Stranded in the 626 w/broken PS pump and no belt - JamesN and Lextreme to the rescue!
03-03-09, 01:10 AM
#1
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Stranded in the 626 w/broken PS pump and no belt - JamesN and Lextreme to the rescue!
As Rodney Dangerfield used to say, I'm OK now but you shoulda seen me last week. I went to South El Monte to get another Falken Tire (I'm buying them one at a time so I can grind all the chrome cancer off my rim lips), and as I am about to get on the 60 West, I lose my power steering. I pull over and see that the nut on my power steering pump has come off, and the pulley is off its splines and spinning freely. I called CL member David (Lextreme) since I thought he lived near by and would have the tools to get me going again, but he turned out to be too far away and was busy with his family. He called CL member JamesN, who was closer, but he was still at work.
I tried, without any tools, to loosen the belt and push the pulley back. If you climb into the engine compartment and stand with your foot on top of the tensioner pulley, you can get some slack on the belt. That's when I learned the pulley had already sheared the splines- there was no way to get it back on. I thought I could make it home, but no luck- the pulley came off for good a few miles before the Atlantic exit in Monterey Park. Talk about stressful- I'm driving on the freeway with no belt and the alternator light on, with no idea how long the battery will last - I turned off everything I could (lights, too- and this is at 8:00pm!).
I make it to the Atlantic exit and park in the Walgreens lot- now what? David calls to see how I am doing, and then calls JamesN, who grabs some belts and comes over, with his brother Steven. All we can try to do is rig up a shorter belt to bypass the PS pump, but you need a belt of exactly 69.3", and while James arrived well-equipped, we don't have that size. Since Walgreens is right there, I buy some nylon stockings (no cheap jokes, please) and try that, but without any lip on the tensioner pulley to keep it on, it falls off after several seconds.
Finally, we try taking my spare serpentine belt and cutting it down to the right size. I'm feeling awful about keeping James and Steven out so late, but we quickly realize there's no good way to splice the belt to survive the 25-mile trip home anyway, and so that's it for the night.
James graciously offers to take me home. Fortunately, there's always a bus running from downtown LA to my home so he only needed to take me downtown- the bus driver comments on what a nice LS dropped me off! As I am on the bus, I realize what we should have tried- using the stocking between only the crankshaft pulley and the alternator! They are right next to each other and both pulleys have a lip to keep the stocking in place.
Oh well, we'll never know because the next morning I grab some tools and take a bus back to the car and realize that a Pep Boys is just 1/3 a mile away, on Atlantic south of the 60. So I use what's left of my battery to limp over there and proceed to drive the guys behind the parts counter crazy- first I tried (and then returned) a 695 belt (too long), then a 685 (too short) and then a 690 (ditto). None of them really fit, so I buy a smaller tensioner pulley and try installing it to see if that configuration would work better with one of the belts. But the smaller pulley won't fit- the inside edge hits the housing of the tensioner, and they don't sell a larger pulley. So that is returned, and we are back to the 695, which fits, but loosely- the tensioner does not load up. But it was the best I could do- there is no 673 belt. I bought a roll of duct tape (no cheap jokes, please) and wrapped it around the tensioner pulley to thicken it up (note to self: Duct Tape + High engine temps + Pressure = a stickey mess):
But, with a little squealing from the belt still being too loose, I made it home. Time to assess damages:
The pulley is not usually stocked - it's a special order ($180 at stealership, $135 at Carson Toyota) that can take a few days. But TAP Recycling (now called PartsPlanet, by the way) in Sacto has a pulley, attached to a pump, for $167 - sold!
I put it on this past weekend, with the only complication being the bolt holding the high-pressure "banjo" fitting- that was so tight, I could not even loosen it while locked in a vise. I was using so much torque I could hear my wooden workbench start to break, and it still was not budging. Since I have the biggest vise on the block (it's a Jewish neighborhood), I had to resort to stuffing both the old and new PS pumps in my backpack and bicycling to Jim Falk Lexus. The service advisor was amazed to find someone that would dare to change his own PS pump and so he had the mechanic use an air wrench to swap the hose for no charge!
So, a happy ending- I didn't have to spend the night stranded and I avoided an expensive towing charge and/or having a service shop replace the PS pump. And, now that I don't need that 695 belt, Pep Boys took it back! (OK, on that one, you can go ahead with the cheap jokes)!
Thanks to Jim Falk Lexus for their complimentary air wrench service, Pep Boys for their liberal return policy, Lextreme for coordinating the rescue, and especially to JamesN and Steven for coming out so late at night to help me.
I want to return the favor some day so I hope they break down in West LA (oh wait- that didn't come out right!).
I tried, without any tools, to loosen the belt and push the pulley back. If you climb into the engine compartment and stand with your foot on top of the tensioner pulley, you can get some slack on the belt. That's when I learned the pulley had already sheared the splines- there was no way to get it back on. I thought I could make it home, but no luck- the pulley came off for good a few miles before the Atlantic exit in Monterey Park. Talk about stressful- I'm driving on the freeway with no belt and the alternator light on, with no idea how long the battery will last - I turned off everything I could (lights, too- and this is at 8:00pm!).
