Need some help guys. I've got a 1995 XJ 6L Recently I've noticed a belt squeaking under the hood and my lights dimming when the belt slips. Which belt is it? Is it difficult to replace?

Thanks all

 

If the lights dim when it squeaks that could be a bad alternator. If the alternators bearings are going bad it could be locking up and causing the belt to squeal. Without seeing it I cannot tell you if this is the case or not but I know it happened to me before.

Other than that there should only be one belt it's a serpentine belt. Pop the hook and see if you can listen to where it is squealing at exacrly and report back here

 

My old belt used to squeal when it got wet which would cut out my power steering and alternator during the squeal.

Then last week it began to rip itself apart so I replaced it. It turned out my year old belt was actaully about 15mm longer than it should have been. Water no longer causes a squeal.

I have the automatic tensioner so my belt is really easy to set. If you don't have a belt routing diagram on your fan shroud or close by, take note of the belts route carefully or I'm sure there's diagrams about.

I removed my electric fan for access, had someone release the belt tension, pull belt out, route new belt, slip back over tensioner and release.

While the belt is off, check all of the pulleys for any bad bearing noises or any play, repair/replace anything that has gone bad.

 

The belt is not difficult to replace. I highly recommend the Continental Elite (formerly Goodyear Gatorback) style belt. It's awesome.

Do as Boxburn suggests and check the pulleys when the belt is off. You want smooth, noise free spinning.

On a U.S. XJ, the belt tension is via a mechanical tensioner that's built into the power steering pump. (Note that Boxburn is in the U.K. which means his RHD 95 is slightly different than our LHDs).

Do yourself a favor and grab a Factory Service Manual (available at www.cruiser54.com -> technical manuals link) which will have a wealth of info and instructions on swapping out your serpentine belt. There are also tons of Youtube videos and other online instructions. All U.S. left hand drive XJ's use the same tensioner, so a 99 is the same as a 95 is the same as a 90.

 

I guess we got it fancy over here then.

 

Hahaha, maybe.

Folks seem to disagree on which is the better setup. However, every time I'm fighting to tighten the belt on my XJ I definitely miss the auto-tensioner setup that my 00 TJ 4.0L had - I could change the belt on that Jeep faster than the one holding my pants up!