Ford 7.3L Power Stroke (1999-2003) :: Serpentine Belt Started Shredding
Jul 24, 2017
About 2 weeks ago i noticed that the serpentine belt started shredding. I noticed it before it was all gone, so i parked it and started ordering parts before i did anything. Since i had to get the radiator hose off, i decided to flush the coolant, change the thermostat and the upper radiator hose to go around the belt. Once the parts arrived, I drained the coolant and did two flushes and tried to change the hoses and thermostat. the Gates hose ended up not being the right hose, in hindsight I should have used the old hose and put it back together.
But I returned the Gates hose and ordered a Motorcraft hose. not thinking, i left the system dry and possibly sitting with water from the previous flush. Three days ago, I got the correct Motorcraft part and did the work on Sunday. since it had been sitting, i decided to run another flush, i noticed a squeaking sound and that the water was coming out a little browner than when i left it. So I ran another two flushes and said to hell with it and put the whole thing back together and filled it with coolant and distilled water.
This morning, the squeaking sound was louder, but temps where fine and coolant level was fine. I drove to work ( about a 10 mile drive) and when i finally stopped, i got a whiff of coolant smell. I noticed coolant behind me and when i lifted the hood, i noticed the reservoir was half empty and coolant dripping down from the center of the block. I can still hear the squeaking, I figure the water pump is on its last leg and decide i need to go home. I walk in to work and let them know I'm gonna take the day off to situate this. Before i leave, i top off the reservoir with a gallon of distilled water and head out.
After a short distance I notice that the squeaking stops, now I'm terrified that the water pump just completely failed. (I've never had one fail on me so I'm not sure what happens when it does) As i drive home, I'm watching all my gauges. none of the temperature gauges spike, everything was normal for the drive home (another 10 miles) I park it and lift the hood and the reservoir is completely full. why is reservoir completely full? why would a leak like that stop? Should i just change the water pump? I don't want to just hope for the best, i do use my excursion to haul the kids from time to time.
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My serp belt started squealing so I pulled the thermostat housing to inspect the rubber gasket. It looked OK, but I cleaned up both surfaces and replaced with a new gasket, and put it back together. The housing was replaced just a couple months ago along with new hoses. It was not corroded and OK to reuse.
Started the truck up and saw a slowish/steady drip of red Cat ELC dripping on the driveway. Opened the hood up again and carefully inspected around the thermostat housing - no coolant is leaking there.
I did notice the same slow/steady drip coming from just behind and beneath the thermostat housing. See in pic, this is where it is dripping. One other question, what is this plug for on the side of the water pump?
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Leaving on a 200 mile trip in the morning and when checking the fluids, I found the serpentine belt trying to get off the AC pulley. I've put in on twice and it immediately jumps half way off when starting the engine. How long it's been doing this. Nothing is obviously loose or moved. What is likely causing this?
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I was cruising along yesterday and felt the steering pump go out on the highway. Nowhere to pull over and pulling a big horse trailer. Three miles later I finally get to a wide spot to dive into. I look down and the temp gauge is maxed and the oil light is on. Most of the antifreeze boils out when I got the engine shut down. I had no choice but to have a friend bring a new belt and some antifreeze to the rescue. Got it changed and filled back up. Started and drove home fine.
I've got this twisted gut feeling about the whole deal. What kind of damage did I likely do? Things to look for? Did I just kill the longevity of the motor? I've been trying to do things right and treat it well to ensure a reliable truck.
On a side note the belt came apart in ribbons and it was absolutely shredded. The belt appeared to be less than 3 months old. No cracks or tears and a bright white numbers sticker on the back
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I have 1997 F250 LD since i bough it has been doing this chirping sound coming from the serpentine belt and the pulley area but when the truck has been working for 15 - 20 min it goes away
This is apart from the from the problem before I think the fan clutch is broken because when I start the truck I can hear the fan going at the same speed of the engine is that normal ? even when the truck is cold
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Just a quick question, my serpentine belt fell off while driving on the freeway today and wondering what are the possible causes for this too happen? First things that came too mind were tensioner or worn out belt. Hard to believe the belt would be worn out though as it only has 65k miles.
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2006 6.0l ... I've read all over for tips on routing this belt and everyone plays it off as being some simple '20-minute' task. I'm on my 4th hour on this now.
I can't figure out how to route the belt around the tensioner pulley, circled in the picture (from another thread). Everyone glosses over how to do this and I can't figure it out.
It seems like the only way to get it on is to bend the belt and slide it between the pulley and the block, but that I just can't reach the blasted thing.
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Having issues with seat belt disconnecting on its own? Ill be driving down the road and it just unbuckles......i figure its got gunk in it so I will and try and clean.... maybe spring is weak.
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Thought I had these bookmarked but not. What is the torque value for the 13 mm bolt , replacing the tensioner.
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The last week or so I have been having a screeching belt sound driving me insane in my 2003 F-250 7.3. After further investigating I have found out it is coming from my 11 month old GTP38R bearing. It has an aftermarket billet compressor wheel in it and I sold the factory wheel when I installed the Billet wheel. Where to locate a factory Garrett GTP38R wheel? All I can find online are Billet wheels or random off brands. At this point I would even trade my Billet wheel for a factory 38R wheel.
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I have a 2003 f150 4.2 v8. and i have a squeaky belt I am almost positive its the belt i went to change it today but being sick,cold (NY), getting dark having just worked 10 hrs and changing oil it was not going well.
