So l was driving 3 and a half hour trip and I started noticing a weird noise that sounded like rain or gravel then after a while the car started saying it had low battery and was overheating, slowed down from about 70-80 mph down to about 25-30 mph and less closer I got to my destination, I limped it exactly 15 minutes to my destination after the temp rose and battery light came on, I just want to know if you guys think that 15 minutes could leave me looking for a new car, I really wasn’t trying to be stranded in the woods where I’ve never been
In all of your posts on this you put serpentine belt in the title but there’s nothing mentioning why
I’m trying to find out why my power steering went out hours before the serpentine belt even snapped if there’s a logical reason
From what I know about serpentine belts (very little) what your car was doing was exactly what happens when its gone and needs replacing. I understand you have about half an hours driving time before it affects alternator and batter yso that you can’t drive anywhere . Didn’t think that it would destroy your car driving it though?
So at first we were just driving and the power steering went out so we thought it was no big deal went and got more power steering fluid, seemed to help a little, drove about a hour and a half steering was getting rough again put more fluid in because it seemed it had went down just a bit either that or they didn’t fill it to the max line so we filled it up a bit more get about a 15 minutes from where we need to be (3hr drive total without any problems besides power steering) then all the sudden everything else went to shit because at that point is when I assumed the belt came off because yea overheating and all that, so my main question was why did the power steering go out 3 hours before everything else did if there’s a logical answer to that.
Also your odds of serious damage are reduced because you didn’t lose the coolant, it just wasn’t circulating. And you said it was a cold night which helps some. In the future, anytime a car temp gauge climbs above 2/3 way to hot, pull over immediately and stop.
Would you possibly have any answer for me on why my power steering went out way before everything else
Power steering runs off of a pump directly attached to the serpentine belt. The second the serpentine belt is gone, power steering is gone.
The alternator loses power when the serpentine belt is gone. That leaves you on just the battery, so after a few minutes you’ll get a low warning on your battery because the alternator isn’t providing it power anymore, but you’re still drawing power from it.
The water pump and potentially fan (depending on the engine) are gonna go out with the serpentine belt, which means your engine and coolant will gradually climb up to overheating temps as the coolant is no longer getting cooled or cycled through the engine.
If your car is making noise, stop driving and investigate. If your car is popping up with a low battery signal when it shouldn’t, stop driving and investigate. If your car is telling you it’s overheating, REALLY stop driving and investigate. If your car is now past the point of warning you and now can only manage to pump out less and less power, decreasing minute after minute as you ruin your engine, feel free to keep driving because you obviously don’t care about having a working car/and or having money in your wallet.
Seriously, I hope not being “stranded in the woods where I’ve never been” was worth turning a $30 serpentine belt replacement into a $2,000-9,000 engine repair/replacement.
Well I mean I was on the a 70 mph rd with my friend her 2 kids in the car Wich one of them can’t walk in the woods with no where to pull off I mean I was totally gonna just sit in the road and risk my battery dying and not having hazards or heat, the turn to my destination was basically the only safe spot I could turn off at, I was just trying to keep people safe and get there honestly man if I was alone it’s wtv but I wasn’t gonna put them in danger