How far can I drive without a serpentine belt?

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Hi
How far is it safe to drive, when a vehicle is cold, without a serpentine belt? I am planning on driving a short distance without a sepentine belt(water pump) to diagnose an engine noise(maybe belt tensioner).

The vehicle is a 2003 Pontiac Vibe with the 1zz base engine.
 
Not very far, I would guess. I would think it will overheat pretty fast without the water moving at all.

Can you just let it run without the belt while you listen? I've done that before.
 
You can drive to the point where either the engine overheats or the battery dies, the former will likely happen first which can be catastrophic with aluminum engine blocks and heads.

I wouldn't go far (like around the block) and watch the temp gauge carefully.
 
You'll get about 5 minutes of warm-up before the temperature gets out of hand.

Once it reads "normal" it only takes a short time before it gets too hot.

The battery on the other hand, will happily run the car and accessories on average around 70-90 minutes without the alternator, provided you don't have headlights or anything high-drain on.
 
You can probably get it out and around the block. I once drove about a mile and a half with a non-circulating water pump and I was ok. I did this by turning the engine off every time I was slowing down or stopped. I probably restarted that car about 10-12 times in that mile or so, battery was on the way out by the time I stopped.

Does it need to be driven to diagnose the noise? Can you just run it for a few seconds in the garage?
 
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC


Does it need to be driven to diagnose the noise? Can you just run it for a few seconds in the garage?



The engine makes noise when cold under load, up to 2500 rpm's. The noise goes away after a few miles.
 
Don't rely on the temperature gauge at all. Without water circulating you are going to have localized hot spots that might get hot enough to boil while other parts remains cold.
 
There really should be no need to drive the vehicle to diagnose anything that is driven by the serpentine belt. Running the engine for maybe a minute or two, at an idle, with the vehicle stationary, may be OK. The second you begin driving it you are increasing the heat output exponentially.

Remember, what an engine does, it converts fuel into heat and then, secondarily, that heat is converted into power. These days, an engine running with a completely non-functional cooling system quickly results in a popped head gasket, warped cylinder head and/or an engine block, as well as ruined pistons...and there is room for things to get even worse, if needed.

Back when engines were still cast-iron, both the heads and block, intake and exhaust manifolds, etc., we could get away with continuing to drive a vehicle without the water pump belt for a while befor engine damage occurred, but not anymore.

You need to come up with another diagnostic strategy other than driving the car without the belt.

Keith
 
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Wouldn't driving without the belt be the same condition as driving "x" distance before the thermostat opens?
 
Originally Posted By: tgferg67
Wouldn't driving without the belt be the same condition as driving "x" distance before the thermostat opens?


NO.

Have you tried running the engine, without the belt, in park and at the rpm you normally hear the noise ?

Whenever I have an under-the-hood noise to diagnose the last thing I want to do is go out on the road to try to hear it and figure out what may be causing it, because the road noise just confuses the issue, if not drowning out the noise I want to hear altogether.

You need to be under the hood if at all possible. Is there a rack available to put the vehicle on for diagnosing the noise ?

Keith
 
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Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Don't rely on the temperature gauge at all. Without water circulating you are going to have localized hot spots that might get hot enough to boil while other parts remains cold.



+1

i wouldn't do it if it was a car I cared about.
 
Actually it is. Anyone who says that hot spots exist in the coolant without the pump running needs to go back to high school physics. There will be some degree of temperature variation of the coolant inside the engine, but not to a huge extent and certainly not enough to harm anything.

That doesn't change the fact that the coolant will get too hot in a short time without the pump operating.
 
A few blocks is about it. W/o water circulating your temp guage will show it running cooler than it is.

It's just not worth the risk. I see burned up engines daily from drivers that thought they could make it and didn't.
 
Originally Posted By: Corvette Owner
Dumb idea. Not only overheating, but wait till you drive WITHOUT power steering !


+1

On that engine, I wouldn't risk it unless you are not too worried about the engine....
 
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