If you have a car, do you check the fan belt regularly?

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I don’t know if my car has a fan belt. I wouldn’t know where to find it if it did. I certainly wouldn’t know what checking it would entail. And I have 0% interest in learning any of that.

so no, YANBU.

What?

Yes they should.

Although modern cars don't have fan belts anymore. But if you drive an old car you need to know what you should be checking.

Next you'll be saying you don't check your oil . . .

This is why some people shouldn't drive.

I've been driving for 42 years, keep my cars for a decade, haven't had a fan belt fail yet. I've no idea where it is.

I do tyre pressures, tread depth, oil level, radiator water/antifreeze, and windscreen wash. And I "listen" to my car, plus it has all the modern warning lights, which I never ignore.

The garage does the rest.

Nearly all modern cars have electric fans, so there is no 'fan belt'. However almost all petrol/diesel cars will have one or more serpentine belts to drive the water pump, alternator, power steering pump, and air-con compressor.

No, a timing belt is totally different and drives the camshaft(s). On some engines, a chain is used to drive the camshaft(s). Timing belts need to be replaced after so many years or so many thousand miles, the recommended interval varies between different models of engine. Timing chains may also need replacing at certain intervals.

Oh dear. I didn’t realise cars still had fan belts. They sound so ancient, like carburettors!

No, never. That's why I pay to have scheduled services.

Don't have one, but didn't check in previous cars which did. In any case, I'm rarely wearing stockings when I'm driving about, so wouldn't be able to change it if it went.

Tried to get interested. Found myself thinking of anagrams of ‘fan belt’.

Quite rare for an aux belt to fail unless very old and lack of servicing. Would not expect a bigger fault but when you change it any reputable mechanic would change the tensioner at the same time.

It is not repairable with a pair of tights like an old fan belt.

It could mean seized accessories like the air conditioning compressor, coolant pump, power steering pump, alternator or guide/tensioner wheels.

But you would probably notice problems with any of those before the belt broke. Any of them could have had a fault develop since the last service.

I drive a tesla. I am pretty sure I have no engine, let alone a fan belt. There's definitely a battery. I have nothing to do with that other than charging.

It is nothing to do with Timing Chain Vs Cam Belt and your car almost certainly has one if it is petrol or diesel engine.

As another poster said they don't drive the fan anymore (since 80s/90s) so are now called an Auxiliary Belt. Drives the alternator and air con compressor.

If your car has an IC engine, it is virtually guaranteed to have an accessory drive belt turning things like the alternator, water pump and air conditioning compressor.

My first car was an elderly early style Mini, years ago - I had a weekly checklist for it and did a lot of basic servicing myself. My current car is an automatic Peugeot and I just top up the screen wash - modern cars don’t need the old style attention and are not designed to be maintained easily by the amateur without appropriate equipment .

My earlier self sufficiency does help when talking to the garage re repairs or checking the servicing bill.

Some engines are belt-driven, some have a durable timing chain. Mine has a durable timing chain, as is common with cars that have a 2.0 litre engine and above. But yes, fan belt engines will always be fan belt engines... as I said mine is durable - in the same way that my car has double vented brake discs and a dual mass flywheel. Other cars also have single vented brake discs and a single mass flywheel. These components are about the performance of the car and the spec you buy. I will never have that squealing noise that tells me my fan belt is about to go because I simply don't have one.

More to the point was the car 80? 😁. I used to have a 1972 Datsun 120Y which definitely had a fan belt which I could replace and also replace the spark plugs. Also had a 1985 VW T25 which I’m pretty sure had a fan belt but don’t think any car I’ve had since those have had one.

Yes. Check tyres, oil, coolant, screen wash, wipers, handbrake, brakes, exhaust, lights and engine noise plus check for signs of rust regularly too.

Good luck with checking anything (apart from battery and screen wash) under the bonnet of most modern cars - since the early 2000’s most car engine bays have a shiny non-removable cover over the majority of it…
Was the roadside assistant chap 80?

And most cars these days have electric fans and don’t have a fan belt. Even non electric cars.

I remember driving a Vauxhall cavalier to zermatt and the sensor for the electric fan went and dh screwed some sort of switch into the fan which came through a cable out of the dashboard and when the engine temp got too high you had to flick the toggle. I accidentally crushed the toggle switch into the door when closing it and had to replace the switch with a screw and drive along screwing the screw in to make contact and turn the fan on 🤣🙈