"Check Engine" light comes on. "Battery Light" comes on. (not charging) Temperture gauge starts climbing rapidly.(very unusual for this truck) And the power steering ceases to function. Let me tell you it may be a little truck but I really had to put some arm into it at slower speeds. Fortunately I had a pretty good head a steam up and was able to shut down the motor and glide in for a landing in my favorite parking spot at the lanes. Bowled league (average at best) then went out and popped the hood and saw the problem. The serpentine belt has seen better days but wasn't exactly trashed either so I knew it was something else. Managed to limp it home by starting and stopping the engine so I wouldn't overheat and blow it up. Manhandled the steering and parked it on the frontage road at home. Came to find out that the pulley directly behind the fan blades wasn't exactly turning true. This because of the 4 machine bolts that hold in in place were a little askew. As in there were only 2 still there and one of them was backed half way out of the threads. No wonder it threw the belt! Pat Johnson was by that weekend and we cranked down the 2 bolts that were left and it idled okay, but under load it just threw the belt again.
AutoZone didn't have diddly in the way of these bolts so I had to speacial order them from Ford. Mad props to Martin Huerta in the parts dept. over at Tuttle-Click Ford in Irvine for being able to ID and procure the bolts that were required. He has a wicked cool parts database. Found the time this morning and attacked it. Took a short bike ride over to AutoZone to pick up some loctite and since I was tearing it down anyway I also snagged a new serpentine belt.
Pulled the heat shield and the big tube that runs from the airbox to the intake as it was totally in the way and managed to back off the existing 2 bolts. Didn't pull 'em all the way off but loosened them just enough so I could thread the new ones in the unoccupied holes. I gotta tell you this took some doing as there is little if any space to work with between the fan and the pulley. I had no intention of pulling the radiator shroud and fan for this. Thank goodness I have little girly man hands. Bunch of other stuff in the way as well and with the tight quarters I had to actually use my left hand to start the bolts. I still don't know how I pulled that off. Anyway once they were all in place, (pulled the 2 old ones and replaced) I slapped some loctite on them and torqued them down. Let it set for about 30 min. and slapped the new belt on. Fired it up and everything kicked back in just fine. All my warning lights started behaving again and I didn't have to have Hulk Hogan arms to turn the thing. It was a hassle but 40 bucks in parts and my Saturday morning is nothing compared to what any shop would have dinged me for. Gotta love it.. Here's a shot of the engine compartment stripped of the air hoses and such, followed by the shiny new serp. belt and lastly the reassembled engine compartment.
Noticed a drip from the power steering pump as it was warming up and the fluid is a little low. I think it's time to replace the lines for that unit and the transmission. "Ka'Ching"!! Tires are in the immediate future for sure... Though I've really enjoyed pedaling around town the last couple of weeks I had to get cracking on this with the rainy season about to begin. I like the mini workouts but riding to work in the rain doesn't appeal to me in the least. Have a good weekend all...
-Scott
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