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multiple part failure?

Hi. I'm looking for some information about the possibility of one part causing others to fail.

I have a 1995 Ford Mustang GT with about 122K on it.

In June 2003, my mechanic replaced an air pump (it seized, and broke the serpentine belt). They fixed it, and that solved the problem.

I had my car in for some alignment work to the same mechanic recently. I noticed an intermittent rattling. I looked under the hood a few days later, and found that the pulley on the air pump was not true (skewed). It was wobbling. It didn't look like all the bolts were in, either.

I was going to take the car in today to have it fixed.

Yesterday, on my way to work, I heard the snap, the battery light came on, and I knew that belt broke. I tried getting back, but didn't make it. The car got too hot.

I looked, and the pulley was nearly off. I had it towed back to the mechanic.

They looked at, and said the pump and belt were under the 12 month warranty, but they can't attribute the rest of the problems to this. Those other problems are: the water pump is leaking, and the idler arm seized up. The hose needs to be replaced, and the cooling system flushed. They want quite a bit of money to fix these things.

They won't claim that the problem with the pulley caused any of this other stuff. I find it tough to believe that with the pulley running crooked, that it didn't put extra tension on the other parts on the serpentine belt, and cause their failure.

My car was not leaking coolant. There was no "squeal" to be heard before the belt broke (which it did the first time, back in June, when the pump locked up).

Is it possible that these extra problems are caused from the pulley on the air pump not running true? Is it likely?

I'd appreciate any answers and/or advice.

Thanks in advance.

Don

Reply to
Don Badrak
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Belts are too flexible generally to transfer a misalignment to another pulley. The belt flexes and rides wrong and that destroys the belt.

If any damage were to get transfered from one pulley to another, it would be when the airpump siezed. that sudden stoppage and or increasing tension could transfer along the belt before the belt slips or breaks. Although, it would be highly unlikely IMO.

Belt tensioners/idlers do fail, the one on my dad's 99 chewed up the belt pretty good but he noticed it and had it fixed. (of course I heard it weeks before and told him was making noise, but he forgot)

As far as the water pump goes, it too was likely near it's time, just noticable now.

Reply to
Brent P

It sounds like you're up for having to twist this shop's arm in order to get satisfaction... which likely means a trip to court or at least the threat of it.

What you need to do is talk to a reputable mechanic in your town and explain all of what you told us. See if THEY tell you that it could have been caused by the AIR pump pulley going bad, and see if they would be willing to sign a legal statement attesting to that.

If so, then find out what an attorney would cost you to at least send notice to the garage in question telling them that you want satisfaction or that you will haul them to court. A lot of times that is sufficient.

If the cost of having an attorney do this is more than what it would cost to just fix the car out of your own pocket -- then the course of action should be clear. Take your lumps and fix it.

That's my $0.02 on the matter.

Reply to
Tungsten

FWIW both the tensioner/idler and water pump bearings failed on my '94 GT at about 100k. I doubt if the other problem is related.

Reply to
Richard

That's the thing with this belt break. No noise, no squealing, no nothing. It snapped clean, didn't get chewed up at all. The shop told me that the idler pulley was shiny, indiciating that it wasn't always turning.

I claimed this, too. If the pulley froze, I would have heard a squeal. Like the first time when the air pump froze (squealed very loud).

I spoke with another mechanic, and they said that it's possible it's bad independently.

Thanks.

Don

Reply to
Don Badrak

Right. I looked at the BBB information, and it didn't give this shop a very good rating.

The trick is finding a reputable, good mechanic. I used to do the work myself, but I have neither the time nor the facilities anymore (which sucks).

I did call another mechanic (recommended by a body shop who did excellent work). I explained the situation, and he said that it's possible the water pump was "due" given the high mileage. The idler pulley could be responsible for the break, but that it was not likely.

I finally got in contact with the service manager. I explained what happened (which I did when I brought the car in). The car overheated. There was coolant on the water pump. So, therefore, the water pump must be leaking. This is the way they diagnose a problem?

This disturbs me, since I wonder how many other repairs were just parts that looked bad, not were bad. This water pump replacement would have been about $650 (pump, labor, hoses, flush).

Anyway, they agreed to replace the pulley for no labor charge (I have to pay for the part), and then replace the pump and pulley. Although I don't really want to give them any more business, I want to get my car out and done with.

I'm going to have them repair the warranteed part, and that's about it, and I'll be done with this mechanic forever.

Don

Reply to
Don Badrak

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