I have a 2005 Honda Accord and when I looked under the hood I noticed a reddish brown dust on the serpentine belt and surrounding area. The car has 50,000 on it. Where is the dust coming from? Everything is working fine. There are no noises or signs of problems from any of the components. Is the belt breaking down and need replacing?

Also, I noticed in the owners manual that it says to use only Honda antifreeze. Can you use other antifreeze such as Prestone?

 

Do not put Prestone in your car. Buy the Honda antifreeze.

 

ok, I am going to buy the Honda antifreeze tomorrow, but what about the brown dut on the serpentine belt?

 

The only thing I can think of, is dust from a tensioner bearing grinding down, then rusting. That would likely make some screaching sounds though. Is the dust only on the belt? Maybe get a good light under the hood and check the area out. There will probably be more dust at the source.

 

I looked everything over and the dust was on everything in that area. Nothing is making any noise and everything is working fine. I was thinking that maybe something sprayed from underneath the car. I was driving on a road that was under construction a few wekks ago and was thing that it came from there.

Thank you very much for your advice

 

Don't know the cause but just to put you at ease, my mom has an 05 v6 accord and she's got 145,000 miles on it and it's done that since she's owned it. Same thing with her 98 Accord V-6 and that one had 170,000 on it.

 

that dust is fine. comes from the rubber of the belt. as long as the belt has no cracks and is still pretty flexible and soft youre fine.