Pulling off the highway I lost power steering. When I stopped to check I had antifreeze steadily leaking and the serpentine belt was off track. Will a bad water pump cause the belt to jump? What else should I be looking for? Thanks for any feedback.
I assume it depends on how BAD it is. If its bad enough to have enough play in the pulley i can see it wobbling a little, giving the belt ability to jump. Its possible.
The serpentine belt runs a lot! Your alternator, water pump, power steering pump,radiator pulley AC and also has an automatic tensioner, idler pulley and of course the crankshaft pulley. If your belt broke you will NOT have brakes, or like you said power steering etc.. . The truck will run but it is not safe for multiple reason like overheating etc.. My belt broke in my yard 50 yards from the garage. I started the trick and carefully drove it in. Parked it and then bought a new gates HD belt, new water pump and also I found that the idler pulley (small pulley on the top of the belt routing) was bad. Replaced all 3 and been good ever since. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Oh and a bad WP or idler pulley would prolly cause it jump a groove, but I would replace and keep an eye on it.. if it jumps after replacing parts then you may be due for a new tensioner.
My serpentine just jumped off for a second time last night - Same issue both times = water pump failure. You can wiggle the water pump probably an inch in any direction. Was a third party replacement, but a somewhat easy fix.
I did mine last week. Tired of seeing the little puddles when ever I parked it. If you take out your air box it makes it easier to get to. Took me less then 25 Mins to replace it.
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