Belts and Plugs

2849 Views 19 Replies 10 Participants Last post by ArmyAviation, Mar 23, 2011

PennTitan

Discussion Starter · Mar 22, 2011

Hey guys,

Couple of ?'s...I want to have my serpentine belt changed...any idea what this would cost to have done? Would it be easy enough to change myself? If so what does the belt cost?

Second, I'd like to change the plugs...what type of spark plugs should I purchase? Do I need to buy them from the dealer? How much do they run? And, where is the best place to get them?

Thank you all in advance for any help you can provide!

1 - 20 of 20 Posts

Lvcoyote

· #2 · Mar 22, 2011

NGK brand plugs are what is put in at the factory, suggest using them again for replacement. Lots of parts houses sell NGK plugs, no need to go to the Dealer for the.

As far as the belt goes, personally I prefer Gates.

What model Titan and year do you have??

PennTitan

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 22, 2011

It's a 2005 SE 4x4...no tow package or anything.

dv3andrs

· #4 · Mar 22, 2011

I went to Autozone and bought my belt from there, I think it was like $35, It was their w ribbed model or something like that. It's not too hard of a job to change it yourself. As long as you have a breaker bar or a 3/8 with a pipe for some greater leverage. You just need to keep your cool as your trying to get it all to stay put. The only thing that was a pain for me was that my arm looked like the fan tried to eat my arm. Haven't done plugs yet.

Lvcoyote

· #5 · Mar 22, 2011

The best thing to do for the spark plug is just pull one out and get the NGK number right off of it, then just buy whats already in there.

Citadel

· #6 · Mar 22, 2011

Is the serpentine belt the one the dealership recommends changing at the 60k service? If so, I too need to do this ASAP.

Lvcoyote

· #7 · Mar 22, 2011

If you still have the original belt at 60K miles, I'd say it's due.....

Citadel

· #8 · Mar 22, 2011

dv3andrs said:
I went to Autozone and bought my belt from there, I think it was like $35, It was their w ribbed model or something like that. It's not too hard of a job to change it yourself. As long as you have a breaker bar or a 3/8 with a pipe for some greater leverage. You just need to keep your cool as your trying to get it all to stay put. The only thing that was a pain for me was that my arm looked like the fan tried to eat my arm. Haven't done plugs yet.

Do you happen to remember the item #?

Lvcoyote said:
If you still have the original belt at 60K miles, I'd say it's due.....

Sounds like a plan. So far I've done almost all maintenance on my truck, but would this be a better project to have the local shop do?

Lvcoyote

· #9 · Mar 22, 2011

It's pretty easy actually. There should be a belt routing label under the hood somewhere so you get the replacement routed correctly. I always do my own Serp belts. The belt tensioner usually has a bolt head that you can get a hold of with a socket and ratchet then just rotate it to remove tension on the belt and remove the old one. Then grab the new belt and route it over everything until you get to a point where you need more slack to get it over the last pulley, then rotate the tensioner again and get the last part over the pulley.

Reactions: 1

Citadel

· #10 · Mar 22, 2011

Lvcoyote said:
It's pretty easy actually. There should be a belt routing label under the hood somewhere so you get the replacement routed correctly. I always do my own Serp belts. The belt tensioner usually has a bolt head that you can get a hold of with a socket and ratchet then just rotate it to remove tension on the belt and remove the old one. Then grab the new belt and route it over everything until you get to a point where you need more slack to get it over the last pulley, then rotate the tensioner again and get the last part over the pulley.

Can you tell me where you buy your replacement belts?

Lvcoyote

· #11 · Mar 22, 2011

I prefer the Gates brand or the Genuine OEM one from the dealer. Napa sells Gates and the OEM has to come from Nissan. The Nissan part# should be 11720-7S00A if you go that route, probably around $25 from the dealer. If you go the Gates route make sure you get their top of the line offering, they also make a "Price" brand one that isn't that great in my opinion.

Reactions: 1

NBhunter80

· #12 · Mar 22, 2011

The stock plugs are NGK platinum plugs. I replaced mine with NGK iridiums for about $10 per plug. The job took a little more than an hour and all you need is a ratchet, extention, 10mm socket and small spark plug socket.

