Serpentine belt/pulleys replacement, front end removal? (2024)

Hey all,

Been a while. I recently got myself a 2015 Freightliner NCV3 passenger with the V6 and rear AC - currently has around 70k miles on it. It's been a great van, I've put around 8k on the clock since buying it with no issues.

In the last few thousand miles I've noticed some belt squeal when cold, and it's slowly getting worse. From my research it seems like it's time to do the serpentine belt, idler pulleys, tensioner pulley etc. Seems doable!

However- every useful how-to I've found for the full job usually involves removing most of the front end of the van, including fan/radiator etc. I'm totally willing to do this but I'm having trouble locating a manual or good step by step instructions on how to remove the front end of my van. Also, there seems to be some debate around what tools to use to remove the fan.
Not sure how critical it is, but any specific torque specs for new pulley installation etc would also be super helpful.

Anybody have a good manual/video/instructions/tips? Any special tools you've used to make this less of a headache?

Thanks in advance.

thesmith said:

Hey all,

Been a while. I recently got myself a 2015 Freightliner NCV3 passenger with the V6 and rear AC - currently has around 70k miles on it. It's been a great van, I've put around 8k on the clock since buying it with no issues.

In the last few thousand miles I've noticed some belt squeal when cold, and it's slowly getting worse. From my research it seems like it's time to do the serpentine belt, idler pulleys, tensioner pulley etc. Seems doable!

However- every useful how-to I've found for the full job usually involves removing most of the front end of the van, including fan/radiator etc. I'm totally willing to do this but I'm having trouble locating a manual or good step by step instructions on how to remove the front end of my van. Also, there seems to be some debate around what tools to use to remove the fan.
Not sure how critical it is, but any specific torque specs for new pulley installation etc would also be super helpful.

Anybody have a good manual/video/instructions/tips? Any special tools you've used to make this less of a headache?

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

If you have the rear AC auxiliary compressor then you should be able to change both belts, tensioners, and idle pulleys without removing the fan or the front end. Both belts will fit over the fan once you disconnect the electric and the anti-rotation fan connections. I am assuming your 2015 V6 is similar to my 2016 V6. My original Mercedes serpentine belt squealed on cold starts. I replaced it with a heavy duty Gates belt. No more squeal. It helps to have a tool to release the belt tension. I and a couple other forum members fabricated the lever arm using a T-50 torx bit.

It's not necessary to remove the front end.

See my detailed thread:

edit: Just noticed you have rear AC which may involve a 3rd belt, longer belt, different belt path, etc. YMMV.

gltrimble said:

If you have the rear AC auxiliary compressor then you should be able to change both belts, tensioners, and idle pulleys without removing the fan or the front end. Both belts will fit over the fan once you disconnect the electric and the anti-rotation fan connections. I am assuming your 2015 V6 is similar to my 2016 V6. My original Mercedes serpentine belt squealed on cold starts. I replaced it with a heavy duty Gates belt. No more squeal. It helps to have a tool to release the belt tension. I and a couple other forum members fabricated the lever arm using a T-50 torx bit.

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This is great info, thank you!
Did you leave the fan shroud in place or remove it?
Think a t-50 on a breaker bar would fit in there?
Edit: Also, I see that @sprint2freedom needed to remove his fan pulley to get one of the idler pulley bolts out. Did you have to do this on yours?

thesmith said:

This is great info, thank you!
Did you leave the fan shroud in place or remove it?
Think a t-50 on a breaker bar would fit in there?
Edit: Also, I see that @sprint2freedom needed to remove his fan pulley to get one of the idler pulley bolts out. Did you have to do this on yours?

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I did not have to remove the fan shroud or any fan pulleys. The access to the auxiliary tensioner is tight but the T-50 wrench below will squeeze in. I later made a tool by cutting off the T-50 bit and welding it to a 1” wide piece of flat bar. A few other forum members have done the same. This custom tool makes life easy. I do not believe you can fit any off the shelf socket/breaker bar combo in the tight space. Details on my special T-50 tool can be found on my build thread.

You're gonna want to remove the fan shroud. Luckily, this is a simple to do once you've got the viscous fan unscrewed.

