What Is A Serpentine Belt?

We are asked, "what is a serpentine belt"? In the old days, we had separate belts for air-conditioning, power steering, water pump, air pump, and alternator. But since they were all in different planes, it took space and designers had to create longer engine bays to accommodate them. A serpentine belt works on a single plane thus keeping the overall length of the engine much shorter. The belts serpentine s throughout all the devices, causing only one of those belts to be required instead of the traditional three or four.