i'm a bit worried here - my cousin is off driving my 96 cavalier and just called me, saying:

- the power steering died
- the check engine / check battery lights came on
- the heater's not working
- the engine temperature is waaay up

now the first three i'm not that worried about - just sounds like the belt. however the temperature has me worried - i thought the water pump was somewhat independent of the belt, that is it would still pump and keep temps down regardless of whether the belt snapped or whatever. or would it be that the radiator fan could no longer spin?

if anyone has input, i'd love it. i'm hoping it's just the belt, but i'm not sure of what other expensive surprise i might get.

well the car made it home. popped the hood, and the serpentine belt is in one piece, not damaged at all, but hanging completely loose. so i assume the reason for overheating was that the pump is fine, but the fan couldn't blow any air on the radiator.

i've been told that this is probably the tensioner's fault. i'll look for some topics about that, but if anyone wants to chime in, feel free

tensioners arent expensive to replace. Hopefully nothing else was damaged by the loose belt. Good luck buddy

if the belt looks fine, is there any point in trying to put it back on as-is? or should i get a tensioner replacement first as it's bound to happen again..

The Fan is electrically driven and should have been running if the temp was 220 deg F or more, the water pump is driven by the belt and would have stopped.


Make sure none of the driven components have loosened/seized to run the belt off track and/or confirm the the tensioner has failed before you get a new one.

This is just in case you buy a new tensioner and then discover that wasn't the cause.

Hope it's a cheap fix

Alont

depending wut car u even have.. 2.4 water pump isnt belt driven neither is power steering pump..
fan should be electrical always.

im assuming u have 2.2 tho

yep 2.2 engine - i thought 2.2 water pump was not belt driven, but i guess it is - makes sense!

i'm going to get the belt back on tomorrow, start it up and see what happens.

well i got it back on fine, started the car up, and the only residual effect is that the 'radiator coolant level' light came on. weird, but i'll top it off all the same when i go to buy a new belt.

i found a guide at http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=309192 that helped, however my engine is different to most 96 2.2l cavaliers apparently. there is a post at the bottom of the 2nd page of that link that explains how the belt goes and what to do on this engine.

well i topped up the coolant, but the light remains on and the engine is still getting way too hot.

any ideas?? the light i'm referring to is the rounded-corner rectangle with a cap on top, and a wavy line going through the middle of it.

my cousin decided to throw my car's owner manual away, so i'm stuck. i hope it's not the water pump itself, it was replaced less than a year ago. i don't see why it just would have happened now when the belt fell off.

bought coolant, topped up the (cold) car's reservoir to the 'cold full' line, left the cap off, and started the car (to burp it).

- reservoir level (despite starting at the cold full line) gradually filled higher (?) and overflowed! this was within a couple minutes
- reservoir level then went down (??) and levelled off, staying steady for 7-8 minutes
- me being an idiot, i didn't keep an eye on the temp gauge and the reservoir started boiling (non-pressurized system means boiling point is much lower), so some coolant boiled out.
- the coolant light stayed on the whole time, i figured it'd turn off at some point (especially while it was overflowing)

here's what i really desperately need to know:

1. why, when the reservoir was at the 'cold full' line, did it then completely overflow itself??
2. why did it completely overflow, but then settle out comfortably?
3. if i now fill it back up to the cold full line, put the cap on, and start the car, will it overflow itself again and blow the cap off??

thanks for any help, i can't really afford to take this car anywhere but i fear working on it myself may do more harm than good.

You need to check your upper radiator hose. If you squeeze it, there should be pressure, but if there isn't pressure it could be your thermostat or water pump.