Customer Reviews

Gates 38379K Enhancement Component Kit

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a must buy for any Caravan owner. In the past few months, I have become very proficient at replacing the serpentine belt on my Dodge Grand Caravan with the 3.3L engine on the road side in the rain. The belt has come off four times in the last three months, twice in one week and all while my Wife was driving.

Chrysler will not admit to this design deficiency, although much has been written about it in numerous car talk blogs. While you are here, also stop in at the Highway Traffic Safety Administration web site and report it as a severe vehicle-operating safety hazard.

The Gates System Solution kit comes with everything you need. The idler pulley is simple to install, the tension pulley will require you to remove the alternator to gain access to the mounting bolt. Installing the belt is a nearly impossible feat, best left to a mechanic with the special tool for depressing the tension pulley to install the serpentine belt.

My mechanic spent 30 minutes installing the pulleys, but the next hour and half installing the serpentine belt. The pulleys have edges on the sides to help prevent the belt from slipping off; however, the same edges make the serpentine belt installation a bear to achieve. The mechanic charged me $53 for all the work.

The Gates System is the best money I ever spent on this Caravan, I highly recommend this to every Caravan owner.

We noticed that our tensioner has been angling out for years, and the squeaking was getting very tiresome. We had never had the belt slip off before three weeks ago, but it did so in the rain, and I had to fix it by the side of the road.

Enter the Gates 38379K Serpentine Belt Kit.

This kit is THE solution to serpentine belts slipping off the pulleys. Earlier reviews speak of the problem, I can assure you that this kit is the solution. No squeaking, no misalignment of the tension pulley, just quiet operation. I can't believe what a difference this kit makes. I was hesitant to do the work myself, but was able to track down information, here and on the net, and do it in a few hours. I thought I'd post the info for the next guy. The hardest part, bar none, is removing/installing the tensioner and tension pulley. The second hardest part is installing the new belt. The third most difficult? Believing the difference. It's unreal how much better this works!

Remove the tensioner as follows:
* After disconnecting the negative battery cable and removing the serpentine belt*

1. Remove the windshield wiper tray. On an 1999 model, remove the two wipers (16mm nuts), 6 torx screws and remove the top piece. Four 13mm nuts and 6 13mm bolts inside the tray. Be sure to disconnect the electrics on the right side, the two drains, and the spray line on the left. You now have plenty of room to...
2. Remove the alternator/bracket. First, remove the 15mm and two 14mm bolts from the triangle shaped accessory bracket. Remove the top 15mm bolt from the alternator and loosen the bottom 15mm bolt. Push the alternator to the rear to access the nut for the bottom alternator bolt. The positive cable for the alternator is attached with a 10mm nut...be careful not to lose it. You don't have to remove the alternator, just position it away from...
3. The rear nut for the tensioner. This is a bear. If you look down into the small space you have created by moving the alternator, you will glimpse the shy 15mm nut that is holding the tensioner. IF you have a thin enough 15mm box end wrench, you might be able to get it around the nut. Otherwise, use an open end wrench to loosen, then your finger to spin the nut off. Be careful, and have a magnet handy for the dropped nut. Luckily, there isn't much room below the nut, so it usually falls on the power steering unit. Still, unless you have very small hands and long fingers, you'll need the magnet.

Installation:
The new tensioner mounts fairly easily, but getting the nut on the bolt takes some patience. I needed a piece of thin cardboard cut to hold the nut in place, place the nut down in the space and spin the tensioner to catch the nut. Once caught, position the tensioner, spin the nut on with your finger and tighten it with the wrench.

Remove the idler pulley with a 15mm wrench, and save the bolt and insert. The bolt in the kit was too long for my car (1999), so I reused the bolt and insert on the new idler pulley. You can not use a socket on this.

Once you have the tensioner and pulley in place, reinstall the alternator and bracket.

