Broken Down - Shredded belt - Live Help Please!

[bemerritt]

Just lost power steering in the carpool lane, took a couple miles to wrestle it over and exit the free way.

Initially only power steering loss, but then about a min or two later 4 lo flashing and check engine flashing as well as battery light.

Finally got into a parking lot, light steam coming from under the hood. Coolant bubbling. At first the reservoir was full then two minutes later it emptied.

Belt shredded, hence steering loss. Getting towed home. Seems like idler pulley is a good place to start.

But the big question is how much damage could have been done in the time it took to get the vehicle off the road?

 

[TheComedian]

Hmm looks to me like the shredded belt destroyed maybe on pipe from you power steering if I would had to guess on this oil color.
Ps.: diesel or gas?

 

[achris44]

Agree; I think you punctured some hoses and that caused the fluid drain. If there was coolant present when you stopped, then it drained, my guess is you are going to be ok once everything is patched up and refilled. I could help more if I was there to taste the puddles as that's how I do most of my diagnosing...

 

[bemerritt]

Agree; I think you punctured some hoses and that caused the fluid drain. If there was coolant present when you stopped, then it drained, my guess is you are going to be ok once everything is patched up and refilled. I could help more if I was there to taste the puddles as that's how I do most of my diagnosing...

Thanks, puddle was pink, so it was at least predominantly coolant. No tasting needed haha.

 

[Zjohnsonua]

How much damage will depend on how hot it got when the fan quit turning and what hoses were damaged. You'll not get a definitive answer of what you have on your hands until you can get eyes on all the damaged parts.

 

[bemerritt]

Hmm looks to me like the shredded belt destroyed maybe on pipe from you power steering if I would had to guess on this oil color.
Ps.: diesel or gas?

Gas

 

[bemerritt]

Hoses seem somewhat intact and ps reservoir still full. Hoping this is where the coolant was leaking. Needed to do the radiator anyways…

 

[nwfl4runner]

When it's cool enough, crack open the radiator and see how full it is.

 

[doru]

Looks like it boiled over from the overflow tank top hose. It got pretty hot.
Fingers crossed the engine is Ok. You'll know it only after fixing the belt and all associated stuff, and running it. If the coolant level stays put then you're fine. If not, then you may have a head gasket issue or some leak to investigate further.

I would also change the oil for a good measure in case it got contaminated or cooked. When racing we replace the oil after a race day and the oil never gets so hot as it did in your engine. Get an oil analysis on it (Blackstone Labs) to see if coolant got into it.

Driving a couple miles after belt broke is a bit too much. I get it that sometimes safety takes precedence if there is no shoulder to pull over.

 

[GordJ]

Deep breath. It has been my experience that the modern engine will shut down before it causes any problem from overheating. I expect that you probably don't remember the last time the belt was changed but do you remember any squealing from under the hood? I would guess that the belt was destroyed by old age or a bad pulley so the first step would be to replace the belt, top up the rad and reservoir and start it up. If you can hear/see any problem with the wheels or belt alignment you can probably determine the problem. If not blame the belt.

 

[08URJ200]

I had a quarter of the serpentine belt tear when I first purchased my LC (from a private seller). It had passed my initial inspection but after a week of ownership it "popped" in a shopping center parking lot. Luckily the 3/4s left was strong enough to get me home but the initial pop was felt inside, leading me to pull over and investigate. Nothing "felt" right for the drive home, you could most certainly tell something was wrong. I was lucky that the 1/4 strip had wrapped around the fan clutch, like your picture above, and nothing else was ruined/broken.

If your belt completely came apart, if not initially but by the time you turned the truck off, there was nothing spinning the water pump for a certain period of time, so unfortunately you may have a bigger problem regarding overheating

 

[08URJ200]

Forgot to mention your power steering loss was from the belt breaking, as the serpentine belt also drives that, which could mean your water pump wasn't recirculating fluid for quite some time

 

[bemerritt]

Forgot to mention your power steering loss was from the belt breaking, as the serpentine belt also drives that, which could mean your water pump wasn't recirculating fluid for quite some time

That’s my worry exactly.

 

[bemerritt]

Still quite a bit of coolant in the radiator. Nothing looks suspicious from the bottom. All pulleys spinning. Think the belt just went out. Boiled coolant out of the overflow.

Fingers crossed it didn’t get too hot.

 

[bloc]

Keep in mind that belt doesn’t just run the fan, it runs the water pump. You were driving down the road with zero coolant flow through the engine.. at freeway speeds it does not take long to damage things.

 

[bicycleagent003]

Fingers crossed it just got hot and shut down. Good luck, post with results when you can.

 

[bemerritt]

Not bad for a days work. Not exactly what I thought I’d do today. Had to loosen up the dissent bumper to gain access to the lower rad bolts.

 

[04UZJ100]

OEM? How old?

 

[bemerritt]

OEM? How old?

I am worried that it somehow didn't ever get changed. 112k on the clock. Bought it CPO @ 55k miles from a Toyota dealer, and have had it serviced there up until about 10k miles ago.

 

[04UZJ100]

I am worried that it somehow didn't ever get changed. 112k on the clock. Bought it CPO @ 55k miles from a Toyota dealer, and have had it serviced there up until about 10k miles ago.

Sounds original.