Serpentine belt damaged

[Muted]

Hey all,

I was sitting in the McDonald’s drive thru when all of a sudden my car kinda studdered for a second and then shut off. The I drive message - start/ignition problem, car cannot turn on. I looked under the hood and saw that the belt had slipped off one of the pulleys and the one on the top, I believ the tensior looked broken. I’ll have to remove the cross member and radiator fan tomorrow, but do you think the belt could’ve been sucked into the crank and that’s why it won’t start?

[m4forum]

I heard similar issue with M4 but not sure about X5. Hopefully not. Look if the serpentine belt got behind the crankshaft pulley.
I had serpentine broken in pieces few month ago but in my case the fix was just regular replacement.

[Muted]

Originally Posted by m4forum

I heard similar issue with M4 but not sure about X5. Hopefully not. Look if the serpentine belt got behind the crankshaft pulley.
I had serpentine broken in pieces few month ago but in my case the fix was just regular replacement.

I took the belt off and it wasn’t shredded. The idler pulley was completely busted, which made it come off the alternator a bit. What I’m wondering is why my car would shut off? I haven’t pulled the codes yet. I remeber the car just stalling. I read that the engine should still be able to run without a belt, but maybe the belt caused the crank pulley to stop?

[CatalinP]

Does it start now, after removing the belt?

[Muted]

Originally Posted by CatalinP

Does it start now, after removing the belt?

I haven’t tried to start it with the belt off. Is that safe to do? The new belt, tensioner and idler pulley are coming in the next few days, so I thought I’d put it back together then and try to start it.

[m4forum]

on my case engine was still running with several lights on dashboard. didnt shut off.
hopefully just a belt.

[Tomcat_F15_STL]

If there's no damage to the belt then there was nothing ingested from it.

I would spin the accessories by hand - ie, you don't have a frozen alternator or compressor? Locking up accessories may have caused the idler damage - at least in my thinking.

[Muted]

Originally Posted by Tomcat_F15_STL

If there's no damage to the belt then there was nothing ingested from it.

I would spin the accessories by hand - ie, you don't have a frozen alternator or compressor? Locking up accessories may have caused the idler damage - at least in my thinking.

Yeah, belt was just kinked from where it was stuck on the idler pulley. Mostly just looked worn. I think I got lucky I was idling and not driving. The car does start without the belt on, I checked yesterday. I spun the alternator and AC pulleys and they all seemed fine. Don’t know how the idler pulley got so bad, but it broke into pieces when I started to unscrew it.