I brought my car in for the alternator recall at the same time as my alternator was sh*$tting the bed. They called me back and told me that a pulley was snapped off an that I had no belts. How is it possible that I drove it there with no pulley or belts? Are they screwing me over?

 

I had this happen to me soon after I bought my 97 max. It was used and the bolt on the idler pulley I guess was a bit loose and after another 1K miles it fell off and I lost it and my serpentine belt. I was able to drive it in to where I bought it and have it replaced under warranty before it died. You can drive it without the belt, all that does is run your A/C and your alternator. It will basically drive until you drain the battery of power. I was able to drive mine about 20 miles with the belt gone before the battery just couldn't make it anymore. It was just barely enough to get me to the dealer. So depending on how far you had to drive, it would have been fine. There is another belt in there that runs power steering and that one is probably there.

Anyway you don't really need the idler pulley or the belt to run the car. All the idler pulley does is put tension on the belt so that it will keep everything turning.

 

Thanks for responding....it makes sense now.

 

Yeah...the belt and pulley aren't too expensive really. Belt is like $15-20 and I think the pulley is $40-50. It sucks but oh well. Did you notice any sounds or anything? You should have been able to tell if your belt/pulley fell off when driving, that makes a good deal of noise depending on how fast you are going.