Quote:
Originally posted by KUL RIDE
I thought I had a rough morning. While cruising on my way to work, I noticed Battery, ABS, and both Brake lights were flashing rapidly. (Being a SVX owner taught me not to panic in an emergency.) I first thought it was a bad battery so I continued to drive but noticed I didn't have power steering while exiting. While waiting for a green light trying to recall if I read this kind of "symptom" on any post, I'd figured I'd try to restart the car, to see if it would do anything. Boy, was I wrong! For the next 30 min. I was stranded in the middle of the road with my alarm constantly going off! The car simple wouldn't crank! While waiting and hoping the battery might recharge enough to start-it was so dumb now I think about it-a police officer stopped behind me and asked to help. He said he was smelling something burning and wanted me to open up the hood. No sign of smoke whatsoever but surprised to find fine threads all over where an alternator belt used to resides! While waiting for a tow truck, the office called for another officer to push the car to the side. The only problem was that none of us couldn't shift out of Park. Fortunately I had the owner's manual and read over how to disengage in an electrical malfunctioning situation. (Same problem while unloading the car.) The garage had to wait a while for the part but it only took two min. to replace the belt. A definitly DIY job with right tools. All in all, with a flatbed towing, it costed me $110.00-not too bad. Now here is my guestion-unigue Boxer design of Subaru engines should not damage any other part should a belt breaks, right?
|
Will a broken belt cause damage to the engine?
Accessory belts: Not that I know of. If an accessory belt breaks, the accessories simply stop running. This means AC, power steering, alternator, etc.
You don't want the power steering to fail for any reason. The SVX is a pretty heavy car with wide tires and it is extremely difficult to steer without power assistance.
Timing belt: No, but it's not due to the boxer layout of the engine. The engine will not damage itself if the timing belt breaks because it is a 'non-interference' engine. This quality, as far as I know, can be built into any engine design. Most manufacturers, however, choose not to.