OT: temporary fan belt repair

[micky]

I had something like this, round, about 30 years ago. I had it for 20 years, until it turned brittle and broke when I bent it. Never used it but it was good to have.

Absolutly. I drove 10 or 15 miles once with, I guess, no fan belt.

I drove a mile or two or four or whatever until the temp guage started to climb too high. Then stopped and waited 10 or 15 minutes until the gauge went down. Do that as many times as you need to.

Even on a summer day one can do this. It just takes a lot longer.

OTOH, shouldn't run without oil pressure, or with the oil light on, more than the time it takes to pull over.

[Nate Nagel]

[homer] Mmmm, garlic nan. [/homer]

[Nate Nagel]

yes, in TX at least. They even have a limited number of 85 MPH speed limits.

The East Coast is getting a *little* better with about 50% of the states having 70 or 75 MPH speed limits which are fairly reasonable for the denser population, older roads, etc. but there are still a lot of places where you can't drive over 65 legally and 55 sadly still exists as a default urban Interstate speed limit, even when it's not even close to being appropriate, or the speed at which people actually drive.

nate

[G. Morgan]

I've done that. If they (cops) are going slower than the flow of traffic and traffic is moving faster than the speed limit.. I will go with the traffic speed.

I took an advanced driving course because I worked for ADT and it was required. It was the "Smith System", considered one of the best systems in the country. I say all that to make this point: police cars are an obstacle on the road. The Smith System teaches us to treat police cars as an obstacle to avoid, they mess up the normal traffic flow because people naturally slow down when they close to one. It's best to get in the left lane and pass the cruiser. If you stay behind the cluster of cars following a police cruiser you are actually at a greater risk of getting in a collision (not an "accident" - it's a collision because it can be avoided). In fact, most "accidents" are avoidable - they occur mostly by bad, untrained, distracted, drivers.

[Mark Storkamp]

Make and model of car? I had a '96 Bonneville SSEi where you had to take a motor mount off since the belt went around it. They were thoughtful enough to provide an access door in the wheel well, all you had to do was first take off the wheel. Not something I would have ever done on the side of the road.

[WW]

That sounds like the link belt that is used on table saws. I put one on my saw. WW

Interesting device. I never knew any such thing existed. On the other hand in 4 decades of driving, I've never had a fan belt or any other belt fail. On any cars I've kept past 75K miles or so, I kept an eye on them and/or replaced them at 100K.

[The Daring Dufas]

There is a similar belt to that one which is not flexible and it's been around for years. It requires you to loosen the adjustment for tension, put the the adjustable belt on then put tension on it. The one in the link looks pretty cool because it stretches and no tools are needed. ^_^

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Like frigging idiots who text or dial a cellphone while driving?! o_O

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Heck we have morons who speed through Malfunction Junction at 85mph where two interstate and two older highways intersect in downtown Birmingham, AL. o_O

TDD

[The Daring Dufas]

Do you remember the GM Northstar engines now out of production which were designed to switch into limp home mode upon loss of coolant and could be driven 100 miles in such a condition? ^_^

TDD

[Larry W]

Aren't we living in the 2nd decade of the 21st century now? Haven't most cars and light trucks used a single serpentine belt to drive all accessories for about 20 years now?

[DerbyDad03]

Back in the 70?s I had a buddy that worked as a mechanic at a Cadillac dealer. They got paid "book rate" even if they got the job done quicker. They had a remote starting device that they clipped to the battery and starter so they could start the cars without climbing in and out. Changing a fan belt was done by cutting the old belt off, slipping the new on one pulley, holding the belt against the other pulley with a finger and "jogging" the engine to pop it on. Book rate was something like 20 minutes to loosen the alternator, change the belt, check the tension, etc. so it was worth money to do it using the shortcut.

He changed hundreds of fan belts the quick way right up until the time he caught his finger between the belt and the pulley. When he lost the tip of his index finger, they outlawed the shortcut.

[Nate Nagel]

The ones that you had to put rabbit pellets in to keep the coolant in them? Was in retrospect a good move on GM's part!

nate

[krw]

I broke a fan belt (long story) when it was -10F. By the time I got to the exit and to the service station (maybe two miles) it was boiling over. They wouldn't sell me a fan belt (the service part of the business was closed - 1AM) but they did let me change put the spare belt (long story), I was carrying, on under their lights.

[Larry W]

The method is frowned opon by safety officials but is still in common use to this day. There are also small wedges & blocks, either purchased or fabricated, designed to force the belt on or off the pulley as it turns. They are also frowned on as occasionally they can damage something or be dangerous, but a flat-rate environment inspires all kinds of creativity & risk taking. :)

[willshak]

I don't know. My truck is 17 years old and has three belts. If a serpentine belt fails, isn't everything dead, like the starter, generator, AC?

[clare]

Not the starter, and the rest only if it only has ONE serpentine belt. Some vehicles have 2 - the second for either AC or PS or both.

[G. Morgan]

Yep, texting and driving is dangerous as hell.

[G. Morgan]

Lol...

[micky]

Actually I didn't know aabout that.

I heard the word Northstar, but knew almost nothing about it.

From 1980 cars onward for 21 years I drove 3 Chrystler LeBaron convertibles. I would have rather driven GM cars but the Chevy Cavailier was stripped down, and even the Pontiac Sunbird wasn't fancy. I wanted a Buick Skylark convertible but never found one second hand. Whereas the Lebaron was pretty fancy.

I used to have stock in GM too, but when they went bankrupt, it became worthless. They're making a profit now but that doesn't benefit me.

I'm not holding a grudge. If they made a bigger or better convertible than Ford and Chrysler, that's what I'd buy next time. but they better start making it now, because I only buy used cars.