Hyundai Repair: Accent Drive Belts General Query + Battery, e mail address, drive belts

Question
QUESTION: Hi HT

Sorry, the email address I provided was the wrong one. Please reply to this one: . Thanks.

The question I asked was:

I have two main questions relating to my 94 Accent

1) In the service manual it says that I should regularly inspect and replace "drive belts (alternator, water pump, power steering)" and in the remarks section "air con belts (if fitted)".

My question is does the car actually have alternator, water pump and power steering belts in addition to air con belts? Or is it just the timing belt (includes the alternator and water pump belt) and air con belt? The car has no power steering so there can' be a power steering belt...

Or is it that the water pump and alterntor should be inspected and replace at the recommended intervals... I'm a bit confused as my working knowledge of an automobile does not extend much further than changing the oil and filter.

A month ago I had my air con belt replaced but for some reason the mechanic that did it didn't do a good job of it and when I started the car it started screeching and smoke came from under the bonnet. This lasted for less than 20 seconds, will this cause any significant damage to the car or limit the life of the belt?

2) I'm looking at getting a new battery and can choose between a budget style 1 year warranty and a 3 year warranty hi performance battery. Do you think there's much difference or need in getting a higher output performance battery for such an old automobile?

Thank you

ANSWER: This service doesn't display your e-mail address to me.  So, in the event the last reply went into outer space, I'm copying and pasting it here as well.  --HT


Hi, Roger.

1.  The manual means that you should inspect the belts and replace as necessary.  Sometimes the manuals don't take into account all option packages, so they may refer to equipment you don't have or fail to refer to equipment you do have.

If your engine is set up like most Hyundai small four cylinder engines-- I expect it is, but I'm not familiar with which engines are used in Australian vehicles-- you have one belt which drives the alternator and water pump and another which drives the air conditioning compressor.  If your car had power steering, there'd probably be another belt running between the water pump and power steering pump to provide drive for that as well.  

These belts are in the open and visible on the end of the engine.  The timing belt is a separate belt whose purpose is to drive the camshaft off the crankshaft while keeping them in time with each other.

The screeching doesn't necessarily cause concern as this may be simply due to a loose belt, but the smoke does.  The smoke, if coming from a belt, implies a large resistance to movement.  If coming from the a/c belt, this could mean that the tensioner pulley or compressor is seized.

2.  You'll probably need a battery rated at 500 cold cranking amps or so.  As long as the battery meets that rating, you should be able to use either a 1-year or a 3-year battery.  Of course, you should expect the battery to last approximately as long as the ratings.  So if you're not planning on keeping the car very long or you wish to hedge your bets in the event of a major failure, perhaps choose the 1-year battery.  If you're looking to help keep the car reliable for a significant period of time, the 3-year battery is probably a better choice.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hello

Thanks for your clarification HT.

So is the air con belt the same thing as a fan belt?

Also, with batteries isn't there a chance that a 1 year guarantee one could perform say 2 years or even more whilst a 3 year guarantee one probably has been sitting on the shelf for longer?

Would that make any difference? If the battery has been sitting on the shelf for a long time, wouldn't that reduce its effective life? Or can they sit for a while without being used just fine?

Thank you

Answer
On most modern vehicles, the term "fan belt" is something of a misnomer.  Orignally, when engines were mounted front to rear under the hood, the radiator fan was belt-driven, and all the belts typically at some point touched the central pulley on which the fan was driven.  Nearly all modern vehicles use electric fans, so the more correct term for these belts is "drive belt."  But yes, except for the technicalities I've raised, the air conditioning and alternator/water pump belts are fan belts.


There's always a chance that a battery will out- or under-perform its rated lifetime.  Shelf time will reduce the battery's service life, but not at the same rate as service time.  If let set on a shelf long enough, the battery will fail even if never used.  And I'd expect that shelf time would have a greater impact on the one year battery than the three year battery, as the one year battery has a shorter overall lifespan to begin with.  One would hope that a retailer would be responsible about rotating stock so that it never got too old, but we have no way of monitoring that.  Ultimately, the best you have to go on is the rated lifetime of the battery.