The belt is very tight to install, but it can be done with a helper: One pulls the tensioner down, one pulls the belt around the air conditioning pulley, spinning the pulley while guiding the belt around. (Tip: If you've removed the rain shield from the underside of the engine, you can use the old belt to pull a 15mm wrench on the tensioner by looping it around and stepping on it.) You'll have to get the tensioner all the way down to install the belt!

Eyeball the belt to see that it's on all the pulleys, if so, start the car and check. Lovely sound, isn't it? No squeal!

Install the tray in the reverse of removal. Don't forget the drains and the squirt tube! When you're finished, be sure to put the sticker from the kit next to the belt diagram, so you can remember the belt size when you have to replace it in 10 years :^)

My wife can't believe the difference, and neither can I. My neighbors no longer wear ear protection when we back out of the driveway! It's like a stealth car! Honestly, this is a great piece of kit, and I recommend it to anyone with a defective serpentine belt system.

So far I'm very pleased with the kit, no squeaking noises!


My Grand Caravan has 202K miles on it, I have never had a problem with the belt but a few weeks ago I started getting the chirping noise when the engine was running anywhere from 2000 - 3000 RPM. After investigation it looked like it was related to the belt and or the tension or idler pulley.

I purchased the kit, and then decided to tackle the job. It took me about 2.5 hours, the hard part was removing the old Tension Pulley and installing the new belt.

Here is a summary and a few suggestions.
1: To remove the old belt, put a 15mm wrench on the Tension Pulley bolt, and turn clockwise (tighten), this will pull the tension pulley down and release pressure on the belt. From there you should be able to pull the belt off the tension pulley and work it loose.

2: Remove the old Tension Pulley. This is the hard part, you need to jack up the van, get underneath and work form the bottom rear to find the 15mm nut that holds the Pulley bolt. It will take some force so make sure you have a breaker bar.

3: Install the new Tension Pulley, again go underneath and install the nut.

4: Remove the old Idle Pulley Bolt. This is easy, you access it from the under the hood, us a 15mm wrench or Socket.

5: Put on the new supplied Idle Pully, washer and bolt.

6: Install the new belt, route it around everything except the Tension Pulley.
Put an 15mm wrench (NOT A Socket Wrench because you might not get it off after you the tension Pulley is moved down into place). Put the 15mm wrench on the Tension Pully Bolt. Add a breaker bar so you can get leverage, and just like you did when you removed the belt, rotate clockwise, and slip on the new belt over the Tension Pulley.

I made the mistake of using a socket wrench and had a heck of a time getting it off the Tension Pulley Nut, I ended up removing the belt, removed the socket wrench, then starting over with the 15mm wrench.

The job was not too bad, and no more Squeaks!

Belt kit much cheaper than from my mechanic. Works well. No more belt slipping off. Solves problem with Chrysler van belt slippage when wet.

On a 1998 Grand Caravan 3.3L, the dealer 60k service included an OEM serpentine replacement. Several months later the belt began chirping then permanently squealing. Using belt dressing helped briefly until next startup. Cleaning the belt and all the pulleys did not eliminate the squeal. All the accessories bearings felt smooth and true.
After thorough research I bought the Gates replacement and after installing it the squealing has been completely eliminated.
My one hesitation to 5 stars is that it was a bear to install. There was no way I could get the belt over the idler wheel with full compression of the tensioner. I had to place the belt on the uninstalled idler wheel and then screw in the wheel with the kit-supplied bolt, which was still hard to line up and feel confident of it's torque. The dust guard washer seems sloppy.
The other challenge is removing the tensioner wheel bolt working from under the vehicle. This is not Gates problem but a Chrysler design factor. Be sure to have a universal joint and extension for the socket.

Installation is a little harder than a normal belt (Will take an afternoon to install). Instruction did not say to remove the windshield wiper tray and the alternator, but to reach the nut on the tensioner they had to come out. Also I had to take the idler pulley back off cause the belt will not slip over it (needed another 1/8" with the tensioner bottom out). I had to place the idler pulley on the belt then push it down to install the pulley's bolt, then I release the tensioner pulley. Work great after that.

