Hey, everyone, it's Len from 1A Auto. Today we're working on a 2011 Ford F-150 with the EcoBoost. We're gonna be replacing the belts. It'll be a fairly easy job. I wanna be the guy that shows you how to do it. So if you need any parts, or instructional videos, you can always check us out at 1aauto.com.
All right, everybody. So where we're gonna start is we're gonna get underneath the vehicle, whether you're laying on the ground or you're lucky enough to have it up on a lift like I am. There's a couple of these white clips right here. These are just little twists, so essentially, you're just gonna turn them a little to the left. All that does is unlock them, then you can pull this down, okay? We're gonna use our little forky tool. And I'm just gonna work my way around, try to get all these little push clips out. If you wanna leave a couple of them in to leave it hanging, it's up to you, it's your prerogative. I'm just gonna go ahead and get it right out of my way. Last thing I need is something hanging down in my face.
There we are. Get this right out of the way.
So one of our first steps is after we got this little splash shield out of the way, what we're gonna do, turn on our light so we can see. Just like that. I'm gonna use a 15 millimeter socket on my ratchet, and I'm gonna go right to the tensioner, right there. I'm gonna try to turn that. I'm gonna hopefully pull the tensioner so it relieves ... sorry. So it relieves tension on the belt. So that way there, I'll be able to remove the outer pelt, which is the serpentine belt.
So I'm gonna turn it counterclockwise, once I get it on. Just like this. Now I'm gonna try to get the belt off the crank. Now I can relieve pressure with the tensioner, my tool. Get it right out of the way. So there isn't very many pulleys on this to try to remember. But you're gonna wanna try to keep a mental picture of it in your head, the way that the belt goes. It's fairly simple. Goes around the water pump, comes back this way, around the tensioner, around the crank, back up to the alternator, and then back around to the water pump. Easy peasy, okay? So I'll grab that right out of the way. Just like that. Now we've removed our serpentine belt, we're gonna match this up.
So we have our old belt. And our new belt. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna rest them both on my thumb. Bring my hand down. And I'm gonna put it on my other thumb. Then I'm gonna try to stretch them. I want them to be about the same length, all right? If you've got one belt that comes maybe all the way out to here, in comparison with your thumb, well you've probably got the wrong belt, okay? They did match up pretty good. Next what we're gonna do, we're gonna compare the width, make sure that they're both the same width, which they are. Lastly, we're gonna count the amount of ribs inside. This is where the pulley rides, you're gonna have ribs on some of your pulleys. They're gonna ride inside these ribs on your belt. So if you've got six ribs here, and then seven ribs on your new belt, you've got the wrong belt. This one looks fine, so we can go ahead and install this in a minute.
So we've got the serpentine belt out of the way. Next what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna use some cutters, and I'm just gonna go ahead and cut off that old AC belt. We don't have to worry about reusing it. It's not really a belt that you reuse anyway. Even if you did want to reuse it, don't, just get a new one, because it's a stretch belt. So I'm just gonna cut this one off and out of the way, using my cutters. Grab it out.
So now we cut the belt. We're gonna do a little guestimation here. Just try to line it up right. Gonna bring this one down. Make sure that it's approximately the same size. Looks fairly good. Perfect. So now we're gonna go ahead and reinstall this. We're gonna use our quality 1A Auto part right here. We sell Lisle. Here's the part number, you can go ahead and get one if you want. And let's get this belt installed.
Okay. So I'm gonna go ahead and try to use this install tool. I'm gonna use the install side of it. There's a groove right there where it's gonna sit in my pulley. I have the removal side, not gonna worry about that, but if I was, that would be where it sits inside the pulley. But I'm not worried about it. I'm gonna go with this direction, install. I'm gonna put it up on the crank pulley. Sets right in nice and good. Perfect. This belt's gonna do a lot of stretching to get to the point of being installed. So we're gonna wish it and me luck. Just gonna grab my tool, my 18 millimeter socket, my long handle ratchet, I'm gonna go ahead and I'm gonna start turning this.
