Can anyone help?

[madean]

Have a 1991 Explorer XLT. Was driving around today and started to hear a loud squeak and about 15 minutes later, power steering goes out and the temp gauage shoots up and starts to over heat.

The serpentine belt broke off and Im wondering if thats a bad thing? I know buying a new belt will be in order but is something like this in the older explorers common? Someone mentioned to me that this is why they call it the Ford Exploder.

Thanks in advance if you have any thing that may help.
Matt.

 

[IZwack]

happened to me once.. just replace the belt..

did the radiator blow its cap when it overheated?

 

[madean]

It was spewing water from the cap & a hose on the pasenger side

 

[madean]

And my dad just brought in the Idler or whatever it is and the bearings in it are gone.

 

[IZwack]

well dont forget to refill the reservoir.

so that 'idler' fell off the engine? erp! but whatever it is, itll have to be replaced (hopefully its just the belt tensioner or something easy)

 

[madean]

The idler is the belt tensioner. It didnt fall off though. The bearings inside of it are shot

 

[IZwack]

that needs to be replaced..

it looks like this right? (ignore the number):

 

[IZwack]

im not too familar with ur engine type but u might be able to replace just the pulley (instead of the whole assembly cauz the entire assembly is more than double the cost of just the pulley)..

check with ur local store or something.. i checked PartsAmerica and i found what seems to be just the pulley for less than $20 where as the entire assembly is over $50:

 

[jimbo74]

it isnt a hard fix and is quite common, i mean its not
something elporers are known for, but its a 14 year old truck......

 

[IZwack]

The idler is the belt tensioner.

i was looking at my Chilton manual and well, i think the ilder and the tensioner are different pulleys.. the idler is the one on top of the tensioner (meaning the tensioner is the bottom one) .. just as a caution when u go to the store, make sure u get the right pulley... the idler is larger in diameter than the tensioner i think.

 

[Longjohn119]

It wouldn't hurt to change your oil too, overheating will break it down and it's not worth taking the chance for $15 and a half hour of your time to change it

Changing the oil is always a smart idea if you overheat or if you flood the engine because your oil is usually crap after either