serpentine.

Topic: serpentine. (Read 1066 times) previous topic - next topic

serpentine.

March 23, 2013, 03:35:22 AM

Sitting stopped at a light on my way to buger king, I hear a thump and my battery light comes on. I turn off after the light to find no power steering. Yeah.

I waited for it to get below normal with the engine off, then drive 4 or 5 miles at a time, waiting for it to cool. About 2 miles from my house, I pull over, sit for about 30 mins, try to start it, and my battery is dead. Ran it dead driving with my headlights on.

Pop the hood, pull the shreades belt off that wasn't wrapped around my fan for once. All the pulleys spin free, except for my belt tensioner. I happen to have an old belt, but no pulley. Ironic thing, I ran out of juice infront of autzone minutes after they closed. Guess the car will take a nap over night in the snow.

serpentine.

Reply #1 – March 23, 2013, 04:33:50 AM

Bummer dude...

serpentine.

Reply #2 – March 23, 2013, 08:21:00 AM

I've had that happen. I always keep a spare gatorback in the trunk. Spare pulleys, I usually don't keep one of those in the car. LOL. Glad it's a simple fix.

serpentine.

Reply #3 – March 23, 2013, 09:46:50 AM

atleast the car had a driver who knows what to do and how to do it.
Many people today pop the hood and are overwhelmed with what all they see that they close the hood and send it to a shop.

serpentine.

Reply #4 – March 23, 2013, 12:35:58 PM

I had an old belt, but I replaced it because it was getting pretty worn.

I went home looked at the tensioner on my other motor. Its bearing was a bit noisy so I left it. Went back to atozone, bought a new belt and pulley, $50 and its fixed. I guess I ran the battery too low for the jump box to start it by itself, but I got a jump within 5 mins, so it all worked out.

I hate the plastic pulleys. Just seems like a bad idea to me.

serpentine.

Reply #5 – March 24, 2013, 11:01:51 AM

plastic pulleys do the job. They use them on everything now. glad you had a simple fix. unfortunatly, stuff like this happens. My dad reminds me all the time. its an old car, stuffs gonna break.
the cool thing about older cast motors, there a little more resilient to overheating. been there, done that.

at least you were showing off, like i was once. some young kids were giving me the thumbs up. So i lit em up took off, and the belt spit out the bottom. alternator bolt loosened up. had to be quite the show.

serpentine.

Reply #6 – March 25, 2013, 12:25:56 AM

I was actually thumping on it pretty good before hand. Still having too much fun with this t-5. I've been beating the out of it and trying to hit every red light I can.

When I was 16 I did the exact same thing in my 86 cougar, again the belt tension pulley went. I was going around a right hand turn way too fast showing off a bit. Got way more sideways then usual, almost lost it. Wasn't till I hit the next light and realized I had no power steering before figured out what happened. This was before I knew anything about cars at all, and I snuck out in the car while my dad was at work.

I ended up borrowing some tools from a jiffy lube and swapping it out in the parking lot.