2001 Blew a belt on highway

HELP! Was on 4 hour trip and an hour before arriving to my destination I heard squeaking/whining grew louder and louder until BANG! Pulled into service station. Took stock of situation situation:
-NO power steering
-Battery light on instrument panel came on.

Did I lose my serpentine belt? (YES) Was it bad that I drove the remaining 60 miles doing 70 mph? (NOPE)

thanks for your assistance!

 

Take a look under the hood and describe what’s broken or missing.

 

Yep what jack said. Open the hood and look

 

Can’t, car was towed...

 

Gotcha good luck with the truck

 

I probably would have looked under the hood before having it towed.

 

AAA = free tow and I am no mechanic. Wouldn’t know what to look for or at. IE here to learn the basics so I can gain mechanic knowledge. Next time I will look under the hood

 

Thanks all for the help (suggestions “did you look under hood?”). Mechanic will be fixing it in the AM & I will report back.

 

On the bright side, it obviously wasn't your timing belt. I'm wondering if your serpentine belt partially broke? The reason I say that is I'm surprised that your battery would supply enough juice on it's own to power the truck at 70mph for 50+ minutes. Maybe it partially broke but was providing enough tension to provide some juice? Seems unlikely....but I guess you'll find out tomorrow....let us know what it was.

 

I snapped a belt once on an F-150, happened while I was launching a boat . . . talk about an arm wrestle to park the thing.
We were far from home and said, 'F-it, lets go fish' . . . later we hitched a ride into town, picked up a new belt and an 'idler' (bearing seized) from the dealer and put it on the next morning. Amazing what you can do when you have to, even with minimal tools. You probably just snapped the belt and you'll be fine. No biggie.

 

Never mind the battery, I would be concerned about the water pump.

 

Sorry to hear about your mishap. I'd be willing to bet that there's a failed component behind the belt breaking. They are not easy to break. Somewhere there is likely a seized bearing.

 

Changed a mechanical fuel pump on a 69 F100 once in small town America, parked in a slot on main street while watching some local parade go by. Luckily I had a 9/16ths wrench and pliers/screwdriver, and there was a Texaco station within walking distance who agreed to let me charge the fuel pump on the old man's gas card...Thanks Dad! After we walked back and changed the pump, we had a cold one and watched the parade from the tailgate because we couldn't go anywhere...blocked in by the parade.
If I hadn't looked under the hood, the old man would have said..."stick your thumb out and hitch home." Those were the days.

 

I’d be budgeting for head gasket replacement / head resurfacing after driving that long at highway speeds with no coolant circulation through your engine is the belt was indeed broken. Too little too late to prevent that now.

Edit:
Never mind. The water pump is driven by the timing belt on 4.7’s.

 

No problem for a healthy battery, especially if the headlights aren’t on and the HVAC blower isn’t cranked to high.

 

I thought the water pump runs on the timing belt. Serpentine belt runs A/C, alternator and power steering pump.

 

So it does, good thing for OP.

 

Good edit but...

 

I won’t be going anywhere noob. LOL

 

First gen forums. Cool your jets “bro” This ain’t taco world.

 

I’ve done enough 4.7 exhaust manifolds to walk up and piss all over your shoes. So as I said...

 

You're a wealth of information even if I read some of your stuff wrong. Don't go.

 

Definitely Serpentine Belt. Guess it is RECOMMEND be changed every 40-60K. God only knows when it was changed last, bought truck used 2 years ago with 235k. This looks rather easy to do, if I were home and not stuck in Sioux Falls I would do it myself. https://www.yotatech.com/how-tos/a/toyota-tundra-how-to-replace-serpentine-belt-415389 Praise God for water pump running off timing belt and yet another reason the 4.7L 1st GEN’s are the best and bulletproof (except for the frames).

 

Now don’t waste that second chance, and have your timing belt replaced before it does the same thing.

 

You ok there buddy? Is everything alright at home?

Good job on those exhaust manifolds, keep it up and maybe soon you’ll be able to point out where the water pump is.

 

I like Landphils spunk.

 

Good on ya. Got a pro to diagnose and fix. Now plan on getting under the hood this summer and do some PM.

Gates make a HD Belt for our trucks for anyone interested. It is Stout and weights almost double of a light duty belt.

 

Oh wise one, please guide my on my quest to the PM’s. What are some of the best threads regarding this topic? Anyone create a comprehensive list of schedules (mileage based service intervals) for any / all critical components?

Thanks for info on Gates, I will buy and keep one as a spare in the truck. OEM is what’s going on it now.

 

That OEM one might be Gates, but just not Gates HD. Check my build page for ideas on PM.