hey guys thanks in advance for your help! i have a 2001 disco 2. i was driving home last night and 1 min from my house i heard a noise like i had just run over something small. suddenly my battery light came on and soon after i lost power steering. i was only a minute away so i just drove it home but 15 secs away form home my overheated engine light came on. once i pulled up to the house i popped the hood and smoke was was comming out pretty good. it was late so i wont be abel to inspect further till tommorrow but i thought you guys might have some suggestions for me. thanks!!!!!!!

 

Sounds to me like your AUX drive belt broke / snapped, hence the loss of the Alternator (battery light) power steering and the viscous fan (engine overheated)

If thats the case, and the engine did not REALLY overheat to bad, then fit a new belt, check / top upthe coolant levels and all should be good

 

thanks man! the heat light was only on for like 20-30 secs. do you think that would casue major dmg? thanks again!

 

Its always difficult to know, the Rover V8's run very hot, so when there's no cooling they heat up VERY quickly. Fix the problem, check the coolant levels and go from there. It is quite possible you escaped un damaged, but until its re-running you cannot be sure tbh.

 

I would suggest you spend some serious time under the hood to see what damage may have been caused when the belt failed.
How old was the belt, did it damage any hoses, have you lost any coolant?
Consider replacing both of your idler pulleys and the belt tensioner, both a common reason for belt failure.

 

ok guys thanks so much for helping! seriously appreciated! i went out today and looked at it this morning. the belt is not broken though. it is just really loose... how could it just become loose like that? how would i re tighten it? again thanks so much for your help guys. Nick


yes i did loose some coolant.

 

Based on what you described in your first posting (noise, loss of power steering, alternator light on) the temp overheat light on after a minute and then you checked it and the belt is loose.

I would say that one of the tensioner pulley bearings failed (That should cause noise) or the tensioner spring failed or your water pump bearings failed thus you lost coolant.

If I were you, I would take the serpentine belt off, then I will spin by hand and check all the pulleys that the belt rides on (WITH THE ENGINE OFF / KEYS OUT OF THE IGNITION).

I will check for play, seizing, etc. and go from there.

Also, I would check the hard plastic coolant lines going from the upper left corner of the radiator to the coolant overflow tank, also, from the throttle body there are more hard plastic lines.

These become hardened after 8 years and if you barely touch them they break.

I have replaced these lines on 2 of my vehicles (2000 / 2001) with metal lines.

I just hope you did not overheat the engine =>> warp the heads =>> blow the head gaskets.

I would think that you did not based on your description of leas than 1 minute of driving with the light on.

Good luck.

 

ok guys i checked the pulleys and this one seems to be the culprit although im not exaclty which one this it. here are some pics. please keep the knowledge comming!once again, thanks so much! -Nick

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...localeid=en_US

 

Here ya go.
http://www.roverparts.com/Parts/ERR6439.cfm
You will also need this.
http://www.roverparts.com/TechTips/s...routing_D2.cfm

 

Great, you found the problem. This is an idler pulley. About 35 dollars or less.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Land-...spagenameZWD1V

Make sure the other pulley that look like it is good. Personally, I would replace them and the tensioner pulley, on the arm right above it. How is your water pump. Any play in it.

Also, make sure you bleed the cooling system properly, or you will have overheating problems.
There are procedures on this forum describing how to bleed the cooling system.

Hope this helps.