Hi all, Changing belts on a 2014 cx9, ~81k miles and I'm having an extremely tough time. I've changed belts before but not on this particular car.

I have install/removal tools with lips to guide the belts on and off, and I open the tensioner all the way but when I spin the crank shaft it wants to leave the tensioner. I've tried and tried but every alteration of install won't guide the belt to where it is supposed to be. The time spent on it is almost worth the shop doing it.

any advice / tricks etc for a stubborn serp belt installation? Belt is from the Gates 90K-38485 kit. Stretch belt and tensioner went on fine.

 

Welcome to the forum

Belts are pretty straight forward on most Mazda including yours using the correct tools. My advice is investing in a factory service manual or find a website that offers a specific factory related service only for free.
I read your post and you made it sound more confusing than the actual task.. LOL
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If in the USA You can also pay a small fee to get a service use procedure.
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Thanks for the response - this particular belt is being difficult. I've seen a video where a guy put a dab of dish soap over the tensioner so help the belt slip on. I'm tempted to do that and clean it off really well. Any thoughts on that?

 

It is an old school way. Works sometimes. Just be carful not to damage the belt in any way or degree.