One mechanic taught me more in 10 minutes than I learned in 2 years

I was getting my alternator replaced at a shop in Portland and the guy showed me how he checks belt tension by feel, not with a tool. He said "the gauge lies, your fingers don't" and let me try it on three different cars. Has anyone else gotten a tip like that that made you rethink your whole approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyg601mo ago

Dude, but feel is how you catch the weird stuff a gauge just completely misses!

wadem891mo ago

Hold on, that belt trick works but only if the belts are in decent shape to start. On a really old, glazed belt you can feel it as tight but it's still slipping inside the grooves. I've had that happen on a Subaru once, felt fine by hand but the alternator was barely spinning. Still, having a baseline feel from a few cars is way better than just torquing it to spec and walking away.