to change now and they're pretty easy especially since they mostly have auto-tensioners. The Crv also has the worst cabin filter design I have seen and I was a bmw mechanic.
@@garrettbeck434 but those auto tensioners go out every two years.
@@MrShakamuni01 I mean that's simply just not true...
Do you mind listing the belt specs for all three of them so I know I buy the right ones?
If you remove AC belt will everything else work okay? Think AC pump is dead horrible squeaking when ac is on.
Freedom Of Motion you can remove just the a/c belt and everything else will be fine.
Holy shait that was plenty of work just for the belts
Yes it is.
Why did you replaced all the belt did it sounds like the vehicle started to not want to accelerate right ?
If I was going to do the job I went ahead and replaced all at the same time. The only difference was that with the new belts there was no squeal.
I can't get the lower motor mount off due to a very tight, rounded bolt. Will loosing the buts on thr lower motor mount be sufficient?
Emily Higgins you should be able to take the bolts out of the mount and get the belt out and back in.
Its metrics 14mm but since you round out the bolts go buy a bolt extractor from lowes
Is there a good reason not to just cut the old belts off?
@@pdoherty926 you could, but if for whatever reason your new belts are not the correct length you would not be able to reinstall the old belt. You will still need everything loose to get the new belts on.
@@YourCarGuyDR Good point! Anyways, thanks for the video. I'm weighing my options for replacing my alternator and may use your video to do the belts at the same time.
THANKS, im guessing a 1998 CRV is about the same. and i know i dont have all the tools.
Just worked on my 98 crv and its the same pretty much. A rachet with a 12 and 14 mm socket is all you need really
I just changed all three belts on my 97 CRV, it is the same.
My top alternator bolt was on so tight that it rounded out. I’m screwed. Any ideas??
There are some sockets that can sometimes take off a rounded bolt. Otherwise you can cut the head off or the bolt or remove the whole bracket.
Where do you place the jack at .. ?
Artistic Drywall you can use the factory jack point just under the front of the drivers door or use the subframe.
I know but I'm talking about the when supporting the engine. Plus where is the correct jack point in order to place my front jack stand in.
Artistic Drywall when supporting the engine you can go under the oil pan but use a board between the jack and the engine the to spread the load. The front or rear of the engine subframe works for a point to put the jack stand.
i the honda crv front engine mounting 1996 the same as the 2000 crv
Abednico Ramotshwarapula yes it should be.
Can you remove the altenator belt without removing the other two belts?
Steven O'neal you could cut it off but you would not be able to get the new belt on without removing the others.
Please bro give me the references of the ac compressor belt
What are the belt sizes????????
I couldn't see the part number for that last belt, would anyone happen to know what all three belts are called so I could look them up?
Caleb Higgins alternator belt, power steering belt and a/c belt.
Ok, so I changed the A/C belt and it still squeals. I think I will have to change the Idler pulley.
It is very likely that your idler could be bad. You can also make sure that your a/c compressor turns smoothly by hand when you have the belt off.
If I am just to adjust the belt on the alternator which a lame mechanic tightened too much, do you feel I can access those belts without dropping the engine?
Alexis Tudor yes everything can be accessed for adjustments without dropping anything.
@@YourCarGuyDR Thanks for the response. THings got a bit more complicated, My useless mechanic rounded off the bolt to the power steering mount so I cant get that out of the way. You think I can access the mounting bolt from the A/C from the bottom. I guess the only way to get the mounting bolt on the power steering is to grind it off and then take the pump off and then back the bolt out unless you know of a better way. Getting help in TN short of useless is challenging unless you want to pay a dealer a hundred dollars for each turn of a bolt :-(..
Alexis Tudor there are tools for removing rounded bolts but there are times when the only remedy is to grind it off.
@@MrShakamuni01 go to lowes they have a bolts extractor its call Irwin's bolt extractor google it so you know what it is. Trust me it works!
@@TheDerrty111 Thanks Derrty. I got lucky with my gator grip by grind the edges of the bolt back that were rounded and sticking the gator grip on. I will check out the Irwin's though because there is plenty of shitty mechanics rounding bolt.
My AC belt broke is it OK to drive without the AC belt?Seems to run better
Yes you can run without the ax belt.
Thank you sir 🙏
This is nearly the same way Honda Civics are done...😊
jbentley8383 you are correct. The original CRV was based on a Civic chassis.
Everything is perfect but I can not get the engine mount bolts loose to save my life😂 tried a breaker bar and everything
I didn't need to because the belts passed without needing to take them off
@@artgonzalez8625 mine car is the 1st gen like in the video and I won’t be able to take a belt off and on unless the engine mount is lowered
I mean the size
Mostly just poor camera angles and muffled mic sounds. Good words though.
George Wade I will accept both the criticism and the complement. This was one of my first videos and due to the limited space very difficult to shoot. Still working on producing better videos but hopefully this is still helpful. Thank you for the feedback.
@@YourCarGuyDR Well damn man I really appreciate that you read this. I was being harsh but I'm glad you care enough to appreciate the feedback and try to improve. That's badass.
George Wade I truly do appreciate it. I actually was on the fence over even publishing this video because I was so unhappy with the camera work.
I cannot for the life of me move the power steering pump out of the way
Sometimes they can be very difficult to move. Make sure all the bolts are loose and use a pry bar. Be gentle so as not to break anything.
I'm sure people really appreciate you making the video , i'm not being sarcastic. But what was the point of just loosening the power steering pump if you were going to take it out anyway, you could've just taken it out in the first place. Also you need a new camera man
nicky I removed it in order to get a better view for the video. The job can be done with it in place.