So, I drove my car home from a couple days worth of road trip. It's been nasty up here, so it's been parked on the street while I drive my S-10 beater. I pulled out today and drove around, when I came back I found an AC Delco 5k450 accessory drive belt snapped underneath where my car was! It ran fine, and I don't THINK it's even the right one for my car after checking AC Delco's parts catalog.. but does anyone want to offer me some reassurance here? The car ran fine, didn't notice any problems with the gauges or anything - but I wasn't really heavily looking for problems, either. Thanks.

 

ummm, open your hood and look maybe????


did you has power steering when you moved it? it yes, your belt is still on

 

Was the belt cracked up, was the car making any noise from any thing? I have a cheap one on my Trans Am for now, plan on replacing it down the line, before it breaks.

Main reasons why a belt breaks:
Improper size <-- Happens right at install
Wear on the belt, caused by age of it
Tensioner goes bad <--Will make noise
AC comp locks up <--Will make a nasty noise before it does

 

Sometimes, even the obvious is not obvious.

 

If it is indeed broke, get a Gatorback belt to replace it. They are less likely to slip because of the cross-hatching on the ribbed surface of the belt. I've had no problems with mine for about 4 years now.

 

I'm not the most mechanically inclined - I opened the hood and looked for anything obviously amiss, and I know where the serp belt is and I checked that. I didn't know if this belt might be under a cover or something where I wouldn't obviously see that it was gone. I did have power steering, but is that driven off the serp belt or is that driven off an accessory belt?

 

There is only one belt and it powers the power steering, alternator and air conditioning compressor.