Breakdown in Winslow, AZ...

[creekman]

I just completed a 3,000 mile road trip in my 996 C4S. All went well until the early morning on my return to Texas when the volt meter went down and the temp meter went up... I pulled off the road on to the shoulder at about 8:00 AM wondering where in God's name I was. Fortuanetly I had cell service and after calling around one tow truck company wanted more information than "about 265 miles West of Albuquerque". He asked if there was a mile marker post anywhere, the surfing Gods must have taken pity on me since there was one just 200' behind me. Anyway it was suggested that I call 911 which I did. 911 was very helpful, gave the names of 2 tow outfits in Winslow.

A young man came out with a late model diesel flat bed rig from Dalton Motors in Winslow which was about 10 miles back on I-40. Stratton the driver was very careful loading the car, we used the eye bolt that screws into the front bumper, Statton had a swipe card receivier on his smart phone for charge cards, charged me $84.00, I bet in the big city it would have been $284.00...

Any way after being flat bedded into the Winslow Chrysler dealer the young mech showed me the "belt deflection roller/pulley" bolt had backed out . In doing so the mounting bolt was bend and once the pulley got out of alignment it shed the serpentine belt which was undamaged. I called my friend at Truespeed Motorcars in Costa Mesa, CA for install information. Truespeed does a lot of Porsche sales and race car prep. Mark told me yes, you want to use "blue Lock-Tite" and torque to 34 ft/lbs. Unfortuanely before I could get to the mechanic at the dealership UPS for once had come through early so he had already had installed the pulley. He didn't use Lock-Tite and over torqued the bolt so I'll have to remove the bolt and redo it with the correct torque and Lock-Tite. However I had no regrets the people at the Chrysler dealership were excellent and fair.

I think the only reason the bolt backed out in the first place that maybe a previous owner or mechanic hadn't installed properly. The pulley hadn't given up, just the mounting bolt back out, bending the bolt so the pulley was not aligned with the serpentine belt. Fortunenatly I had shut down the engine right away so I didn't have to add any coolant.

I averaged 26.4 MPG at 70-80 MPH... If you haven't had a chance to make a long trip in your car, do it sometime... for me it made the trip memorable.

Here's a pix just before the belt departed...

Edited February 2, 2013 by creekman

[Chuck996]

When I first read this post -- I thought of the Eagles song. You standing on the corner. Glad you got if fixed without a lot of problems.

Thanks for the update and write up.

Chuck

[txhokie4life]

Such a fine sight to see......

Glad you'll be back home in Texas in no time.

Mike

[fpb111]

That girl , my lord, in a flat bed Ford slowin down to take a look at you...

Edited January 31, 2013 by fpb111

[venturawildes]

man come on, I've had a rough night, and I hate the fnn Eagles, man

[Dennis C]

Everyone hates the Eagles football team. The Eagles band, on the other hand, is awesome!