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You can put on a new belt and fill it yourself. There is a DIY somewhere, but in my memory, it goes something like this: after you fill it, drive it a short distance (until the car is warmed up). A bunch of naturally air collects at the top of the system. Just purge (open the reservoir to release the air) and refill. Do this a few times and you are good to go. It's not that hard and you don't need the shop to do it. Belt is a very simple DIY.
Must have been a defective belt, I still have my original one on it's a 2005 go figure.
Maybe, but more likely one of the pulleys is not rotating properly. I'd want to be 100% certain every pulley spun smoothly with no discernible wobble before blaming a relatively new belt as being defective. Perhaps the WP is on it's way out, or already died on you as you have a long stream of coolant on the road.
The likelihood of a defective belt is almost zero, unless it was installed incorrectly.
Belt has likely broken because it came off one of the pulleys due to pulley wear and wobble, or one of the accessories pulleys seized up.
The emergency coolant refill procedures while stranded on the side of the road, assume that you have a working accessory belt/water pump working, correct? Did I missed something?
From what I have seen, replacing/bleeding the coolant in these cars is a major PITA. I found the information below helpful. By the way, there is no such thing as "Lifetime Fluid", despite what Porsche says about their coolant.
My serpentine belt shredded recently too. It was caused from a defective roller, so i had both changed. Be sure to check that, because it's rare for a belt to shred on its own unless it's ridiculously old.
Regarding the coolant, you absolutely must bleed the system. If there's air pockets, it will overheat.
My serpentine belt shredded recently too. It was caused from a defective roller, so i had both changed. Be sure to check that, because it's rare for a belt to shred on its own unless it's ridiculously old.
Regarding the coolant, you absolutely must bleed the system. If there's air pockets, it will overheat.
I'll be brief...
Belt came in on Friday. Went to install it yesterday morning. Saw the following. It's no wonder the belt blew. I've now got one tension roller and two idle rollers on the way. Oh, and the new bumper went on without a hitch.
See something missing? And look at the condition of that tension roller.
Belt came in on Friday. Went to install it yesterday morning. Saw the following. It's no wonder the belt blew. I've now got one tension roller and two idle rollers on the way. Oh, and the new bumper went on without a hitch.
See something missing? And look at the condition of that tension roller.
Oh! That would do it...
I can't tell for sure from the picture but is there a chance that hose clamp above the idler is interfering? Makes me wonder if the belt took out the rollers or if the roller took out the belt.
In the 2nd picture, did you already take the metal "hat" off the pulley that has lost its plastic? If the belt sheared that off, pulling it over the nut then holy cow...
Time to do a thorough inspect/replace of ALL pulley bearings. Water pump and power steering included. I did my power steering pulley bearing recently as I detected a slight amount of radial play. Very easy job.
Rule of thumb: If you can detect any play whatsoever or is "audible" and spins freely without resistance from the internal grease when you spin it by hand its time to replace it.
Time to do a thorough inspect/replace of ALL pulley bearings. Water pump and power steering included. I did my power steering pulley bearing recently as I detected a slight amount of radial play. Very easy job.
Rule of thumb: If you can detect any play whatsoever or is "audible" and spins freely without resistance from the internal grease when you spin it by hand its time to replace it.
I was wondering about whether the idlers should spin freely or not and this answers my question. When I had my belt off and spun the idlers, they wouldn't spin for more than a second. Somehow I expected them to spin for several seconds but I guess if they did this would indicate an absence of grease.
I was wondering about whether the idlers should spin freely or not and this answers my question. When I had my belt off and spun the idlers, they wouldn't spin for more than a second. Somehow I expected them to spin for several seconds but I guess if they did this would indicate an absence of grease.
Exactly! Spins freely for more than 1-2 seconds means all the grease is pressed out from centrifugal force and heat cycling which dry's it out.
I always pull the dust shields and inspect a new bearing to see if it has enough grease and grease that is of good viscosity. My findings are sometimes alarming. I've had new bearings with hardly any grease. Too much is a waste also and can thrust the dust shields off so don't overdo it.
I can't tell for sure from the picture but is there a chance that hose clamp above the idler is interfering? Makes me wonder if the belt took out the rollers or if the roller took out the belt.
In the 2nd picture, did you already take the metal "hat" off the pulley that has lost its plastic? If the belt sheared that off, pulling it over the nut then holy cow...
Nah, the hose clamp is not interfering. My theory is that the lower roller simply disintegrated. And yes, I did already remove the "hat". Yeah, if the belt had pulled it over the nut...
Time to do a thorough inspect/replace of ALL pulley bearings. Water pump and power steering included. I did my power steering pulley bearing recently as I detected a slight amount of radial play. Very easy job.
Rule of thumb: If you can detect any play whatsoever or is "audible" and spins freely without resistance from the internal grease when you spin it by hand its time to replace it.
Everything else feels good, so I should be back in business once the new rollers are in place...of course I still don't know if the thing's going to hold pressure.
Everything else feels good, so I should be back in business once the new rollers are in place...of course I still don't know if the thing's going to hold pressure.
If by hold pressure your referring to coolant pressure? I would buy a cheap $50 coolant vacuum bleeder and go to town. They work great. Trying to bleed the cooling system without one is not likely to work out in your favor. If your time or DYI constrained then have an indy perform the work although your faced with how to get the car there and not overheat...
Given it's now three days shy of two weeks - and almost needless to say - I deeply regret not having the car towed to my mechanic. At this point, I could give a %$#@ less if he charged me who knows how much to fix this - at least then it would be done (and guaranteed). But whatever...here I am.
(sorry - had to vent)
So, all the parts came in and I now have the time to swap out the rollers. Two of the three took about 5 minutes (if that). The rear bolt on the tension roller, however - what were they thinking? Seems straight forward enough, but for the life of me I simply cannot get the 16mm wrench to stay while I turn the sleeved bolt on the front (which, why it is so damned shallow I haven't the slightest).
So, after swearing up a storm for 30 minutes I'm now just done with the damn thing. I need to take a deep breath before I stroke out.
Does anyone out there have any pointers at all on WTF needs to happen for me to get this roller off?
Are you attempting this solo? If so I can see where this would be tough. Get a helper to hold the 16mm nut behind. Coach them up on how best to hold the wrench and put a rag around the wrench so they don't get nuckle rash. Now you can put the inward force and torque necessary on outer nut to loosen. Try PB blaster if needed but I doubt you'll need that.
02-22-2017, 05:51 PM
