Just left work. Warmed it up for the first 6 miles and then put my foot down a bit. Came to my first set of twisties and......OH **** no steering. \Nearly went in the ditch but managed to wrestle with it to stay on the black stuff. I staped only to see my powersteering belt had snapped. And the fan belt was only 1/2 as thick as it was. Kept going slowly. Then started to feel weak back fire a bit and then died... The battery is flat as I forgot to turn the lights off when the altenator was not turning. Would a flat battery kill the car as you were driving along? What is the prognosis in this situation?

 

Flat battery would kill the car, need's the battery for the ECU, Injectors etc

 

Would it damage the engine at all? I had a new cam belt last week. But I guess thats not related to these belts?

 

shouldnt damage the engine, all you need to do to check is to charge your battery connect it to the car and start it.......

It should run no bother untill the battery gos flat again.

 

No, shouldn't damage the engine, but leaving the battery flat for extended periods of time can damage that, so you want to get some charge into it ASAP.

The belt that drives the power steering pump also drives the alternator, and, without the alternator supplying electricity, the car's fuel pump and coils will drain the battery until it all grinds to a halt, as you've found out.

All you need is a new belt and some charge in the battery and everything should be fine.

 

Cheers Guys. I got home on a low loader. Will charge the battery in the morn and hopefuly make it to my local subaru dealer. Thanks again.

 

Now, the belt in question has to be removed to do the cam belt (assuming we're referring to a Scoob here...) If I was in your shoes I'd be asking whoever changed my cam belt a) if the auxiliary drivebelt (ie the one for the alternator and pas pump) was fitted correctly and / or b) if it was fitted correctly, why has it failed so quickly. Because if the auxiliary drive belt is incorrectly fitted, what chance is there of the cam belt having been done properly?