How to Replace a Fan Belt on a 1998 Mazda Protege

The 1998 Mazda Protege model vehicles came equipped with either a serpentine belt or a drive belt that operates the cooling fan. The serpentine belt is a single wide belt that is routed around all of the engine accessory pulleys so that the single belt can operate all of the engine accessories at the same time. A drive belt only operates up to three engine accessories at one time. The serpentine belt for the 1998 Protege is tensioned by a spring-loaded tensioner, and the drive belt is tensioned by the alternator bracket or an idler pulley.

Instructions

Replacing a Serpentine Belt on a 1998 Mazda Protege

1

Park the 1998 Mazda Protege on a level surface and shut the engine off. Set the parking brake and open the hood. Raise the hood and wait an hour or two for the engine to completely cool down. Locate the serpentine belt routing diagram that is stamped to the top of the plastic fan shroud covering the radiator. The serpentine belt routing diagram shows the proper routing instructions for routing the new belt. If the diagram cannot be found, write down the exact routing of the belt with a pen and a notepad by looking at the routing direction of the old belt.

2

Shine a flashlight onto the engine accessory belts on the front of the engine. If the belt is a serpentine belt, it will be a single belt that operates the power steering pump, cooling fan/water pump, air conditioner compressor and the alternator. The single belt is tensioned to each accessory pulley by a spring-loaded tensioner. The tensioner has a spring-loaded arm on one end and a pulley on the other end. The tensioner is located below the alternator.

3

Locate a socket that is the same size as the bolt head in the middle of the tensioner pulley. Insert the socket along with a 1/2-inch drive breaker bar onto the bolt head in the middle of the tensioner pulley.

4

Turn the breaker bar counter-clockwise with one hand until the belt is loose enough to remove from the tensioner pulley. Reach down with the other hand and slide the belt off the tensioner pulley. Release the breaker bar until the tensioner retracts back to its original stopping point. Pull the breaker bar and socket off the tensioner pulley.

5

Pull the belt out of the remaining pulleys. Slide the belt around each fan blade and out of the engine compartment. If necessary, turn each fan blade to the top side of the engine, by hand, to make it easier to slide the belt around each fan blade. Pull the belt out of the engine area and match it up to the new serpentine belt to ensure that the new belt is the proper size.

6

Route the new belt around each fan blade and around each engine accessory pulley by using the serpentine belt routing guide for directions. Leave the tensioner pulley as the last pulley to route the belt around. Place the breaker bar and socket back onto the tensioner pulley bolt head. Turn the breaker bar counter-clockwise with one hand until there is enough room to slide the belt under the tensioner pulley. Slide the belt under the tensioner pulley with the other hand and slowly release the breaker bar. As the tensioner is retracting, the tensioner pulley will pull the belt to the proper tension. Remove the breaker bar and socket and inspect the new belt to ensure that it is seated inside of each pulley.

Replacing a Drive Belt on a 1998 Mazda Protege

7

Inspect the belt to ensure that it is routed around the cooling fan/water pump pulley, power steering pump pulley and the alternator pulley. Locate the tensioner device for the fan belt. The tensioner device for the 1998 Protege model cars with a drive belt is attached to the alternator or it is an adjustable idler pulley. Both types of tensioner devices loosen and tighten the same way.

8

Loosen the top and bottom mounting bolts with a ratchet and a socket if the tensioner device is attached to the alternator. The alternator tensioner device is a slide bracket with a lock bolt in the center of the bracket and an adjustable bolt at the end of the bracket. Loosen the lock bolt in the center of the slide bracket with a ratchet and a socket, and then turn the adjustable bolt at the end of the slide bracket counter-clockwise to loosen the tension from the belt. If the tensioner device is an adjustable idler pulley, the idler pulley will have a bolt head in the center of the pulley and an adjustable bolt at the top of the pulley. Loosen the bolt in the center of the idler pulley with a ratchet and a socket and turn the adjustable bolt at the top of the idler pulley counter-clockwise to loosen the tension from the belt.

9

Pull the belt out from around the cooling fan/water pump pulley, power steering pump pulley and the alternator pulley. Pull the belt out of the engine compartment and match it to the new belt to ensure that it is the proper size.

10

Route the new belt around the same three pulleys. Tighten the belt by turning the adjustable bolt located on the alternator or on the top of the idler pulley clockwise until the belt is tight. Once the belt is tight, check the tension on the belt with your hands. Push in on the belt with your hand and make a mental note of how much slack is in the belt. The belt should have no more than a half-inch of slack to be considered properly tensioned. Tighten the belt as needed, to get a half-inch of slack in the belt. Once the belt is properly tensioned, tighten down the locking bolt on the alternator slide bracket and the alternator mounting bolts with the ratchet and socket. If the tensioner is the idler pulley, re-tighten the bolt in the center of the idler pulley.

11

Remove all tools from the inside of the engine compartment. Crank the engine and inspect the belt while the engine is running to ensure that the belt remains seated on the pulleys. Turn the engine off and close the hood.