Owners of other Toyota, Lexus or Scion vehicles such as the Yaris, Matrix, Prius, Camry, Corolla, Sienna, RAV4, Tundra, FJ Cruiser, Venza, Highlander, Avalon, Sequoia, Hilux, Land Cruiser, IS 250, ES 350, GS 350, tC, xB, xD, iQ and FR-S may also find these DIY instructions to be helpful.

A few compatible replacement belts with their part numbers are as follows: Continental Elite 4070834, Bando # 7PK2120, Dayco 5070835 and Gates K070834 Multi V-Groove.

The tools needed to complete this procedure include a 10mm socket, 12mm socket, 14mm socket and 1/4" drive, 3/8" drive and/or 1/2" drive ratchets.

Park the vehicle on a level surface, turn off the engine and engage the emergency / parking brake.

It would also be a good idea to chock the front wheels to prevent it from moving while you are replacing the belt.

The easiest way to access most of the pulleys and also release the belt tensioner is from below the engine.

Slide under the engine bay and locate the four bolts that hold the metal skid plate (A.K.A. splash shield or under engine cover) in place.

There is one bolt at each corner of the skid plate.

Hold up the rear edge of the skid plate with one hand while you remove the two back bolts.

Set the four bolts aside in a safe place.

Lift the front edge of the skid plate and slide it forward to disengage it from the metal hooks.

I'd recommend you take a few moments to how the old serpentine belt is routed around the various pulleys including the crankshaft, A/C compressor, tensioner, water pump, alternator (generator), power steering pump, idler 1 and idler # 2.

A general tip to remember is that the ribbed side of the belt gets wrapped around ribbed pulleys and the smooth side of the pulley goes against smooth pulleys.

Locate the tensioner pulley just below and to the right of the water pump and just above and to the right of the large crankshaft pulley.

Attach a 14mm socket to a 3/8" or 1/2" drive ratcheting wrench.

If your tensioner is very firm, you may need a long "cheater" bar to place over the ratcheting wrench for more leverage.

Hold the tensioner in the released position with one hand while slipping the old belt off the tensioner pulley and/or one of the other adjacent pulleys.

For better access to the top of the engine and some of the pulleys, remove the plastic engine cover.

Set the two nuts aside in a safe place.

Lift the front edge of the engine cover and then slide it forward to disengage the two "C" shaped sockets on the rear edge from the mounting bar.

Pull the old belt off all of the pulleys.

Route the old belt in front of the fan and around the fan blades.

Inspect the old belt for cracks, rips, tears and fraying. If the old belt is in relatively good condition, you could save it in your garage or truck bed storage container for emergency use.

I recommend buying the Gates K070834 belt since it has excellent reviews on Amazon.

A few compatible idler pulleys with their part numbers are as follows: Gates 36174, ACDelco 36173, Toyota 16604-0P011, Febest 0188-2GRFE and Gates 36173. (Make sure you are buying the correct "upper" or "lower" idler pulley.)

If the tensioner assembly was very loose and it was easy to release the tension on the old belt, consider replacing it with a new one.

Here are a few compatible replacement tensioner assemblies with their part numbers: Gates 38411, ACDelco 38411 and Continental Elite 49416.

Lower the bottom part of the new belt down in front of the engine and around the fan blades.

Wrap the new belt around the power steering pump pulley, over the idler number two pulley, over the water pump, under the idler pulley, around the alternator, around the air conditioning system compressor pulley, over the lower idler and around the crankshaft pulley.

Rotate the tensioner pulley in the counterclockwise direction to move it towards the left until you can slip the end of the belt over the pulley.

Double check that you have routed the new belt the correct way over the pulleys.

Check that the new belt is tight but loose enough to be turned about 90 degrees.

If the new belt seems loose or too tight, you may have routed it the wrong way around the pulleys or the tensioner arm assembly may need to be replaced.

Start the engine and listen carefully for any strange sounds that might indicate an improperly routed belt, a loose pulley, a seized pulley or a worn out pulley bearing.

Double check that the skid plate bolts are secure.

Lower the front of the engine cover in to place.

Spin on the two 10mm nuts and tighten them in the clockwise direction until they are snug. Try to avoid over tightening the two nuts to prevent from cracking the plastic engine cover.

For more, check out my other 2005-2015 Toyota Tacoma DIY Repair & Maintenance Guides.