1997 Saturn SL2 Serpentine belt snapped?

[VK56VD]

Hello All,

My girlfriend drives a 1997 Saturn SL2. She called me today stating that when she started her car up at the gas station she felt her steering wheel was very stiff, hot air began blowing from the a/c, and the battery light came on. I immediately told her to park the car and shut it off. If it is the serpentine belt that ripped, it controls the water pump which helps keep the car cool, A/C compressor, and alternator. Since she is about one hour away I will buy parts early morning and go to where her car is. From reading on various forums, it also seems like it can be the belt tensioner and tensioner pulley, other than the obvious serpentine built which will look clearly torn. Others recommend changing the idler pulley as well. Since the car is parked at a shopping center, I will have to drive it to a nearest shop. How safe is it to drive the car before it begins to over heat?

Also, when would the belt tensioner need to be replaced? I've called a few places today and it seems that GoodYear and Firestone charge for a half an hour of labor for this job which equates to approximately $50. They also charge between $50-$60 for the belt itself.

Should I buy the parts at the dealer as they may be of higher quality or go ahead and use the belts that they provide. GoodYear told me that if they use my parts, they will not warranty the work.

My girlfriend is a graduate student so I do not want her to pay for unnecessary labor if the tensioner pulley does not need to be replaced. Most shops I spoke with on the phone said the tensioner pulley will probably need to be replaced as most of the time they change them when doing the belt itself.

Thanks

 

[sunfire]

Check under the hood first, the belt may have been stretched over time and slipped off. You might be able to put the belt back on yourself. Sometimes there is a diagram under the hood. You'll need the right tools like a breaker bar or a torque wrench and a metal pipe that fits over the handle for more leverage. At least remove the slipped off belt first before driving.

 

[MrCritical]

How long do they warranty the work if they provide the parts?

If the tensioner is original it probably needs changing.

 

[Axe Man]

Get a new tensioner. It's a common failure on the SL engines.

 

[VK56VD]

Update:

I ended up taking the car to Saturn and getting the tensioner and serpentine built replaced as they had the cheapest deal in town. Plus the parts are Saturn OEM.

The car currently has about 160k miles on it. According to my girlfriend's maintenance records, the serpentine built and tensioner were replaced by Firestone back in 2005 when the car had 113k miles on it. Why it failed so quickly I don't know. Maybe the parts installed by Firestone were very cheap or the labor wasn't that great. Hopefully Saturn OEM parts and labor will last longer this time.

 

[MrCritical]

It wasn't the labor if it lasted 3 years.

 

[VK56VD]

Originally Posted By: MrCritical
How long do they warranty the work if they provide the parts?

If the tensioner is original it probably needs changing.


Firestone provides a 6 month/6k mile warranty and Good Year provides a 12 month/ 12k mile warranty. These warranties are in effect only if you use their parts. Strangely, Firestone is the more expensive of the two even though they have a weaker warranty coverage.

 

[The Critic]

The tensioner failed on my 96 Saturn at 88k. It seems to be a common failure. My dad's mechanic at the time installed a new aftermarket tensioner and a Gatorback belt. I'm at 115k right now and it's still okay.

My mom drove about 10 miles home with a broken tensioner. She said the battery light was on but didn't say anything about the steering.

 

[VK56VD]

The battery light will be on as the belt drives the alternator as well. Basically without the belt, the car is running on pure battery. Power steering is also driven by the serpentine built. The water pump is driven by the serpentine built. Without a water pump, coolant does not get circulated through out the engine so this will potentially over heat it. I'm surprised she drove 10 miles with a broken belt with no over heating issues. I drove about 1 mile to the dealership with no belt and saw the temperature gauge move fairly quickly.

 

[Cutehumor]

I got an oem pontiac tensioner back in 01 with new belt from autozone. still have the same belt, it's showing its age though.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: Spartuss
The battery light will be on as the belt drives the alternator as well. Basically without the belt, the car is running on pure battery. Power steering is also driven by the serpentine built. The water pump is driven by the serpentine built. Without a water pump, coolant does not get circulated through out the engine so this will potentially over heat it. I'm surprised she drove 10 miles with a broken belt with no over heating issues. I drove about 1 mile to the dealership with no belt and saw the temperature gauge move fairly quickly.

I'm not sure if the tensioner was completely broken as she did not mention having any steering problems. She was coming back from the mall when it happened, so it was definitely more than a few miles. I think the tensioner was allowing the belt to get loose, but it wasn't flopping around? She said the battery light only flashed a few times I think, this was quite a few years ago so I don't remember all of the details.