Smoke Under Hood! Please Help!

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

drewjp

Joined
May 5, 2006
Messages
563
Location
Michigan
Well, it happens to be about 10* F here right now, and I was trying to start my Protege after a week of sitting at my mother's house. The battery is a DieHard Gold that has been fine thus far this winter.

It wouldn't start, so I gave it three tries, about 6 sec. each try. No luck.
So, I hooked it up to a Lincoln via jumper cables. Pos(+) to Pos(+) and Neg(-) to bare metal...hooked it up in the right order...

Tried again, no luck. Let the Lincoln idle for about 5 minutes and then tried again. Success! The car reluctantly started up.

But here's the thing: the belt was much louder and squealier than normal for the first 15 seconds, then it was fine. BUT a puff of smoke came out of the engine bay from over where the serp belt is located. It didn't last long, so I let the car idle for 5 minutes.

Then I was off and driving, but the battery light turned on, and I noticed my coolant temp was way too high and wouldn't come down. So I turned around and parked it and borrowed the Lincoln for the night.

What went wrong? Did I toast my alternator somehow? Please help so maybe I can avoid a hefty diagnostic visit.

Thanks and Happy New Year!
 
Originally Posted By: jc1990
your tensioner went
That would be my guess.

HTSS_TRs guess would be a CLOSE 2nd. Seen both happen. (freeze the coolant in the water pump)

Good luck!
 
Battery light on and temperature too high, definitely sounds like your accessories (water pump and alternator) aren't turning. One of them is seized (unlikely, unless coolant froze in the water pump), or there's an issue with your belt.
 
IMO Coolant froze and belt slid around water pump. The batt light is on prob because the belt is smoked up and slipping too much to turn alternator fast enough. Check coolant ! Prob just need coolant .
 
Some vehicles also have an idler pulley.

You need to immediately drain some coolant into a Dixie cup and pop it in the freezer overnight. Or test with a test strip.

When you tried to start engine and it would not start, did it sound like it was turning over OK (normal speed), but just would not catch? Or what?

Sounds like something that the serpentine belt turns was hard to rotate.

While it could be anything (idler, tensioner, alt., PS, AC, water pump, given the temp, I would suspect the water pump first.

I would purchase a new serpentine belt and keep it in the car (and tools to replace), but do not replace until you determine the real problem. I doubt the real initial problem is the belt.
 
Had a jeep with serpentine belt setup and frozen alternator pulley (from sitting). It'd turn over slowly, start, but then stall from the load of the horrendously squealing belt.

Also had a saturn with loose spring in the tensioner... much less noise, practically none, the alt light would blink on when it slipped.

I'm on board with the water pump idea.
 
Well, it turned out to be a seized alternator. And the belt snapped when I shut the engine down.

This vehicle apparently has two serp. belts, one drives the alt. and water pump while the other drives the PS and A/C comp. Weird.

Anyways, I ordered a new alt for $157 shipped and will get the car up on jackstands and get it fixed hopefully in the next week.

And just for peace of mind, I replaced the coolant since I do not know the history of the car.

Thanks for your help
 
Originally Posted By: drewjp
This vehicle apparently has two serp. belts, one drives the alt. and water pump while the other drives the PS and A/C comp. Weird.


not that weird, the PS and AC are options, it makes engine assemblies easier to manipulate at the factory.

Glad you figured it out and am getting it fixed relatively cheap.
 
You might have been able to bring the alternator to a rebuild shop and get an opinion. I am a fan of using them where possible. Most know a good alternator from a piece of craap. They might have been able to replace the bearings cheaply.
 
Sometimes two belts are better than one. My Mercruiser marine engine (5.7L small block GM) has two belts, one for PS & water pump and one for alt. and water pump. With either belt still there, the water pump will be driven (very important).
 
Originally Posted By: benjamming
a brand new alternator or a rebuilt one from AutoZone, etc?


A brand new one. Rebuilt ones were essentially the same price, and some (Bosch) were more. It comes with a 2 year warranty.
 
Originally Posted By: tom slick
Originally Posted By: drewjp
This vehicle apparently has two serp. belts, one drives the alt. and water pump while the other drives the PS and A/C comp. Weird.


not that weird, the PS and AC are options, it makes engine assemblies easier to manipulate at the factory.

Glad you figured it out and am getting it fixed relatively cheap.


I had a 97 Protege and it had two belts. What's really bad was both had manual tensioners. It was a routine job to adjust it so it won't squeal.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

brages
Ford A/C clutch problems?
Replies
13
Views
257
Chris142
lastofthebreed_ws6
2002 LS1 Trans am - Random low idle/stall
Replies
15
Views
345
clinebarger
M
Piston Soak made smoking way worse ?
2
Replies
31
Views
5K
Hohn
JeffKeryk
2005 Corolla S no-crank condition
Replies
19
Views
883
dishdude
L
2008 Mini Cooper Clubman S suddenly won’t start.
2
Replies
24
Views
1K
lokijoker
Back
Top Bottom