UPDATE: It was the tensioner pulley. Replaced and am good to go. I was suspicious of the timing with my adding coolant and getting my oil changed at a new shop, but I'll chalk it up to coincidence.
1994 Mazda B4000, 123k.
I got my oil changed at a shop about a week ago.
Yesterday I half-filled my coolant reservoir when the engine was warm because there was barely anything in the reservoir and I have a slow leak I hadn't checked in a while, so I knew it must not have enough coolant.
30 minutes of highway driving later, I'm overheating. First noticed when the power steering gave out (serpentine belt controls everything).
Under the hood I see various fluids have bubbled over a bit. The coolant reservoir is full and overflowing. The drive belt is either stretched loose or simply dismounted, upon inspection I don't see any visible damage. The fan is chipped up a bit, from the tension pulley popping out of place and into it.
The tension pulley pops completely off with little a little wiggling, its pieces falling to the ground.
The engine and transmission oils are not contaminated.
The next thing I was going to do was replace the tension pulley and drive belt. But I'm wondering what the initial cause of this was.
Was the overheating caused by my overfilling the coolant, causing the drive belt to warp/dismount and damaging the pulley? Or was it only the pulley/belt failure causing the overheating? I drained a bit of coolant out and when cold, it is well below the "Cold Fill" line. This makes me think I could not have significantly overfilled the reservoir, if I overfilled it at all.
Is there anything else I should know/check before trying to start the engine after replacing the belt?
1994 Mazda B4000, 123k.
I got my oil changed at a shop about a week ago.
Yesterday I half-filled my coolant reservoir when the engine was warm because there was barely anything in the reservoir and I have a slow leak I hadn't checked in a while, so I knew it must not have enough coolant.
30 minutes of highway driving later, I'm overheating. First noticed when the power steering gave out (serpentine belt controls everything).
Under the hood I see various fluids have bubbled over a bit. The coolant reservoir is full and overflowing. The drive belt is either stretched loose or simply dismounted, upon inspection I don't see any visible damage. The fan is chipped up a bit, from the tension pulley popping out of place and into it.
The tension pulley pops completely off with little a little wiggling, its pieces falling to the ground.
The engine and transmission oils are not contaminated.
The next thing I was going to do was replace the tension pulley and drive belt. But I'm wondering what the initial cause of this was.
Was the overheating caused by my overfilling the coolant, causing the drive belt to warp/dismount and damaging the pulley? Or was it only the pulley/belt failure causing the overheating? I drained a bit of coolant out and when cold, it is well below the "Cold Fill" line. This makes me think I could not have significantly overfilled the reservoir, if I overfilled it at all.
Is there anything else I should know/check before trying to start the engine after replacing the belt?
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