Archived battery gauge bottomed out then a little squeak then coolant leak towed home

[dillrepair]

truck was running normally on the way to a hunting spot. started and ran normally on the way out... then "check gauges" light comes on and i notice volt meter is not reading anything on dash. i'm in the middle of nowhere so i decide to get driving back to civilization before battery dies in case alternator is dead. still driving normally no dimming of dash or lights and i'm coming into a small town and i hear a belt squeaking for 2 seconds then it stops.... keep driving... another squeal... then stops.. someone is behind me and i notice smoke behind me in their headlights. so i stop and check and a small piece of my serpentine is torn of the edge and coolant is everywhere... i don't know how to diagnose this.. did it start with the alternator or something else... . can't really tell where the coolant is coming from... maybe from the water pump it seems to be dripping off the back of the harmonic balancer/fan pulley.

edit: my truck is a 2002 5.9 24 valve... all stock except an edge chip set on mild, larger exhaust and a bhaf. 140k miles. oh and another edit i have a fass ddrp relocated to frame

 

[S.Morris]

Sounds like you lost the serpentine belt, usually caused by idler pulley, tensioner pulley, waterpump, or alternator siezing up (or a/c). Find the cause before just replacing the belt.

Also these engines will overheat VERY quickly when belt comes off and waterpump stops turning.

 

[seafish]

^^^^what he said…

Be sure to check EACH and EVERY pulley that the belt rides on…any one, or perhaps more then one, of them may be going bad (i.e. bad bearings) and cause the belt to jump. Your best checking them for side play and looseness , as well as for roughness/tightness in each and every pulley. Some end play in the PS pump pulley/shaft is normal, though axial play is not normal. Also tensioner spring may be failing.

 

[dillrepair]

sorry i should have said the belt is still on just jumped out a little and the edge is shredded. i guess i just have to rip the old one off and start troubleshooting... could a malfunction of another device on the belt cause a coolant leak or only the waterpump? i was a little worried at first because the coolant had sprayed around the engine compartment and was oily where it landed on the valve cover etc but the stuff dripping from the engine is red with no signs of oil. i'm assuming the oily stuff was from coolant getting sprayed on the radiator that was still coated with oil and stuff from before i fixed the crank case vent with an elephant hose.

 

[seafish]

sorry i should have said the belt is still on just jumped out a little and the edge is shredded. i guess i just have to rip the old one off and start troubleshooting... could a malfunction of another device on the belt cause a coolant leak or only the waterpump? i was a little worried at first because the coolant had sprayed around the engine compartment and was oily where it landed on the valve cover etc but the stuff dripping from the engine is red with no signs of oil. i'm assuming the oily stuff was from coolant getting sprayed on the radiator that was still coated with oil and stuff from before i fixed the crank case vent with an elephant hose.

More then possible that it IS the water pump bearings going bad causing the belt to jump…that being said, once the belt is removed (cut it in your case as you will be replacing it anyway),
you NEDD to check EVERY pulley.

 

[dillrepair]

it definitely was the water pump... the bearing/seals were shot... tons of play in the shaft... the tips of the vanes had been rubbing on the edge of the metal inside the block as well for a short time... although no pieces broke loose thankfully. inside the box on the new water pump it says i need to flush the cooling system before installing the new one...... not doing so it says is the "leading cause of premature water pump failure" I don't want to do that for two reasons first i just replaced the coolant last year and it was expensive $15/gallon and there is still a fair amount in the radiator and block. Second how would i even do that in my garage in northern wi in the winter when the water pump is out of the engine. or should i just put the new one in and flush it out then fill it again? does it really make that much difference?

 

[JR]

Well, this could go two ways. If the impeller was rubbing and depositing metal shavings throughout the cooling system, then you might be ahead to flush it again. If the internal damage was negligible and the coolant is only a year old then no worries replace the pump and top off. If you flush your coolant at recommended service intervals there are no problems, the recommendation in the water pump is assuming the coolant is (probably) never been replaced or is several years old at best. Lots of people neglect their cooling systems.

 

[dillrepair]

the edges of the vanes looked as if they had been rubbing on the block metal... like how a plastic spoon looks when stirring the bottom of a hot pot or pan for a short time... when compared to the new pump there was no noticeable difference in size or metal loss only some abrasion and deformation on the leading edges of the vanes.

i had just replaced my coolant about a year ago because i could tell no one had flushed the cooling system when i bought it 2 years ago. (140k miles on the truck now, was about 115 last year when coolant was changed, bought it with ~90k) so i'll keep a close eye on it, i did not flush just cleaned everything up and replaced pump and belt and filled up with ~3gallons undiluted fleet charge coolant which is what was in it and 2 of distilled.

i could swear i'm getting better performance out the truck now that its replaced... though i couldn't say why... perhaps it had been bad for a while and the alternator wasnt able to provide as much juice to my lift pump, chip, etc... i didn't notice any leakage before this catastrophic failure of the water pump, which seems strange as most people report seepage prior to failure. i had what i thought was a very small seepage of transmission fluid at the back of the block... it could have been coolant dripping ever so slowly and running back. was parked on fresh snow after the repair yesterday and not a drop of anything in the snow underneath.

anyway thanks everyone for your advice.