Broke Down this morning, Belt is off, help!

[broox]

This is the worst timing ever for my car to break down. We went all out on New Years Eve, so cash is tight. I just got my DSM running smoothly on MONDAY with a new idle control motor and battery terminals, and now it dies...

So here is what happened...
I'm driving to work this morning, I get to a light and start hearing an amazing amount of squeaking, I think to myself "this person beside me is driving a total POS" Then I realize that my car is running pretty rough and as the light turns green and I go, the squeaking gets louder. After about 500 feet the squeaking stops, my brake, battery, and that orange light (radiator?) that looks like lincoln's monument came on. The temp of the car also skyrocketed, so I shut the car off and coasted down the road a bit to get closer to a coworker's house.

I popped the hood to realize the belt on the driver's side is off. I didn't look at it too long and I certainly didn't mess with it due to the temperature... I just ran up to my friend's house to get a ride.

Can anyone help me out? Could something have seized up causing this belt to come off? Is this the serpentine belt? If I could just get the car home that would be ideal

 

[broox]

i forgot to mention, my steering was very limited and the wheel was hard to turn - maybe the power steering went out as well?

 

[weith1111]

NO big deal, your alt, ps, water pump belt broke. Get a new one, put it on. Replace the other while you are in there. And check your harmonic dampener to make sure it isn't the cause of all this. When was the last time you inspected/replaced the belts?

 

[broox]

I bought the car with 95,000 on it. I replaced the timing belt at 100,000. The car now has 165,000 and I haven't touched any other belts since I bought it.

Yeah I imagine it is time to replace a couple belts, but could something have siezed up causing this belt to squeal so much? What would cause it to do this?

 

[majik2k5]

Belts squel when they get loose. Something probably just came loose. No biggy.

 

[broox]

Word. Are there any special tools I need to get the belt on? Can I do this quickly while the car is along side the road or should I have it towed to my garage?

 

[ChvyKc]

Belts squel when they get loose. Something probably just came loose. No biggy.

Same thing happened to me. Mine was the alternator belt caused by the PITA bolt that pulls tension on the belt. It was missing when I bought the car and I didn't realize it until it was to late. I was actually on an entrance ramp to the interstate when the belt started sqeeking and it ended up breaking while I was doing about 70 MPH.

 

[weith1111]

70k miles is a lot for some $8 pieces of rubber. It was most likely splitting and cracking, started to let loose, and that's where the screech came from. Then it snapped and you lost functions attached to that belt. At your mileage, you MUST check the pulley on the crank, if it hasn't been replaced in the last 50-75k, it's most likely on its way out. Replace it. You can't always tell just by looking at it either, so pull it off and look carefully. If the pulley and rubber are splitting, junk it and put a new one on.

Any pulley seizing would cause a belt to squeel and probably break, and considering how many miles you've put on, you are due for a timing belt/water pump change. Is your water pump leaking a little? It would just be a slow drip type leak.

If I were you I'd be changing timing belt, water pump, and all accessory belts.

 

[broox]

I found the exact mileages for those replacements...
109,935 - replaced timing belt
115,000 - replaced water pump

 

[weith1111]

I found the exact mileages for those replacements...
109,935 - replaced timing belt
115,000 - replaced water pump

Most folks start thinking about the timing belt at 50k, and start getting paranoid if they haven't found the time by 60k. If you are on a timing belt with 75k on it, you are playing russian roulette every time you turn the key.

So you should be somewhere between planning the work and paranoia.

p.s. I'd still replace the WP when the timing belt is being done. It's basically doing the same work for both, so getting them on the same schedule works well.

 

[weith1111]

Something quick to do would be pull off the upper timing cover and look at the belt from the side. If you see light between the teeth of the belt and the teeth of the cam gears, your belt is asking to be replaced...soon.

 

[broox]

Thanks a lot for the help. Luckily my gf has AAA, that should cover the tow home. Just a few more questions...

How do I know if the pulley on the crank is bad?
How do I know if the PITA bolt is bad?
How do I know if the harmonic dampener is bad?
Are there any special tools I need for any of this?
Just planning my trip to NAPA...

