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Car question.

odie

odie

Gold Supporting Member
Mar 12, 2000
3,586
27
Minnesota, Earth, Milky Way
#1
Family grocery getter may have tossed the serpentine belt. Belt smoked(no sqweak) a month ago after freezing rain and it sitting awhile. Today it did the same after sitting a week and freezing rain. Saw the smoke and shut off the car. Scrapped the windowns and restarted with no smoke or squeal(sp?). gave it some gas and I heard a thud. I shut it off and decided to take other car to work as I was running late.

So either the belt came off or it something loosened up.

Question is if I lost the belt can I drive it to a mechanic down the road, mile maybe, down hill with one stop light.

I know I wont have a water pump etc, but will the battery get me there??
 
#2
odie said:
Family grocery getter may have tossed the serpentine belt. Belt smoked(no sqweak) a month ago after freezing rain and it sitting awhile. Today it did the same after sitting a week and freezing rain. Saw the smoke and shut off the car. Scrapped the windowns and restarted with no smoke or squeal(sp?). gave it some gas and I heard a thud. I shut it off and decided to take other car to work as I was running late.

So either the belt came off or it something loosened up.

Question is if I lost the belt can I drive it to a mechanic down the road, mile maybe, down hill with one stop light.

I know I wont have a water pump etc, but will the battery get me there??
Click to expand...

Is overhead valvetrain driven off the serpentine? Just curious...
 
#3
odie said:
Family grocery getter may have tossed the serpentine belt. Belt smoked(no sqweak) a month ago after freezing rain and it sitting awhile. Today it did the same after sitting a week and freezing rain. Saw the smoke and shut off the car. Scrapped the windowns and restarted with no smoke or squeal(sp?). gave it some gas and I heard a thud. I shut it off and decided to take other car to work as I was running late.

So either the belt came off or it something loosened up.

Question is if I lost the belt can I drive it to a mechanic down the road, mile maybe, down hill with one stop light.

I know I wont have a water pump etc, but will the battery get me there??
Click to expand...
Battery ought to get you there. I had an alternator go in my '95 Camaro, and I ended up driving it about 5 miles to the local auto store to get the new one. Just make sure to keep an eye on the gagues (especially the temp) and you should be fine.

Ray
 
#7
If the battery's got a full charge, no problem. You'll overheat way before you run out of juice to fire the ignition. :D

Keep in mind you're not going to have any power steering, so it's going to be real tough to turn the wheel. Probably won't even be able to budge it unless you're rolling. No heater either - even though the car will overheat pretty quickly, the coolant isn't circulating, so that heat won't make it back to the heat/AC unit. So de-ice thoroughly and/or wait untill the weather's not too bad.
 
#9
odie said:
.....Saw the smoke........
Click to expand...

Geez, you let the magic smoke out? :D

Glad you got the vehicle there. Driving a mile w/o a belt isn't too bad, but I wouldn't go much further than that. Not that big of a deal w/o power steering or an alternator, it's the lack of a spinning waterpump that worries me, especially in today's newer aluminum headed vehicles.

Sometimes spending $50 for a tow is cheaper than hundreds for head gaskets, or thousands for engine replacement.
 
#10
I agree, if I would have seen the temp gauge move it would be shut down. Not that it wouldnt be too late.


Caught the guy twice on over charges. I got some price qoutes around town and both places said $150. He called and told me $250. I told him what prices I had gotten and he said "oh ok, I can do $150" Like we are haggleing??!!

Then he said the housing on the alternator was cracked, not sure if it was or mattered. He said it should be replaced. I asked how much and he said $258-289 depending on warranty not including labor. I thought it was ok and then called some parts places. $129 at Autozone, and $139 at NAPA. I call him back and say no way am I going to pay that much I will just get it towed to another garage. He then says, ok I can charge $169 for the alternator. Fine I said. But I wont go back there!!
 

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