A couple weeks ago, I split a coolant hose. The little one up top that goes from the radiator to the expansion tank. Lost fully 2/3 of the coolant, which was sprayed all over everything under the hood, but I managed to get it topped off and to a garage for a quick repair. No leaks since. However, ever since then my belt squeaks horribly. Is it possible the coolant actually messed up the belt or something? I kept thinking the belt was slipping because of the slippery coolant getting on it, but shouldn't the slip have stopped by now if that's all it was? Thanks for the help ahead of time.

 

Replace your soaked belt and clean off the pulleys with brake cleaner.

 

def replace the belt, but in the meantime you can try dribbling water on the belts/pullies while its running and CAREFULLY using a nonlinting cloth or rag on each side of the belt and on the pullies help get residue off... just again, be CAREFULL, it will eat your fingers right quick... press lightly. bu even just alittle residue can cause squeeking, and if the rubbers swelled no amount of water/cleaning will help. when you do change the belt, make sure the pulles are spotless or the new belt will just start squeaking too

 

Thanks. Will replace the belt pronto. However, now there's a new wrinkle...
Tonight I cranked it up, shifted out of park, and instantly my "m" and "s" mode lights started blinking. I started moving and realized I seem to be stuck in the middle gear. I thought it had to have something to do with the slipping belt, but then I noticed something...the belt isn't making any noise at all. I limped home & haven't even popped the hood. It will have to wait til the morning. I hope my belt hasn't broken or something

 

If belt was missing, your alternator would not be charging, so you would have M & S light on because of low volts to the trany computer, but battery light should be on as well. You would also have no coolant flow, so truck would rapidly overheat, don't know how far you had to limp.

There are a whole range of codes that can be generated by the transmission that turn on the M & S lights, so you may have to get a reading of codes.

 

Once had those lights come on with a bad battery. Will check my connections and look for belt damage in morning. Oh, and I limped about 5 miles. It was up to normal temp, but not overheating.

 

OK, so I checked out my belt, battery connections, and put my scanner tool on it first thing this morning. Nothing! Belt (which is pretty new, but gonna get replaced anyway) looks great, battery (which is pretty new) connections are great, and I get no codes from the car. Also, this morning there are no blinking lights on the dash or anything! I even made sure it's shifting through all the gears like normal. It's like last night's events never happened! Thoughts?

 

Tranny ECU put you in limp home for some reason, there can be many. And there are times when a condition must exist for more than one drive cycle before a code is set. I predict you will have a return of the M&S lights in the next few days. Hope I am wrong. Sounds like an electrical issue, like a loose ground or bad connection, but could be anywhere from battery to tranny ECU.

 

OK, thanks for the help so far. Hey, does anybody know which belt length I need from Autozone? The available belts are 106 1/2" & 92 5/16". I remember having this dilemma when we changed the belt before, I just cant remember which was correct. Checked RAVE, but I don't see anything about a length listed. Would love to buy a replacement without taking old one off so I can drive it to the store.

 

could it be that one is for an ACE equipt vehicle and the other is not?