If you're on the highway when the belt lets go, you may not even notice it. If you're in town, the the first thing you will notice is it's hard to steer.
A serpentine belt powers all your vehicles secondary systems, when the belt fails they fail, simultaneously.
What exacty happens when a serpentine belt fails:
- Power steering pump is no longer spinning, steering becomes difficult. This is the first noticeable symptom.
- Water pump no longer spinning, water no longer circulates, your engine begins to overheat. It doesn't matter if the fan is electric or not. Symptoms are slower to present themselves.
- Alternator no longer spinning. The engine continues to run by drawing power from the battery. If this happens at night, you will notice the headlights getting gradually dimmer. An idiot light on the dash (ALT) will light up.
- The engine finally overheats, you pull over and shut the engine down. Steam is shooting from the radiator reservoir. There may be damage to the engine. You wait over an hour for it to cool enough to open the cap. You notice the belt is gone.
- You put some more water in it. You try to start it up to get to a repair shop, only to discover your battery has been completely drained. You aren't going anywhere.
So the potential consequences are possible severe engine damage (warped heads, etc), battery replacement, stranding in the middle of nowhere, possible accident if the steering cuts mid-turn in traffic.
I hope that answered your question.
If you have trouble putting a new belt on, click here. The procedure is straightforward.
If you have additional questions, click on my name to get my profile, then click Askme.
Good luck
Mike
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