Belt Snapped

[cbower]

Well a tragedy struck last night. I was leaving beer league softball and the DSM squeal lasted a little bit longer than usual. Then I heard the belt snap and pulled over doing 55 mph. The battery light and brake light came up on the dash and I lost power steering. I open the hood to see that I have a chewed up power steering belt that is not spinning and some pulleys below the power steering pump with no belt on them.
I'm assuming that the missing belt is the multi-v belt for the alternator? Is this the same thing fix as replacing a serpentine belt in a chevy? I understand that they a multi-v belt and serpentine belt are very different from each other but I am more talking about the process. Haven't had a chance to check out the Haynes manual because it is in my car that is being towed to me later in the day. Thanks guys!

ps. I plan on checking the timing to make sure nothing jumped.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

Yeah, the one under the power steering pulley is your alternator belt. No big deal... Just get a new power steering belt and a new alternator belt and you should be good to go. But no, the alternator belt isn't really like most serpentine belts that have a spring tensioner to keep belt tension. You will have to do it the old fashioned way by manually tensioning the belt. Good luck!

 

[cbower]

Thanks for the quick reply! Now I got totally confused because I had to talk to a guy from advanced auto parts. He said he sees three belts. Altenator and Water Pump as one. Power Steering and Water Pump. and finally a Multi-V. Where would the multi-v belt that he is talking about be?

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

The other belt he's talking about is most likely your a/c belt.

 

[cbower]

Alrighty, I didn't even get to take a good look under the hood ### it was so dark. Hopefully that belt didn't go super psycho when it came off and mess the a/c belt up too. And if it did, it was time to get rid of the a/c haha. I wonder why the belt had problems in the first place. When I bought the car in May he gave me the receipt from the Mitshu dealer that he had belts replaced. Im staring at it right now, p/s, alternator, timing, balance shaft. He paid almost $1200 on Feburary 18th 2011.

 

[GRAVEDIGGER]

You said in your first post that the belt squeeled longer than usual. The belt squeeling is a sign that the belt was loose, which in turn can cause premature wear and lead to breakage like what you've just experienced. Clean all the pulleys, replace the broken belts, and tension everything properly, and you should be in good shape.

 

[jmitch]

Youre making yourself worry about nothing, do like gravedigger said and youll be ok

 

[cbower]

Haha yeah I was just talking to my dad and he was thinking there might have been a pulley hung up but we will obviously be checking that out. My tools are all in storage because I was moving last week and don't have the garage cleaned up yet. I'll probably post tonight on how the repair went. Hopefully doesnt take too long.

 

[hocka09]

I had the same squealing problem with my alternator at one point and I went to a mechanic friend of mine and he cleared it all up for me. The belt is much tighter when you first install it but after use and heat from the engine and what not, the belt loosens to its "final" length and will require a bit more tightening. Piano string tight is what I was told and it quieted that thing right up. Just remember to do that with your new belts and they will last a heck of a lot long for ya.

 

[keith2g]

No need to check to see if the timing jumped. They're actually 2 completely different belt drives, although it wouldn't be a bad idea to check the condition of the timing belt while your under the hood.

 

[cbower]

Hey guys I didn't get back on the computer last night after the repair. Here;s how everything went. P/S belt was chewed up but still on the pulleys. A/C belt completly off the pulleys. Alternator belt not even on the car.
Reason: Harmonic Balancer was JUNK. When I grabbed onto it I could move it left to right about 2 to 3 inches.
Fix: 1 hour in a half replacing. 1 hour in half driving to Milwaukee is traffic for the closest one.
Belts are giving me a little squeal most likely because they are new but we are good to go.
Thanks for the help everyone!
(ps i thought the timing belt being on the bottom connected to the pulley might have caused a problem, but everything was good to go)

 

[brian102]

Did you get a stock pulley? I have to replace mine so curious.

 

[Coalbey]

If it was the timing belt somthing could be messed up, My timing belt was broke and after hours of changing it I found out a piston was broke and the valves were bent. Hope this helps (I'm new) haha

 

[cbower]

Hey coalbey it wasnt anything with the timing...
The squeal was actually getting worse each time I started it, I decided to get the alternator belt a little tighter as I thought it might help (although it seemed pretty snug to me) and that did the trick. On a cold start I have a 1/2 sec to 1 sec squeal and that is it. On a warm start nothing. So happy to not be embarrassed anymore!

 

[constant_proj21]

My power steering/water pump ate itself the other day as well, within the first hour of owning my new 1g...guess it was letting me know what to look forward to!