What’s more, the 1NZ-FE engine has developed a slipping belt. It makes itself known when starting the car from cold or sometimes when the air conditioning’s turned on. This indicates something with either the alternator belt or the air conditioning belt. A trip to 2 Toyota service centers thus far (Toyota Marikina and Toyota Shaw-Ortigas) didn’t solve the problem where bemused mechanics reckon the problem would just go away. It hasn’t. Whether or not the slipping belt contributed to the slipping mileage, we haven’t figured out.