just driving home tonight i lost my steering and brakes-it just happend all at once with no warning. and the batt. light lit up when this all happened.
any ideas

 

check your belt. if its still there then check how tight it is.

 

i think my truck is jealous after checking out that CC today!

 

your belt fell off. I would guess that you lost a bearing on an idler pulley or your Vacuum pump went out as the cause

 

ok the belt is there but its twisted around the fan.
is it something i can fix myself or can i drive it to the shop which is about 5miles

 

not bad that belt lasted 169k
does the belt just give out or did something else cause this.

 

i just have to know if i can drive it that short distance?

 

yeah driving it wont really hurt any thing other than the hard breaks and steering. just don't hit too many ricers on the way there the detail bill tends to jack up if you have a lot of bugs to scrape off!!LOL but yeah its fine to drive just keep an eye on the batteries as they will begin to loose charge without the alternator.

 

i also noticed that just before all this started the breaks were really working working to good. i would just tap the breaks lightly and it was like i was pushing down hard.
vacume pump problem?

 

Might need a new one of these:
http://www.alliantpower.com/images/P...-watermark.gif

 

jim i saw the pic but what is it-by the way jim thanks for all your help w/ those stage 1s they are great!!!!!!!!

 

does anyone know what that is?

 

the stuff in the pic is a upgraded doble belt tensioner. Buy I think you have issues in you vaccum pump and they caused the belt problem. IMHO.

 

Don't drive it too far, the belt runs your water pump as well. I wouldn't drive it more than 5 minutes at a time. Hot pockets can develop in the water.

 

Serpentine belt drives water pump, alternator, air conditioning, power steering pump, and vacuum pump (brake boost).

For driving it to a shop, issues are water pump and overheating, really hard steering, and really hard brakes. Last two are safety and legal issues. Hit anything on the way there, and you may end up putting some lawyer's kid through law school. Batteries have plenty of energy for several starts and a lot of driving.

If all the stuff is turning and the belt is in decent shape, rethreading it is pretty easy. A 2' breaker bar on the idler pulley arm, and maybe some pipe, makes it easy to de-tension the pulley with one hand while rethreading the steering & vacuum pump pulleys with your left hand. I would rethread, start up, and see what happens before trying to drive it.

Alternatively, while the belt is off, check the idler and accessory pulleys for binding or looseness; you might find an obvious problem that you can fix. Vacuum pump won't turn smoothly; you should feel one hard pulse in each rotation, like slowly turning over a two-stroke engine. The pump has a cam on the pulley shaft; cam drives piston to pull vacuum. You'll feel resistance as cam drives piston to top-dead-center, then piston pushes cam.

Changing alternator, vacuum pump, and power steering pump are all easy. I've done all 3 (alternator after dark in a parts store parking lot). For at least the vacuum pump and maybe others, you'll need a puller because you'll re-use the old pulley. On the vacuum pump, mount the pump and get the bolts started BEFORE putting the pulley on; at least one of the bolts can't be started after the pulley is on.

Vacuum pump doesn't need to be bled or primed; just hook up the vacuum line and start the engine. Vacuum boost is separate from the hydraulic brake lines. Bleeding power steering pump is starting engine, turning wheel stop-to-stop a few times, then topping off the reservoir. Should be able to do alternator, vacuum pump, and steering pump in under 2 hours total.

Haven't done water pump or idler pulley yet, so can't help you there.