Help, truck smoked when started

[superskid]

Had a little incident with the Explorer yesterday and I am hoping I can get some help diagnosing it.

Yesterday I started the truck and it instantly started smoking from the hood and smelling terrible. I let it sit for a few hours and now it seems to start up fine but the battery light is on.

A friend of mine suggested it could be one of the belts, any ideas where I should be looking or what could have caused this?

Thanks,

 

[Kevlar7R]

that's not a lot of information to go on. You could have had an oil leak burn off, or your battery went crappy and dumped acid on stuff. Your alternator could have melted the windings inside.

You're going have to get in there and start looking around. The fact that the battery light is on would have me looking at the alternator to start with. Check if it's intact putting out 14 volts.

 

[superskid]

How do I check that? I have a multimeter just not sure where the contact points are?

 

[Kevlar7R]

Put the black on the battery negative, red on the positive. Engine off, you should see around 12 to 13 volts. Engine running, 13 to 14.5.

Tell us exactly what you get.

Also, was there any noise associated with the smoke? A squeal, grinding, whistling, boiling... Anything?

 

[scdix50]

1. check to make sure the drive belt tracking over the pullies correctly.
if a pulley is locking up, the drive belt will get hot and smoke
2. with engine running check the voltage at the battery + & - posts.
if you are reading less that 13-14 volts at battery then your alt may have shorted.
3. check wiring harness around alt, across top of engine and around battery. check wiring from battery to starter.
4. do you have any new oil leaks

 

[superskid]

Thanks guys, I will do these things tonight or tomorrow and report back, really appreciate it.

 

[koda2000]

just a guess, but it might be a siezed bearing in the alternator. if the serpentine belt is still intact, look for burnt rubber crumbs in the area around all the pulleys. that may help you identify which pulley/bearing siezed. does your power steering still work? if not then the belt may now be broken. that would also explain why you now have a BATT light on. if so, do not attempt to drive the truck because you have no water pump either.

 

[superskid]

If the belt is still intact can I try to turn it manually to see which bearing has seized?

 

[Kevlar7R]

I didn't even think of his belt being gone...

You have popped the hood since this happened and looked right?

A seized bearing leading to a broken belt would definitely cause the symptoms you're getting. If it is, the idler pulleys are notorious for failing.

It's also possible that it wasn't seized, just frozen, and you may have nothing wrong now.

 

[superskid]

Actually haven't popped the hood as I had to get to work right away and the hood release is broken so I have to grab the wire release with vice grips and pull, didn't have time to do that before work.

I assume something is still wrong though as the battery light is on and that has never come on before.

 

[koda2000]

if your belt is still intact and you want to check bearings, you're gonna need to remove the belt so you can turn everything by hand and see how all the bearings feel.

if the belt is still intact and the alternator pulley is turning with the engine running, but you have a BATT light, then the alternator is the likely suspect.

if the belt is broken, then it will be easy to turn everything by hand. i doubt the belt is broken or you wouldn't have power steering and you'd overheat.

you really need to give us more info (open the hood and look) before we can give you any more advice.

 

[superskid]

So the belt was gone. All of the bearings spin easily by hand except for the power steering. It turns, but it doesnt keep spinning if I give it a push. Not tight though.

I also cant get the tensioner pulley to sway by hand but it turns. Not sure if you are supposed to be able to move it by hand though.

Please let me know if the PS pulley is too tight.

 

[superskid]

I lied after spinning the AC one for a long time, it all of a sudden stopped instantly and was hard to move. I could then see where the belt burned off on it as it is all black. Left it and now it spins free again. Can I just grease it or does it need to be replaced.

 

[scdix50]

The AC Cluch pulley has a bearing that is replaced as whole cluch asy. There is small bolt in the center of the clutch. Remove the bolt and slide the outer half of the clutch off. Do not lose the washer/shim that is on the back side of outer clutch. That shim sets the airgap between the 2 halves. Next there is a snap-ring that holds the inner half of the clutch asy. carefully remove it. Now very carefully using 2 large screwdrivers behind the inner half of clutch, pry outward to slide the bearing/inner clutch off the shaft. PLEASE-PLEASE becareful to not damage the magnet behind the clutch/bearing asy. You can get a new whole clutch asy from ROCKAUTO. I did mine in about an hour. when you order new parts, get the shim pack also. It has various thickness shims to set the airgap. You can use the old shim as a starting point. Go for it

 

[koda2000]

as you can live w/out the a/c for a few months, if you don't want to spend the time and money fixing the clutch right now, you can bypass the a/c pulley. someone here recently found he could do it with a shorter serpentine belt and/ or there is a a/c bypass pulley you can install. the problem with the shorter belt is that you can't always figure out what length to get and the non-a/c belt may not be correct. i'll see if i can find the posting with the belt number the guy used, but his truck may not be the same as yours. the parts store should have a listing for the bypass pulley, but the shorter belt may be trial-and-error. it's a cheaper/easier temp solution though.

 

[koda2000]

I found the positng. The guy had a 99 sohc, so i don't know that this will help you, but...

Dorman A/C bypass pulley pn 34189 (around $40)

or

The shorter belt he was able to get away with pn 5060710

 

[Kevlar7R]

did you say you couldn't turn the tensioner pulley by hand, or couldn't move it in (as in detensioning the belt)?

Replacing the ac clutch sometimes requires a puller to get the outside half of the clutch off. You can rent them for free at AutoZone. Also when I did the clutch on my Honda, I had to grind my snap ring pliers down to make them thin enough to fit down to the ring. Not sure if these are the same way.

If you have any doubts about the tensioners replace them while you have it apart.

 

[superskid]

I could turn the tensioner pulley by hand just not detension the belt as in move it. But I've never done that before so not sure if I should be able to or not. When putting on the new belt is there a tool to use to loosen it so I can get the belt on?

Instead of getting a shorter belt and routing around the AC can I just disconnect it so the pulley turns but the clutch never engages?

This is a winter only vehicle in Nothern Canada so AC isn't really needed.

Thanks for all the help!!

 

[koda2000]

the A/C clutch bearing in my '00 Mountaineer 5.0 make a little noise (barely audible from inside the truck and only when the A/C is off). i plan on fixing it in the spring. the bearing seems to be available separately, so i don't know that it's necessary to replace the entire clutch assembly... ?

 

[superskid]

Hmm, I'm having trouble hunting down the right sized belt to skip the AC. Can I just mark with chalk on the broken belt how long it needs to be?