Hi,
So I was driving on the highway and I hear a sound, sounds like pebbles hitting the underside of the car. Then a clunk, start to make an emergency stop, car overheats and turns off. This is at 80 000km. Have the car towed to a dealer, that is not ours. They tell us that SMARTS that are driven on the highway a lot need to have the fan belt changed every 30 000km. We get back home and our dealer tells us we are the only SMART owners in the city they can think of out of warranty, and they have never had to change another fan belt in any other in the city, from normal wear and tear. So my question is does anyone know how long they are supposed to last?
So I was driving on the highway and I hear a sound, sounds like pebbles hitting the underside of the car. Then a clunk, start to make an emergency stop, car overheats and turns off. This is at 80 000km. Have the car towed to a dealer, that is not ours. They tell us that SMARTS that are driven on the highway a lot need to have the fan belt changed every 30 000km. We get back home and our dealer tells us we are the only SMART owners in the city they can think of out of warranty, and they have never had to change another fan belt in any other in the city, from normal wear and tear. So my question is does anyone know how long they are supposed to last?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Richard D. Masters on -
Mine's got 30,000 miles.
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According to the smart Scheduled Maintenance Guide the belt isn't due for change until 60K miles. See attachment.
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Thanks for posting the US maintenance guide.
I'm still curious about the topic...80,000 km imples a Canadian smart 450... not a 2008 series 451. The old engine was a 3 cyl 698cc unit by M-B and had little ancestory to the current 999cc unit supplied by Mitsubishi.
80,000 km normally would indicate a 6+ year old car. As general practice, all cars should have external belts checked and replaced every few years.. it's not a smart specific problem.
Internal belts such as cam drive belts are a different story. They used to require an adjustment to the tensioner after 30,000 miles or stand the risk of excessive wear and breakage by 60,000 miles - which then resulted in an expensive repair and possible valve damage. Honda Civics were prone to that.
Has anyone found good drawings of the smart 451 engine? Cutaway photos don't really explain what's inside.
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We have a Canadian 2005 Pure, and you are correct on the engine specs, however we are at just over 4 years and 80 000km. The car has been serviced according to the 8000km recommendation, not including over 12 000 dollars worth of repairs since last September when it was tipped on to the driver side door. We have had pretty much everything that can go wrong with this car go wrong... and it was the fan belt.
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I can only guess at the engine belt arrangement for the 450. I've never seen one in detail. "Fan" belt is a bit of an anachronism since the days of a belt driven cooling fan are long gone on most cars.
A single belt driving the alternator and water pump is common. If it breaks then then engine will either shut down automatically or overheat or run out of voltage... depending upon circumstance. It's bad luck when it happens... which your car seems to have had a bit of.
The current series of mhd smarts have a much bigger and different belt - one that drives the starter / generator... if that belt ever fails, the car will not be going anywhere... it should be number one on the new service inspection list.
Better luck with your 450 in future.
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That's pretty much bullcrap as I know smart owners who have done over 100,000 MILES on the same belt.
EVERYBODY drives on the highway in UK, and they dont go through belts. I have belts in my stock, havent had that many customers for them up to now.
And I have owned six fortwos and one roadster, having done probably 250,000 miles myself in smarts and never changed a belt YET.
You are just unlucky,
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