Hi, I don't know much about my truck engine. I have a 2wd '98 Ranger xlt supercab, manual, 2wd.

I was driving south on the highway and heard a bunch of squeaking that I know is a fan belt squeak, and then a small lurch in the truck. Then the battery gauge went to "L" and the battery light came on. I took the next exit and it was a good thing because I realized the power steering was out. I pulled into a parking space right as the engine started to smoke. It was less than a mile since it happened. I looked under the truck and it was leaking fluid - coolant, I'm pretty sure. I opened the hood and the fan belt was gone.

You think it's sufficient to just tow it to a mass-market place and have the fan belt replaced? (I don't feel up to replacing a serpentine myself.) Or is there a good chance it's a worse problem and I should take it to a real mechanic to have it checked out? I'm reluctant to do the latter because if I get a crappy estimate I can't exactly drive away. Maybe I should get the fan belt replaced and then drive it to a few mechanics.

I'm mostly just curious if it sounds to you guys like it's just a vanilla busted fan belt, or if there's an odd variation to it. Is it normal for it to dump coolant like that when the fan belt breaks?

This is 93,000 miles, and my second fan belt. This second one was put in (by a Ford dealership) at just under 70k miles. They replaced the tensioner, too. I called the Ford dealership and they said they doubted it was just the fan belt - maybe a bad pulley or something.

 

From what you describe it sounds like the water pump broke.

 

could be the pump or the tensioner... it could also be just that the belt was crap... try buying a gates belt this time..

Matt

 

wow, the water pump, huh? That actually happened to me once before, right around 47k. If that's what actually happened, this is pretty much like clockwork.

So the broken water pump can make the fan belt snap off?

Maybe I'll just have it towed to the dealer. I know they'll take advantage of me by about 15% but I'm reasonably sure they won't completely make stuff up.

 

Did you notice exactly where the coolant was leaking from? Was it a lot? I'd wait a bit and see if someone comes along with a better/different opinion, but I suspect the water pump from what you have decribed. I would think that a seized water pump could easily snap a fan belt off.

 

I didn't really notice where the coolant was coming from. The leak trail on the ground seemed to come from more towards the right side of the engine than the left side. And, it was all over the engine.

I had noticed little bits of squeaking and "chk" sounds over the previous couple of weeks that would be there sometimes and not others, but I ignored it because I had driven with a squeaky fan belt for thousands of miles back on fan belt #1.

Thanks!

 

I would get under the hood and make sure all the pullies spin and don't wobble, except the crank, that won't turn. If they all look good I would clean off all the coolant and try a new belt. Make sure you fill up the coolant.

 

Not knowing a lot and being short on time, I took it to the Ford dealer.

The verdict was that the bearings on the water pump went out. I don't know exactly what the bearings are or how they work, but that evidently made the fan belt seize up. The fan belt melted and broke - there's rubber on the other pulleys.

So, the fan belt and the pulley.

In addition, a mechanic on another board told me that when you steer without power steering, the power steering pump can pump out fluid. So that would explain the smoke on the hot engine, and the yellow-orange fluid on the ground. That was probably power steering fluid, not coolant.

The Ford dealership said that entirely separately, they noticed that the power steering pump shaft had too much play. In and out play, not lateral. So they wanted to replace that. Total bill for everything: $870. I said okay without knowing any better. Another Ford guy has since told me that some in and out play is normal. I called back and asked and - I might have misheard them - but they said it was more than normal, something like 45 thousandths of an inch. I'm dealing with unknowns but that was enough to make me wonder if there's some creative diagnosis going on here.

They said the rest of the pulleys and the idler and tensioner were fine. I asked them to double-check the fan since someone else said that it could contribute to a water pump failing early (twice in 90k miles) but frankly I'm just worried they'll find a problem if one isn't there.

 

Sorry, if the above wasn't clear, they are replacing the fan belt, the water pump, and the power steering pump.

 

Wow, that is a lot of money. Glad you got it fixed, and if there was any significant amount of fluid it had to be coolant. My wife's Dodge Dynasty had the water pump fail while I was driving it and coolant was pouring out like a waterfall. Were you having any trouble with the steering/handling of your truck? I'd've had trouble shelling out cash for 45 thousandths of an inch, but then I'm not familiar with that kind of problem.

 

All right, there's a twist. Would love to get some feedback here, a sanity check, to see if this sounds legitimate.

The Ford dealership called me back tonight and said they had very bad news. When they got it put back together and when they started up the engine, coolant shot up into the air. (The rest here is from my notes, which are haphazard and possibly inaccurate in places):

He said the cylinder head gasket had failed, and is leaking something (coolant? anti-freeze?) into the cooling system from the pistons. Or the cylinder head itself is cracked. They will have to identify more in the morning. They said that when they were ready to turn on the engine, they had topped off the antifreeze, and you turn on the engine to burp out the air bubbles in the coolant and circulate the antifreeze. But they did it and the engine... something about the gasket into the radiator, and the coolant went 2.5 feet up into the air.

They said the truck isn't runnable, they can't top off the coolant, and the reason is because normally when you put the cap on it's supposed to be about 16 psi for the radiator, but because of the blown gasket, it would mean the coolant pressure would be way too high.

He made the work sound like there would be quite a bit of it, and threw around figures like $2300, $2400. Or replacing the engine for $3900 with a 3-year/36,000 warranty.

I'm upset that they didn't notice this problem immediately and that it came after they installed the parts and labor that I authorized for $870.

Anyone here experienced with dealing with the Dealers, if this sounds legitimate, and how I should be approaching the Dealers tomorrow?

 

latest data is that replacing the head will be $3300 total. Or $2900 if in the process they determine that only the gasket needs replacing.

Or, the reconditioned all-new-parts engine would be $4950 total, with the 3-year 36k warranty.

Other feedback I've gotten has pretty much convinced me that the problem is probably legit. The new engine would have the parts they've already put on the old engine. I'd be paying twice for the labor, which I don't like.

 

Tunesmith,

They may be entirely on the up and up.

But it sounds suspicious to me.

Do you have a friend who is automobile-knowledgeable?

If you do, I would ask that friend to come with you to the dealer and have them explain it all to him.

Just sounds WAY too expensive for a cylinder head. In fact the whole dealer episode sounds screwy to me.

Good luck,


matis

 

Well I think the point is that the cylinder head price they quoted me also includes the $870 for the work they've already done.

The engine troubles happened on the highway going 70 on a narrow part of the road, and it took me about a mile to pull over. The temperature gauge didn't say anything was wrong, but then again, I heard that the temperature gauge needs the water pump to work properly. So I might have been driving with an overheated engine. So I just meant that the problem diagnosis doesn't sound completely invented. Price is another matter, though. I'm mostly just trying to decide whether it's a good idea to get the head or gasket replaced on a 94k engine, in which case I might try an independent mechanic for that part of the work, or if I should just get the new rebuilt engine.

 

Coolant shot in the air? From where, an uncapped radiator? I've had several busted heads and head gaskets and I've never seen coolant shooting into the air. I'd tell them to put that cap on and run it for you to see if it overheats. If it doesn't, get your truck outta there and either drive it around and see how it does or get someone else to check it out. Sounds fishy to me.