The reason I think its the belt it does not squeak when its really cold out but once it warms up a little its back so I am thinking when it gets warm it stretches out a little and when its cold it shrinks up or am I just crazy..
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Thought batteries were bad and replaced batteries truck started and ran. Shut it off and went to restart 30 minutes later and had no power what so ever like no batteries were in it. Put new batteries on charger the were full so hooked batteries back up and it starts. 10 minutes later same as before like there was no batteries in it. 2001 7.3 464,000 miles
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2003 3.0 ranger... This will be my 3rd time replacing serpentine belt and if needed 2nd. time for idler, tension pulleys...NOT SURE WHAT TO DO, should i replace parts again?
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I was driving my truck then all sudden truck started losing power then slowly died. I restarted it, it was a lil shacky then died again. Iunscrewed the fuel filter and looked in the housing and there was lil fuel in bowl i turned the key to on position and bowl did not fill with fuel looked as if it were shooting some bubbles up(air) could it be outta of fuel???
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A few weeks ago I replaced my CPS on the 99 7.3. Today was the first day I drove my truck in the rain. When I turned my wipers on, I noticed that I lost power and my truck started hiccuping. I read on these forums that an aftermarket CPS is most likely the problem, so I am planning on getting a ford CPS this afternoon. My biggest concern is that before I replaced my CPS, my wipers only had 2 speeds. Also, if I pressed the end of the blinker switch to squirt the cleaner the wipers would not turn off until I turned the truck off. I am not sure why this would be happening and I wanted to ask if there is more than just the CPS involved with this.
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Driving home from movies tonight, I lost power steering and power brakes and the pump started growling. Looked in the reservoir and it was all foamed up. Within the last 20k mi I have flushed the system and refilled with power steering fluid. No apparent leaks at this time. And happened like someone flipped a switch. Fine one turn, nothing the next. What are the chances this is a fluid issue and not a mechanical one? Start with flushing system and adding Mercon V? Or is it likely pump is damaged?
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While headed back to town my 2000 f350 7.3 with 444,650 miles (I'm original owner) and have performed maintenance and repairs since mile 3. Truck started to loose power and eventually stalled, was able to restart several times to limp home 7 miles in one hell of a snow storm. Very confused, replaced cam position sensor ( keep one in jockey box ) replaced fuel filter truck starts then stalls out. Don't know if a bad HPOP would allow start up at all. Fuel pump???
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So my OD light started blinking on the way to work today. The fact that my truck dropped out of cruise control and then started downshifting out of OD on the freeway and back into OD started this ordeal. A quick scan of the dash made it easy to notice the OD light strobe, especially in the dark.
I've read some posts in the past in the event it happened to me since my truck is far from new. I had it in the back of my mind that I would attack the VSS sensor with some contact cleaner then replace if that didn't fix the problem. Doing a search revealed a far greater spectrum of culprits. In addition to the VSS potential I have read about transmission handles, chafed wiring in the steering column, and even the transmission itself. Instead of re-inventing the wheel I'm looking for those that have more knowledge on this issue than I do. Here are my symptoms:
1. Drove 5 miles from my house to the freeway with no issues.
2. Shortly after getting on the freeway I set my cruise control at 65mph.
3. Shortly after that my cruise control 'dropped out' and the truck started to slow down (obviously).
4. When I got back up to speed the cruise would not work which is when the out of OD and right back into OD started. It did that all the way to work (it would go out of OD and back in every couple of minutes or so).
5. Transmission hunted on surface streets too (25mph).
6. Turned the truck off, waited a couple of minutes, then started it back up. OD light is off and truck drives fine.
A couple of things to note. This is the first time anything like this has ever happened with the truck. Also, I have Torque Pro and my instantaneous MPG meter was at 0.0 the entire time this was happening. When I turned the truck off and back on, the MPG was displaying again normally. This is what made me thing something with the VSS connector.
I decided to search the issue and confirm my suspicions then found out that this could be a lot more difficult to pinpoint. Since it cleared up when I cycled the key I am ruling out a transmission issue (for now).
I plan on cleaning the VSS connector (that's the plug on top of the rear axle right?) and then pulling the cover off the steering column to see if I can see any chafed wires. Is there anything else to check out while I'm rooting around? I will add that my transmission handle has always been loose (I think the original owner used to drive with his right hand resting on the handle).
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Installed rebuilt transmission 1 month ago. Have noticed reverse has started to go away. Feels like it is slipping or tires are losing traction with a lot of vibration in the steering wheel.(tires are not slipping that's just the way it feels).. Does it worse when trans is up to temp. I suspect feed bolts but want opinions.(Mark K.) All forward gears seem fine with no issues. I have never been under the pan deep enough to access the feed bolts.
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Been trying to isolate my noisy serpentine belt. Had the belt off and spun everything, only thing I found that made any noise was the alternator. It had a nice churp like a bearing was on its way out in it. So I replaced that figuring my squeak was going to go away. No such luck. Listening to it again while it was idling, I crawled underneath. Almost seems like the churping noise is coming from the Crank Pulley. Is there a bearing on this pulley that goes bad?
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I have a 2001 F350, 7.3. My service engine light came on and immediately the truck started to run rough and lose some power. I've checked the under the cover connections and they were both connected, I replaced the cam position sensor and I still have the same problem. The worse part of the hold thing is that there are no codes stored so I'm flying bind. Where to go next.
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