2008 Mazda 3 Tensioner and Belts

[Subirex09]

Hello everyone, my fiance and I got a rough verbal quote of about 300 last week after we showed a tech a video of the squeaking noise her belts and/or tensioner are making on cold starts from Mazda.

We took it in today to have them do the job, and they quoted us 600 to do the tensioner, serpentine belt, compressor belt, and water pump pulley after the tech got under the hood and took a better look.

I was pretty darn angry that the quote kind of doubled but we never got anything in writing the first time so I guess I should not have been surprised.

I think we are just going to order oem parts online, and have the job done elsewhere.

I could definitely understand both belts needing replacing, car has about 60K on it, and tensioners do age so I expected that to need replacing, but the pulley was a bit of a surprise. When I asked them to remove the pulley portion the quote went down about $130.

Do you guys really think the water pump pulley needs to be replaced or is that just a money maker for the stealerships? And do the tensioners usually need to be replaced after a while?

Here's the link to the video with the noise it's been making:

http://s1108.photobucket.com/albums/h419/Subirex09/?action=view&current=8ea45ef1.mp4

 

[Subirex09]

Have any of you had the belts and tensioner done in the past? I am curious about the water pump pulley.

 

[flash75]

I've not needed to replace any belts or belt drive components on my 08 Mazda 3. Never had to replace a water
pump pulley on any car in over 60 years of owning and driving many cars.

Clifton

 

[jimp]

unusual noise, but hard to really tell on crappy laptop speakers. It might be the belt tensioner, they can go bad in 30m miles or never, just as all the other possiblities you mentioned. I have an 05 Mz3 with 62m on the clock, runs like a sewing machine. Wife drives an 09 Mz5 (same engine) and the a/c compressor on the 5 makes a noise and probably needs replacing. your noise could be the alternator itself, if you know how to use one of those engine stethoscopes, it may narrow it down for you. Be careful using one as the motor will be running while you're snooping around. Or find a good mechanic, amyabe your friends know of one. GL

 

[rustychops41]

That pulley replacement recommendation is why car mechanics get lumped in with trial lawyers and loan sharks in public opinion polls. Sounds like pure "upselling" on the part of the mechanic. I've heard they get a piece of the pie when they "upsell" more repairs than the customer asked for.