I can't tell you how many times my 2000 Dodge Caravan's serpentine belt came off due to rain or even just moisture. I'd have to spend money each time to have it put back on or to buy a new belt thinking it stretched. A real piece of crap. My brother saw this product (Gates 38379K Enhancement Component Kit) and I decided to try it. Problem solved. I've gone through several heavy rains since with no problems at all.
The Caravan still sucks, just threw a rod, but the car is worth the price I paid for the Gates.

Gates 38379K Enhancement Component Kit
This kit was well worth the money so far. My son lives in Gilbert, Arizona and we installed this kit a few weeks ago. The car has made it through a recent monsoon (you probably saw it on your local news)and another day of rain with no belt problem at all. The belt used to fall off with the least amount of water on the road. This is a ridiculously inherent problem for both Dodge and Chrysler vans and shame on Chrysler for not correcting this issue through a much needed recall! (But I digress!) You can easily remove the idler pulley bolt from under the hood of the vehicle. It requires a 15 mm metric wrench. The bolt holding the belt tensioner pulley was easily accessed from below the vehicle. You don't have to mess with the alternator or disassemble the wind shield wipers trays, etc! It is always a good idea to disconnect the negative battery cable whenever you work on a car. We jacked the car up and the plastic guard had already been removed by the previous owner, probably due to the same belt issue! If you can change an oil filter you can install this after market product in about an hour and a half. I will admit that I have had to perform more than my fair share of vehicular surgery since I had 2 teenage boys who drove cars and I am pretty cheap, but I am not a car mechanic by any means! You will need a 15 to 18 inch extension with a 15 mm metric socket. Use a breaker bar because the nut is pretty tight. Getting the nut back in place will take a few tries because there isn't a whole lot of room to manuever but it can be done. You will need a helper on top under the hood to help hold the idler/tensioner pulley piece in place as you tighten the nut back on. Buy some hand cleaner because you will get very dirty and greasy arms...possibly need a new shirt! All in all not too difficult of a project especially considering it was 111 degrees that day! (His vehicle is a 2000 Plymouth Voyager with a 3.3 liter engine and air conditioning.) I don't know what the problem was with getting the belt to go on as indicated from some of the other reviews. This kind of spooked me at first but it really was no problem at all. I did take the advice from one of the other reviews I have read. When we replaced the belt from 3 previous times it fell off and was ultimately chewed to oblivion, we would place the belt on the idler pulley last. Since the kit has a belt that is ribbed on both sides and the tensioner and idler pulley are now grooved this is made more difficult. So we placed the belt on the air conditioning pulley last since it is still smooth and the belt was easily pulled onto it with the help of a flat screwdriver from under the car. My son had to hold a wrench on the tensioner pulley to loosen the tension until the belt was on. I know the belt on the 3.0 liter engine is smaller than the one on a 3.3 liter engine so some of the reviewers may have ordered the wrong kit (38342K for 3.0)or possibly the wrong belt was put in by mistake at the manufacturers. At any rate it was fairly straight forward for us. Good Luck!

I had replaced just about everything. I live at altitude and the dryness seems to affect the belts more up this way. It is a bear changing out that tension pulley, but it is generally the culprit. The only caution I would have to say is if you like to get you belts changed at regular service shops, they do not commonly carry the two-sided ribbed belt. But I love not having the squeaking and slipping!!!

My belt started coming off everytime that it rained. I am not sure what changed on my vehicle but lets just say I became a real pro at putting the serpentine belt back on in record time.
I am not sure what the price for you will be...but I paid less than a hundred w/shipping. My problem is solved now. This is the permenant fix for the serpentin belt issue coming off in the rain. Not a problem since the purchase and have been in torrential down poors this year in TN.