Alternator Belt

[XZypher]

So tonight As I pull in my neighborhood My lights are dim the battery light comes on and the Car is running about 50-60 degrees hot and starting to smoke. I get it into the garage in about 5 minutes time and go into triage mode I pop the coolant res and its empty so I add water and the temp comes back to normal and I shut her down after about a hour of letting her cool down anymore I decide to take a look to see if I can find anything out. And I notice there is no belt going to my alternator and I am pretty sure there was one at one time and lots of stuff in the general area seems to be covered in rubber dust, So i am pretty sure it broke got caught somewhere until it was utterly destroyed. So my questions are what all does the alternator belt connect with and affect does it have anything to do with the engine cooling system? I was pretty sure when i pulled in my front fans were not running but when i checked later they were on, .ote the headlights were turned off. And my last question is that a standard size belt i can pickup somewhere or is it special one i need to order from DMC?


Any help is appreciated and sorry for the bag grammar.

[WelmoedJ]

If you have the shop manual, there's a nice picture at C:12:01 describing what you have to do to remove the waterpump.

Your belt (the right hand side one) is drven by the big wheel at the crank shaft pulley and drives the waterpump and the alternator.
This explains the battery light coming on and the coolant temperature going high after the belt broke/came off.

You can easily do without the A/C belt (also driven by the crank shaft pulley) but not without the other one.
Be glad it happened close to home, much further away and you could have destroyed your engine due to overheating.

[Ron]

+1

These are belts people have reported to work:
Gates: 7495
Dynaflex: 15495
Nationwise: 49013
Or, your local auto parts store can cross these over to others. Don't buy a cheapie...it will not last.

Something you should know- When the Alternator-Water Pump belt breaks or the coolant level is very low, the temp sending unit will lie because the coolant will not circulate over the temp sending unit (or the otterstat, which turns the fans you mention on...). Anytime you suspect overheating, you should pull off immediately and find the problem -- 5 minutes is enough time to ruin an overheating engine several times over. Otherwise you risk warping the heads, introducing coolant into the oil and vise/versa (you should check these now), to name a few. Also, adding water while it is overheated can easily cause the heads to cool off to fast and crack. It's usually best to shut it off, be patient, and let it cool off first. (A tow is A LOT cheaper than head work!)

Make sure the Alternator and Water Pump spin freely and that the pulleys haven't been damaged before you install a new belt....

Hope this helps.