They have two belts. Not sure which one you replaced?

 

 

This - cheap insurance from a roadside stop.

 

 

Fantastic input gentlemen!

Thank you all so much, keep it coming. I'm the type of guy who performs 5K mile oil changes religiously and 90k-100k mile belt changes. These things are simple and cheap and yet they can really wreck your day.

I've never in my life had to replace a tensioner. I replaced things on my old '88 F-150 that I felt should never have broken or failed and still the tensioner lasted fine until I sold the truck with over 225,000 miles on it. We all have our "thing" that makes us feel better about our vehicles.

I had an issue on my 2004 expy where the truck would experience random misfires typically after she shifted into 4th gear at slower speeds and she was lugging a little bit. Never threw a code but the problem was there and getting worse but no codes. Finally I got pissed off and changed out all the coils and viola, problem solved. The plugs and boots only had about 12k miles on them so I ruled that out pretty quick.

 

my 2012 FX4 5.0 I can say for sure has two belts. I for ac and 1 for water pump and alternator.

I think my 03 for xlt had 1.....

 

You are correct- I replaced the main belt, but it is far too cold to go out and verify the belt count.......
Also, I was of the school of though that, yes, a tensioner should last the life of the vehicle- but those tiny little sealed bearings DO NOT. I have replaced the bearings on every car I bought(used)- but thought the tensioner itself to be good to go. BUT- I could not find a replacement bearing only, so I got a great deal on the entire OEM tensioner and belt at Rock Auto.
I recall some video on YouTube showing how the tensioner works, and how they do indeed wear out over time, so I swapped it out.
I had a tensioner bearing fail on my BMW- dash lights came on, engine overheated, radiator blew the top pipe off, I coasted to a parking spot- long story short, it had been making a noise for a while, and I overlooked it... it was a LONG walk home........
YMMV.

 

I may be of an unpopular opinion here, however:

Where do you plan to have your belt fail? In the desert on a hot day? Or worse, in Southern Alabama on a 101 degree 101% humidity day? In a blizzard? On a fire trail far from cell coverage? In the bad part of town? On the side of the LA freeway where there is no shoulder because they designed for three lanes and currently have seven? Or some combination of the above?

Do you have a spare belt, the means and ability to change it, and the wherewithal to push through with the repair in the above conditions with sweat dripping in your eyes, fingertips and arms burning from hot engine parts, or slipping and sliding with frozen hands if you've chosen to do this in a blizzard?

If you've chosen the "I'll just call a tow truck" route, can you live with some unforeseen result of this failed belt if you or someone else is injured as part of the car stalled in traffic, side of road, inattentive driver over the fog line, etc. ?

Is anyone else going to drive your car? Are they ready to deal with a belt failure in some combination of conditions above?

Change the belt. Cheap insurance. We're talking about something like a quarter of a percent of your operating cost of the vehicle (gas, oil, tires) and not including registration, insurance, and the acquisition cost of the vehicle.

What's ~$50.00 worth of belt(s) in let's say 50,000 miles when you've put ~$5,000.00 into the gas tank and probably put on a $1,000.00 set of tires in the same 50,000 miles.

Let's say you put that 50,000 miles on in five years;

5 years X 52 weeks per year X 5 days per business week X one $2.00 coffee/soda/energy drink/etc. per day = $2,600.00

Makes the ~$50.00 worth of belts seem minor considering a belt failure will leave you stranded and possibly put you and yours (and possibly some of the rest of us) in a dangerous situation. For fun: Adding a nickel to each of your coffees/sodas/energy drinks/etc. would pay for your belt(s) and then some.

[stepping off soap box]

Think of this: If you really really need to save that fraction of a percent of TCO, go ahead and change the belt at the first factory recommended interval, then keep the old belt rolled up under the rear seat with barely enough tools to change it again if needed. Now, if you desire, you can test the endurance of the new belt knowing that a failure only has you stopped long enough to change to your spare. Bonus: you can come back here and let us know how far that belt went before it failed.

 

 

 

C'mon. The belt(s) is/are easy, cheap, and are designed as a wear item with a documented replacement interval.

Cars need so little maintenance these days that it's amazing to me that people will try and push the few maintenance items remaining as far as they can to save a minuscule amount of money after spending a small fortune to acquire and use the vehicle in the first place. If we were talking about a GM LT1 with the cam-driven water pump and belt goes then you can get an arm workout (with no power steering) for as long as the battery holds out because it's in a car that likely isn't heavy or towing.

If the member with the airport vans that you referenced had one lose a belt on a freeway somewhere with a medically marginal passenger (think elderly or young child or . . . ? ) onboard, that could turn really bad when the belt goes, they have to pull over, and it is 100 degrees out, or 10 degrees. If the driver doesn't have big arms and the power steering goes with it, it could be quite a mess. Do his vans have hydraulic brake boosters? Now more of a mess unless the driver weighs 200+ pounds and can put most of it into the brake pedal. All to save a few bucks over 500,000 miles of which every mile makes a profit?

I imagine the average Ford truck owner falls somewhere between the two extremes.

Sorry, not trying to call you out or anything, it's just a teeny tiny amount of money to easily prevent what could be a major issue.

 

My favorite place to replace a belt.

Well, not YOUR driveway necessarily, but a driveway. Just not on the side of the road freezing my fingers off in the sweltering heat.

Not that I have anything against your driveway. It's probably a perfectly fine driveway.

 

The only belt that I've actually had break was on my old '88 when the alternator locked up. The belt squealed, stretched then burned. Admittedly, that's a pretty extreme and unusual circumstance, but, it left me walking. So, even if I had a brand new belt on the truck, it wouldn't have mattered, the alternator was a POS.

 

Interestingly, after reading this thread, I looked up what the Owner's Manual had to say. The manual says to inspect the belt at 100,000 miles and to replace at 150,000 miles. Obviously, I'm not saying to do this, but just relaying what my Owner's Manual suggested.

Also, I could find only one belt shown in the Owner's Manual for the 3.5L EB or any other engine.

 

Personally, this comes down to risk reduction vs. cost. I'm not even going to bat an eye at spending $40 on a couple belts at 100k, which is when I plan to change mine. If we were talking $400 to change them, I would be doing additional thinking/research before replacing.

Just my .02