Belt replacement??

[E34 530]

A few questions: How often do belts need to be replaced? Looking through the service records, I saw that the PO replaced the belts in July of 04. Back in February I was cleaning the ngine bay and must have got some water on them because they are starting to squeek when the car is turned on from overnight. They are all tight and don't have any visible cracks on them, should I worry about it??

Also, for fan clutches and thermostats, should I go OEM, or are aftermarket ones alright (such Behr, ACM, and Wahler?)

Thanks for your help, Andrew

[joshua43214]

let the debate begin.

GM used to recomend belt replacement when the belt started to lose pieces of the ribbing. Gates recomended replacement when the cracks where spaced less than 5mm apart. I recomend replacement when you replace the water pump or every 90k mi. whichever comes first.

[E34 530]

let the debate begin.

GM used to recomend belt replacement when the belt started to lose pieces of the ribbing. Gates recomended replacement when the cracks where spaced less than 5mm apart. I recomend replacement when you replace the water pump or every 90k mi. whichever comes first.

I just had the water pump replaced in November.

[632 Regal]

belts waterpump thermostat and all hoses are replaced during either service I or II, along with brake flush, differential, steering pump, trans filter...etc

[E34 530]

I'm not sure whether or not the PO had an Inspection I or II done because the car only had 55,000 miles when I bought it.

[SchnellE34]

While my belt was squealing last year, I read somewhere to reverse the belt and make it go the other way. I did that, but the problem ended up to be the belt tensioner itself. You could try to reverse the belt and see if that helps.

[E34 530]

Alright thanks guys. Anyone on the aftermarket thermostats and fan clutches??