I make it to the Atlantic exit and park in the Walgreens lot- now what? David calls to see how I am doing, and then calls JamesN, who grabs some belts and comes over, with his brother Steven. All we can try to do is rig up a shorter belt to bypass the PS pump, but you need a belt of exactly 69.3", and while James arrived well-equipped, we don't have that size. Since Walgreens is right there, I buy some nylon stockings (no cheap jokes, please) and try that, but without any lip on the tensioner pulley to keep it on, it falls off after several seconds.
Finally, we try taking my spare serpentine belt and cutting it down to the right size. I'm feeling awful about keeping James and Steven out so late, but we quickly realize there's no good way to splice the belt to survive the 25-mile trip home anyway, and so that's it for the night.
James graciously offers to take me home. Fortunately, there's always a bus running from downtown LA to my home so he only needed to take me downtown- the bus driver comments on what a nice LS dropped me off! As I am on the bus, I realize what we should have tried- using the stocking between only the crankshaft pulley and the alternator! They are right next to each other and both pulleys have a lip to keep the stocking in place.
Oh well, we'll never know because the next morning I grab some tools and take a bus back to the car and realize that a Pep Boys is just 1/3 a mile away, on Atlantic south of the 60. So I use what's left of my battery to limp over there and proceed to drive the guys behind the parts counter crazy- first I tried (and then returned) a 695 belt (too long), then a 685 (too short) and then a 690 (ditto). None of them really fit, so I buy a smaller tensioner pulley and try installing it to see if that configuration would work better with one of the belts. But the smaller pulley won't fit- the inside edge hits the housing of the tensioner, and they don't sell a larger pulley. So that is returned, and we are back to the 695, which fits, but loosely- the tensioner does not load up. But it was the best I could do- there is no 673 belt. I bought a roll of duct tape (no cheap jokes, please) and wrapped it around the tensioner pulley to thicken it up (note to self: Duct Tape + High engine temps + Pressure = a stickey mess):
But, with a little squealing from the belt still being too loose, I made it home. Time to assess damages:
The pulley is not usually stocked - it's a special order ($180 at stealership, $135 at Carson Toyota) that can take a few days. But TAP Recycling (now called PartsPlanet, by the way) in Sacto has a pulley, attached to a pump, for $167 - sold!
I put it on this past weekend, with the only complication being the bolt holding the high-pressure "banjo" fitting- that was so tight, I could not even loosen it while locked in a vise. I was using so much torque I could hear my wooden workbench start to break, and it still was not budging. Since I have the biggest vise on the block (it's a Jewish neighborhood), I had to resort to stuffing both the old and new PS pumps in my backpack and bicycling to Jim Falk Lexus. The service advisor was amazed to find someone that would dare to change his own PS pump and so he had the mechanic use an air wrench to swap the hose for no charge!
So, a happy ending- I didn't have to spend the night stranded and I avoided an expensive towing charge and/or having a service shop replace the PS pump. And, now that I don't need that 695 belt, Pep Boys took it back! (OK, on that one, you can go ahead with the cheap jokes)!
Thanks to Jim Falk Lexus for their complimentary air wrench service, Pep Boys for their liberal return policy, Lextreme for coordinating the rescue, and especially to JamesN and Steven for coming out so late at night to help me.
I want to return the favor some day so I hope they break down in West LA (oh wait- that didn't come out right!).
I've met David at a local junkyard once and James at a couple of meets...Now I know who to contact, should I ever get stuck around the 626. 
03-03-09, 02:36 AM
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When i first read the title i was thinking "wow what a p***y, my brother used to drive a car with no ps, no biggie" But when i realized your belt had broke, i realized thats pretty serious.
I actually got stranded myself like 1 month ago in long beach. I was going to a junkyard to get a 3 spoke wheel and the pot holes blew out my front tire. I was driving 10 min with a blown tire O_o. (going like 20 mph tho). I could hear the burst but it took a while for all the air to escape. I was sooo lucky the junkyard that i was going to actually told me the tire was blown out. Because right when i got their, did the tire actually get soo low, that it could have damaged my rim. And they even jacked up my car for me so i could put the spare on.
I actually got stranded myself like 1 month ago in long beach. I was going to a junkyard to get a 3 spoke wheel and the pot holes blew out my front tire. I was driving 10 min with a blown tire O_o. (going like 20 mph tho). I could hear the burst but it took a while for all the air to escape. I was sooo lucky the junkyard that i was going to actually told me the tire was blown out. Because right when i got their, did the tire actually get soo low, that it could have damaged my rim. And they even jacked up my car for me so i could put the spare on.
03-03-09, 06:27 AM
#6
hmmm I dunno suspect...would rather spend time with family than play with lexus 
I was also thinking James could have zipped you around town at light speed but then you said LS so he was not driving the gte 300
Congrats on the eventual win. Applaud you trying out of the box ideas....I am assuming the stockings were for a "belt" and you were not taking time out to run an errand
Another example of greats guys in a great community. See with people like this the world can become a good place.
I was also thinking James could have zipped you around town at light speed but then you said LS so he was not driving the gte 300
Congrats on the eventual win. Applaud you trying out of the box ideas....I am assuming the stockings were for a "belt" and you were not taking time out to run an errand
Another example of greats guys in a great community. See with people like this the world can become a good place.
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