Engine ovreheated, coolant boiled but no smoke... Potential for damage?

[cgyleather]

I have a 94 explorer that had the serpentine belt snap on me while on the highway; I felt the power steering go and thought I could make it to the next town before checking it out (was also driving thru a mountain pass so I couldn't pull over immediately). 10 minutes later I came down into a valley and noticed that my temperature gauge was at max so I pulled over immediately and discovered that my serpentine belt was toast. The CEL came on 3 times while driving and I assumed it had to do with the power steering or something. Dumb I know.

The belt is no biggie but my concern now is the potential that my engine was damaged from overheating.

When I popped the hood the coolant reservoir was boiling over (it was barely noticeable before the hood was popped) and there was no smoke coming from the engine. So, hopefully I got lucky and my head gasket survived.

Still, given what happened, what's the most likely scenario?

 

[Mudboy]

overheating an engine gives you a 50/50 chance of ruining something. these heads are prone to cracking so if one or both werent cracked already, they possibly could be now. Head gaskets can also take a beating and blow out when an engine is overheated. The power steering will not give you a code, there is no sensor on the system. A few things i'd do, are A) obviously, replace the belt. B) top off coolant level C) change oil and filter, since it is now degraded D) check transmission fluid if it is an automatic trans, it could have also overheated since your water pump was no longer spinning therefore your internal transmission cooler wasn't being cooled to it's max. E) Read the codes that caused your check engine light, there is a in depth "sticky" thread on how to do this.F) drive it and observe any differenc e compared to before your belt went, report back to here with your codes and the outcome.

Also when you have the belt off, check all of your pulley for any play or roughness during rotation, now wopuld be the time to replace andy pulleys or components that aren't up to snuff.

Good luck, hope no damage was caused

 

[cgyleather]

Since I'm out of town I bad to bring it to a shop for the repair. The pulley for my belt seized, so that was the cause... Looks like the head gasket is ok so far (fingers crossed) and the thermostat survived.

I'll have a look at everything when I get to my destination, about 250km away and update.

 

[Mudboy]

sorry to hear you had to take it to a shop. Hope they didn't get ya too bad.z If it was either the idler pulley or tensioner pulley, they take under 10 minutes to replace. maybe 20 for someone who has never done them before. The pulleys are usually about $20 for a new Dayco.

 

[Roadrunner777]

How do you usually approach the tensioner? It looks like the only way is with a 3/8" drive from underneath, is that the best way?

 

[Mudboy]

on my ex which is a 91 it is easily accesible from under the hood. I believe it was a 15mm on a 10-12" 3/8 drive ratchet. I lit a cigarette just before I popped my hood, I had the pulley replaced and belt back on by the time I was done my smoke. I had a buddy hold my belt tight so i didn't have to worry about re-routing it if it was to fall. I'm not sure if the tensioner set ups are different among different year first gens.

 

[Roadrunner777]

From the top, there is almost no clearance between the fan and the tensioner on my '94. Well, I may mess with it today just to learn it. Any other thoughts anybody?

 

[Mudboy]

If clearance is that much of an issue on a 94 it must be different than my 91. The tensioner is the easiest pulley to get to on mine.

 

[rsw2008]

tensioner& idler

i have a 91& 94 and the idler and tensioner are in appossit places dont know why but yes the 91 is much easyer to get to right there under the alternater.