1) Remove the single screw holding the coolant reservoir and drop it down as low as you can move it with the hoses connected. That way you won't lose more than a few drops of coolant in step 2.
2) Now remove the clamp on the upper radiator hose, the disconnect the hose.
3) Unclip the shroud then pull it (and the viscous fan) straight up and out.

Once the shroud is out there's quite a bit of room.

Well, I think I figured out the source of my squeaky belt noises.
I inspected the serpentine belt etc and it all looks to be okay, but I did see that my fan/rear AC drive belt was walking forward off the fan pulley and appears to be worn where the belt has walked forward.
I've done some digging into the rear/aux AC belt repair, and it looks like there's a new idler pulley bracket from Merc that fixes this known alignment issue (PN #642230064228 from Mercedes, according to this thread).
From what I've read this repair is a bit finnicky compared to a simple serpentine belt/tensioner/pulley job. Anyone have experience with this fix?

Thanks for all your help so far, this forum is full of great knowledge.

gltrimble said:

If you have the rear AC auxiliary compressor then you should be able to change both belts, tensioners, and idle pulleys without removing the fan or the front end. Both belts will fit over the fan once you disconnect the electric and the anti-rotation fan connections. I am assuming your 2015 V6 is similar to my 2016 V6. My original Mercedes serpentine belt squealed on cold starts. I replaced it with a heavy duty Gates belt. No more squeal. It helps to have a tool to release the belt tension. I and a couple other forum members fabricated the lever arm using a T-50 torx bit.

Click to expand...

Hey gltrimble, I'm replacing my auxiliary serpentine belt and belt tensioner on my 2015 2500 4x4 which, in my case runs a heavy duty Nations auxiliary alternator for my lithium battery bank. The simple part was releasing the tensioner to relieve the belt, then removing the tensioner to be replaced. I figured out (as you point out above) that the only additional work to remove the belt is to disconnect the anti-rotation connection and the wire connector to the fan drive. for the life of me, I cannot disconnect the electrical connector. I see what appears to be the release tab (see photos) but can't figure out whether to push or pull the tab. (Neither seems to work.) So instead of breaking the connector and cussing out the German engineers that sit in a back room thinking up ways to torture us home mechanics with hard to undo electrical connectors, I figured I'd search the Sprinter forum and came across your post. (I'm also replacing with a green Gates HD fleet grade belt.) Can you enlighten me on how to get the @#$&& connector off? Thanks

I’m a new owner of an 08 Dodge sprinter 2500 3.0L passenger with the rear aux a/c. 256k miles

In good shape, but it’s got a squealing belt issue. Not sure of the maintenance history on the belts so I want to just go ahead and replace the belts and idler pulleys and tensioner.

Can anyone help point me in the right direction on where to find what part numbers I need and where to purchase? Will it be easier to remove the front end to get to the pulleys to replace?

thanks

ID Parts has a kit. I have not done mine, 08 also, myself, but it is not required to remove the front end. I watched mine being replaced and they did not remove the front end. I would just remove the cooling fan and shroud, a five minute job. I have removed the fan and shroud a few times. Keep the fan vertical when you remove it. This gives good access to the belts.

The original belts will last 350k miles, but should be replaced every 100k. Don't ask how I know this.

Check my thread here for details on changing those parts:

sprint2freedom said:

Check my thread here for details on changing those parts:

Serpentine belt emergency, stuck in Joseph OR

As the odometer just crossed 110K, I've known for some time that I needed to address the serpentine belt system as PM but never felt like it was the right time to undertake such a project, so please learn from my mistake... :bash: Earlier in the day I had noticed a faint whining noise that I...

sprinter-source.com

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sprint2freedom, I'm getting ready for full belt etc replacement, and wanted to clarify a step and related parts that weren't mention. The tech at ID Parts, when asking him 'what else will I need', said one or more intercooler hoses need to be removed (and thus that I should kit O rings for those). Is that correct?

I plan to take the work to my shop I go thru (not a dealer), and not tackle it in our freezing local temps. Ours is 2016 OM642, with no 2nd alternator or rear AC.

TIA