newbie problem, please help

[rghrdr18]

Okay, I am new to this site, and was hoping the members could help me with a little problem I had with my 1990 4Runner last night. I was driving home late last night when all of a sudden, 3 warning lights came on, on the dash. They were the E-brake, battery, and A/T oil temp light. Well, of course it kinda freaked me out because I have not had the 4Runner for that long, and was nervous because I did not want to harm my new "baby". I am 5 minutes away from my home, when all of a sudden the car dies on me and I pull it off to the side of the freeway. When I pop the hood I see that the belt that runs the alternator has somehow come off.
The questions that I have are, first how the heck do you get thtat belt back on? I tried for almost a half an hour to get it back on with no luck. Second, does this belt run anything else major? I ask only because when I do get that belt back on will I have more problems to worry about mecahnically in the engine or the tranny? Please help, thanks for reading.

 

[4route]

bump!

:awais:

 

[rghrdr18]

bump?

I looked through all the forums on this site, and did not know where to put this post...could someone lead me to where I would get the most help? Thanks.

 

[slowginjoe]

The questions that I have are, first how the heck do you get thtat belt back on? I tried for almost a half an hour to get it back on with no luck. Second, does this belt run anything else major? I ask only because when I do get that belt back on will I have more problems to worry about mecahnically in the engine or the tranny? Please help, thanks for reading.

the belt is pretty tight when properly adjusted, there's no way you'll be able to just slip it back on and if you do, that belt is probably now more a rubber band! since it's off anyways, replace it with a new belt. i'm suspecting that this is why it slipped in the first place. can you see any cracks, glaze or other signs of wear on the belt? remove the ground terminal on the battery before you work on the alternator. you will have loosen the bolt to the idler pulley to take the tension off the belt in order to get it back on. when putting on the new belt make sure its path is not kinked or crooked or else it will get knicked and break or come off again. there should be a sticker under the hood showing the routing diagram for the belt. i don't know the spec for the tightness off-hand, they specify it by measuring with a tension gauge. if you don't have one like me, i usually tighten the belt so there's only about 1/4" of travel when you press the middle of the belt. also, if the belt squeaks when you start the engine you'll know it's on too tight and this could cause premature failure of the bearing, water pump and/or crankshaft!

i have a '94 4runner service manual at home that i could reference if you need any info, or perhaps someone more familiar with your model will chime in? good luck!

 

[rghrdr18]

belt route

yeah, I am definitely going to replace the belt. However, the thing is that the belt is the smaller version, where there are a few up front. The other thing that I am worried about is that if this belt was the reason that my car died on the freeway, is there anything else messed up because of this, or should it be fine to drive still? Thanks

 

[slowginjoe]

Re: belt route

yeah, I am definitely going to replace the belt. However, the thing is that the belt is the smaller version, where there are a few up front. The other thing that I am worried about is that if this belt was the reason that my car died on the freeway, is there anything else messed up because of this, or should it be fine to drive still? Thanks

it should be okay, it's a pretty common thing to have a worn alternator belt, if the belt is gone like in your case, all the lights will come on. not like it's the timing belt that's gone bad. (i would find out when that was last replaced) only thing i can think of is that the battery may not be charged correctly if the belt was loose or slipping for a long time before it fell off. you can have the battery load tested at a gas station garage. there's a break-in period for alternator belts of 10 minutes so make sure to recheck the tightness after running the engine for 10 minutes.

 

[mikes4runner]

How old are the belts?
If you don't know you might as well replace all 3.

 

[Cleric]

How old are the belts?
If you don't know you might as well replace all 3.

Good advice. Always best to replace in sets.

 

[rghrdr18]

thanks for the info

Yeah I will definitely replace all of them, good call! Is there anything else I should replace on it while I am at it...I have done the coolant flush, and will be replacing all 3 of those belts, plus the timing belt, and probably the battery with an optima, but is there anything else? thanks in advance.