Reactions: 1

DRTYAZN

· #13 · Mar 22, 2011

Great... Now I need to go to Napa, buy a belt, and plan a day to wrench... I don't know if I should thank ya'all or hate ya'all for this thread... :rofl:

I thank ya'all, and my wife most likely hates ya'all... another fun wrenching project added to my list of man-stuff "to-do's"

SuperTighty5.6

· #14 · Mar 22, 2011

Lvcoyote said:
It's pretty easy actually. There should be a belt routing label under the hood somewhere so you get the replacement routed correctly. I always do my own Serp belts. The belt tensioner usually has a bolt head that you can get a hold of with a socket and ratchet then just rotate it to remove tension on the belt and remove the old one. Then grab the new belt and route it over everything until you get to a point where you need more slack to get it over the last pulley, then rotate the tensioner again and get the last part over the pulley.

Caution before loosening any pulleys do a better search on here. You only need a pipe or breaker bar for Leverage.. I've only heard never did it myself but I would definitely do more research or hear from someone that's actually performed it on our trucks.

37L1

· #15 · Mar 22, 2011 (Edited)

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/tit...ivetrain/60994-help-replacing-drive-belt.html

http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-general-discussion/100457-help-installing-sparkplugs-3.html

Reactions: 1

Drew

· #16 · Mar 22, 2011

I just changed mine last night. If you can change your oil, you can do this job in 30 minutes easy. 1 hour tops. Here's what I did:

1. Remove the front bottom pan to give you access to the bottom pulleys. It's much easier to remove and reinstall the belt this way. To remove the bottom pan, remove the 4 screws / bolts in the front. LOOSEN the 2 rear bolts - no need to remove these. Slide the pan forward and it will drop out and can be removed.

2. Use a 14mm socket on the autotensioner bolt, turning counter clockwise if standing in front of the truck. The tensioner is the pulley above #3 in the factory service diagram (see link above that has a picture).

3. As you loosen the tensioner, it will rotate. Rotate it enough so that a hole to the right of the tensioner lines up with a hole behind it. It's near #9 in the diagram. To get enough leverage, I stood on a small step ladder. Once the holes line up, I stuck a screw driver in there. This holds the tensioner loose so that you can remove the belt and install the new one.

4. Remove the old belt and install the new one. It's easier to install on the bottom pulleys from underneath. Check the diagram to make sure you routed it correctly, and makes sure the belt sits within the grooves of the pulleys.

5. Loosen the tensioner, remove the screw driver, and the belt will now be tensioned.

I didn't have to remove anything other than the bottom tray; I didn't use a breaker bar either. By using a 12 inch socket wrench and standing on a small ladder, I was able to provide enough leverage to move the tensioner.

Very easy job, about on par with an oil change in terms of difficulty.

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Reactions: 1

PennTitan

Discussion Starter · #17 · Mar 22, 2011

Citadel said:
Is the serpentine belt the one the dealership recommends changing at the 60k service? If so, I too need to do this ASAP.

Yeah, I'm just over 60k and haven't changed plugs or belt yet, that's why I need to get my a** in gear and get it done. Thanks for all of the info guys...big help...very much appreciated!!!

dv3andrs

· #18 · Mar 22, 2011

Citadel said:
Do you happen to remember the item #?

Part Number: 5070973 It's the Dayco belt. I just installed mine about 2 weeks ago @33000 miles. According to the manual it's every 30k. It didn't look horrible so I threw the old one under the back seat as a spare.

Reactions: 1

Lvcoyote

· #19 · Mar 22, 2011

SuperTighty5.6 said:
Caution before loosening any pulleys do a better search on here. You only need a pipe or breaker bar for Leverage.. I've only heard never did it myself but I would definitely do more research or hear from someone that's actually performed it on our trucks.

You wont loosen the pulley by using a socket and ratchet on the bolt, it will swing out enough to loosen the belt long before you have enough pressure applied to start loosening the bolt.

I much prefer this method over prying on the pulley with a bar or something, this can lead to scratching and scaring of the belt surface, which in turn can lead to several other problems.

ArmyAviation

· #20 · Mar 23, 2011 (Edited)

our trucks come with the NGK Iridium plugs, change time is 105k. Plug replacement is about 1 hour, make sure you use proper torque on the plugs 18 ft lbs
heres what I did http://www.titantalk.com/forums/titan-engine-transmission-drivetrain/126167-changed-spark-plugs.html
I put these in my truck which is an improvement http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/products/spark_plugs/iridiumix.asp?mode=nml

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