Is there an online tutorial on replacing this stuff? If not I have a Chilton's at home...

 

[EclipseTrbo420A]

My old thread should help.

For the crankpulley you will have to jack up the car, then jack up the motor alittle bit ( I used a block of wood on my jack and the oil pan ) and then remover the motor mount bolt upper drivers side. Once that is out let the motor back down, but keep the car up. This way you will have access to the crank pulley and all 4 bolts on it.

This is really easy to do and make sure you torque the 4 bolts on the crankpulley exactly the same to spec otherwise it will wobble and lose half is not 3/4th of its life.

read this

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=171300

 

[weith1111]

Thanks a lot for the help. Luckily my gf has AAA, that should cover the tow home. Just a few more questions...

How do I know if the pulley on the crank is bad?
How do I know if the PITA bolt is bad?
How do I know if the harmonic dampener is bad?
Are there any special tools I need for any of this?
Just planning my trip to NAPA...

Is there an online tutorial on replacing this stuff? If not I have a Chilton's at home...

The pulley will either be shot (falling apart) and obvious, or you will have to pull it off and look at it. Check for chunks missing, splitting, cracking, etc. It shouldn't be too hard to decipher. (the crank pulley and harmonic dampener are the same thing)

The bolt being referred to is the one that pulls the alternator out further to put tension on the belt. It has a tendancy to get mangled or stretched. Mine is all f'ed up but I still use it and it works fine. Don't worry about it unless it's not there!

No special tools for the accessory belts. The Chiltons will take you through it all. Or google it or something, there are probably steps somewhere, but it's pretty straightforward.

You really should get to that timing belt ASAP.

 

[broox]

Thanks again for all the help. And sorry EclipseTrbo420A but....

...

This is really easy to do

That doesn't sound so easy to me.

 

[napkinthief]

Well if you are getting towed, just get all the belts done at once, It wont hurt. You will also need to get the battery jumped as it will die or not even start the car since your alt belt is obviously shot. Your temp skyrocketed because the water pump stopped pumping.

On the bad side, if you overheated too much, you may have warped something. No way to really see it now without taking off the valve cover and head, but if you notice an new leak within the next 300 miles, you will know whats going on.

 

[broox]

K, I've just been reading up a little more on this to be sure I've got everything figured out for the fix... and I became a little confused.

In this thread it sounds like 1 belt controls the power steering, alternator, and water pump.
In other threads it sounds like they are separate belts...

 

[broox]

Check the alternator belt.It makes your water pump pulley turn which makes your power steering belt turn.

K, I'm back on the same page

 

[weith1111]

Yeah sorry that was my post that was most likely misleading. That's exactly correct.

 

[sr22tsi]

Same thing happened to me and my radiator got a hudge crack in it due to the pressure build up. After you put the belts on make sure your not leaking coolant anywhere.

 

[Defiant]

Your harmonic balancer is blown.

 

[broox]

Ok, I got it home and started looking at it. Here was the condition of the belt when I popped the hood:

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Surprisingly the belt wasn't broken... it just worked its way off. It is pretty cracked on the inside.

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The part that really scares me is that I've got 3 leaks now...

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Apparently a few things broke. Any pointers?

 

[Talesin]

Well, first thing I'd do is pull off the timing belt cover (plastic thing at the top of the first pic, if you didn't know.. three bolts IIRC) and inspect for damage. Also gleaned from the first pic, it looks like your PS pump may be leaking on the alternator... which *will* kill it before long.

The other leaks need a closer look-at to see where they're coming from... your mechanic should be able to find them.

 

[broox]

let's say the pump is leaking on the alternator. Is there a gasket or something to replace or is the pump shot?

 

[broox]

The water pump was shot. When we took it off bearrings fell out of it, haha.
The leaks were: lower heater core hose, oil return line gasket, and water pump.

I replaced the water pump, alt/ps belts, both heater core hoses, and the oil pan gasket. I removed the AC pulley and hose since it hasn't worked in 3 years anyway... I should pull the AC and lines out also.

I'm so happy it runs again for a reasonable amount of money.

Sorry, the harmonic dampener was not the problem here.