You're gonna wanna watch out for pinch points. This belt's gonna get super tight. See if I can get my socket to stay on there, hopefully. Okay.
As it comes around, it's gonna be getting at an angle, so it's gonna wanna keep slipping off our AC compressor over here. So as you turn, every little crank you turn, just look over, make sure it's walking on there right. And as you're pushing, just remember that if you get your finger into a pinch point, it's gonna become a real issue.
The crank, you should only be turning it clockwise. You do not want to turn it counterclockwise. The belt gets too tight, you're getting a little scared, I don't really know what to tell you at that point. You're just gonna have to continue. You can't turn the crank the opposite direction, okay?
So here we go. Make sure that that AC is still staying lined up. Okay. It's looking good. Getting pretty tight here.
All right, I'm still watching that AC. It's getting super tight. If it starts walking off a little bit, I'm sure we'll be able to get it on. So don't worry too much about it. These are stretch belts, it seems like this is kinda crazy to do. I'm not a manufacturer. I'm just the guy that has to try to put them on and show you how to do it.
There we go. That sounded good. Take off my fogged up glasses so I can take a peek. Okay, it looks like it's starting to come off the AC tensioner up here, or AC pulley, sorry. I'm not gonna worry about that yet, though. I'm just gonna continue, until my tool comes out. Should be almost there.
Okay. Tool's safe. Perfect for reusing. Or if you don't want to reuse it, you can always just give it to me. I'll reuse it for you. So now we're just gonna look up at everything, see how it's setting in. Looks like it's all gonna have to move over quite a bit. All I'm doing right now is just trying to get it lined up onto that AC compressor, all the way around. Once I get that set up, then I'll worry about the crank side.
Looks like maybe, almost there. Okay. I think we got it. Let's double check. Once we know we have it on the air conditioner side, move on. Okay, so, just gonna hold some pressure on the belt, on the upper side. And try to walk it over.
Okay. So we're gonna take our serpentine belt. We remember we're gonna go over the water pump. Across, over the alternator. Under the crank. Up and over. Around this, and then back up over the water pump. So let's give it a try. Put the belt over the water pump first. There we are. Over the alternator. So this is pretty much how it's gonna wanna go, right? Of course it's gonna be sitting in the grooves a little better. We'll just take it off that tensioner for now. We'll get it around our crank, around our water pump, get everything situated, where it's gonna need to go. Looks pretty great.
Gonna grab my 15 millimeter socket on my ratchet again. Make it so it's going the right way. We need to turn this to the left. And that's gonna relieve tension on the tensioner, give us room to get the belt on. Gonna regroup here. Okay. That slid on. Just gonna take a peek at all the belt. Looks pretty good. Relieve tension. Now I'm just gonna run my fingers along where the belt meets into the grooves, make sure it's not sticking up anywhere. It's not off a tooth. Sometimes you might get your belt on, and it might come off the side of the crank a little bit, either to the front or to the back, or even one of the other pulleys. So you just wanna make sure it's not coming off, it's sitting in all the grooves. That feels pretty great. Feels nice and snug.
There we go. Now what we do is we just start it up, let it run for a couple seconds. Turn it right off, and then double check to make sure everything stayed where it's supposed to be.
Okay, just gonna try starting it up real quick, and let it run for maybe five, ten seconds.
Take the key back out. Now we're just gonna make sure the belt is still in its tracks.
So the key is out of the ignition, it's not running. Gonna check it. Feels like it's definitely in the track there. Topside of the crank feels great. Bottom side of the water pump. It's perfect. Double check the AC belt, where it runs inside the air conditioning pulley, feels great. See if I come over here, run inside the crank. It's perfect.
All right. There we go. Great job.
So here we go. We're gonna go ahead and install this back up under here. Just got a couple push clips going around, so we're gonna find the holes we took them out of. We've got one right here, one right there, and then we're gonna go basically just follow wherever they line up with, okay? So I'll get these two. And now, as Johnny Cash says, I'll walk the line. Go like this, like that. I love that guy, by the way.
Easy peasy. All right, everybody. That's locked in.
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