Ford Brakes/Suspension :: Dreaded Wobble Over Bump - Serpentine Belt Broke?
Oct 16, 2013
OK, a couple of days ago I hit a good size bump and got the dreaded death wobble. I stopped to check the lug nuts and none were loose... jacked up one side at a time, tried shaking the tires to see if anything was loose and to my surprise on the drivers side I could move the tire back and forth (like turning the steering wheel, not around) so I figured something had broken right as I stopped. Is it supposed to do that?? I know it`s not on older vehicles.
Anyway I figured I was stranded so I thought what the heck, I`m gonna see if it will turn with the steering wheel. Well when I did... with drivers side still off the ground it gets the death wobble, oh it was running when I did it. I jacked it back down and it stopped so then I tried turning the steering wheel to see if it would turn and both tires turned as they should. I was scared to try it but I drove on home about 4 miles slowly.
My brother has an older Saturn and his wife was driving it and from the way he described it, it got the death wobble. Someone told him it was the serpentine belt. He changed it and it didn't happen anymore. Does it sound possible that the belt could be my problem. BTW, the truck is a 99 ranger 4x4 with no lift or anything.
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My 2007 Ford Focus broke down today. From what I can see and find online with my limited knowledge, it looks like the serpentine belt broke. Would this cause loss of power steering, rise in oil temperature and my check battery light to come on?
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I have a 2006 Escape with a 4cyl. 2.3L automatic gas engine. Recently when going down the road my serpentine belt broke. I purchased a new one and attempted to install it. However, after routing it over all the pulleys there is still a significant amount of slack. Keep in mind when putting the new one on I didn't even have to move the tension pulley. Upon starting the vehicle I was able to see that all of the pulleys were moving and doing what was expected.
However, there is a great deal of squealing and risk that the belt with be thrown off or broken. I researched and am fairly certain that it is in fact the correct size belt as all the sites indicate the same part number and size. Could this be the result of a bad tension pulley that needs to be replaced? Need access to the routing diagram in case I may have put it on incorrectly? Am I missing some other form of adjusting the tension in the belt?
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I have a 1993 f150. Problem is that the steering wheel can wobble back and forth about a half inch or so. I took the wheel off and it looks like there is a lock ring holding everything in place. I just wondered if there was a solution to this to fix it
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It seems that my 2010 F250 truck has come down with the dreaded death wobble. My truck is stock and has 63k miles. I was driving home today on a 2 lane side road and hit a few bumps that almost put me into the oncoming traffic. That sure did get my attention! I've been ready a lot on this site and wanted some opinions if replacing the stock steering stabilizer would fix my problem.
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Ok I have an f 150 04 fx4. 120k miles. I was checking a drip on the transmission cooler, and noticed my passenger side coil spring is broken 2nd coil from the bottom. Truck rides well, but obviously this needs to be addressed. Break looks old since it is rusted over, I probably relocated from new England to Florida driving this down 95 with this break, scary.
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I have a 1997 F250 Light Duty with a 5.4L and 4 wheel drive, 216,000 miles. Last year one of my front tire chains broke and ripped the ABS wire. I have soldered them back together and no longer have the ABS light illuminated in the dash. However, when I apply the brakes at speeds slower than 25 mph, the ABS pulses. Over 25 mph the brakes work as they should until almost stopped and then they pulse.
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2006 6.0l ... I've read all over for tips on routing this belt and everyone plays it off as being some simple '20-minute' task. I'm on my 4th hour on this now.
I can't figure out how to route the belt around the tensioner pulley, circled in the picture (from another thread). Everyone glosses over how to do this and I can't figure it out.
It seems like the only way to get it on is to bend the belt and slide it between the pulley and the block, but that I just can't reach the blasted thing.
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Serpentine belt on a 2006 Honda Odyssey fraying and then ripping into the timing belt causing that belt to break? I recently had this scenario given to me as the cause of my recently replaced timing belt breaking.
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I put on a leveling kit a few months ago and pretty much replaced a lot of worn out parts in the front fenders. With the exception of lower control arms, shocks and springs. Just about everything else that moved was replaced I think.
Well now it seems like every time I hit a decent bump in the road my truck jumps to the side. It's very noticeable if I'm going around a corner and hit a bump. The steering wheel is thrown from side to side so I'm fairly certain that the issue is up front but don't really know where to start looking.
The truck may have done this before the leveling kit but it's very exaggerated now. It's so bad at times that my husband won't drive it.
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I have an 09 F350 (116,000 miles) that I have only owned for about 3 months. I got it pretty cheap but it did have a front end issue. Drives fine most of the time but hit a bump just wrong at highway speed and it goes into a shake and wobble that feels like you just blew a front tire. Took it into my shop, not the dealer and was told I pretty much need a front end rebuild. Kinda what I figured I would hear.
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I purchased the truck from a used car lot about 3 months ago and after driving for a few thousand miles I am feeling a slight wobble after hitting a bump in the road. Here is my truck set up:
- 2011 Ford Lariat F250 4X4 FX4 6.7 ltr
- 67400 miles
- Tires stock and great tread
- Rancho steering stabilizer kit
- Rancho Shocks
- Rear air bags
It does appear one of the rancho stabilizer dampers is leaking slightly. Why would the previous owner install a rancho stabilizer kit? Is it because of the rear air bags?
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Got the death wobble, had everything replaced. Wobble was worse, upgraded track bar. Then no wobble but bad bump steer. Put on new OEM track bar.
Ok but still if I hit a hole on the interstate I get death wobble and little mini wobbles on any bump. What is the permanent fix for this other than selling the truck?
2011 6.7L FWD Lariat, upgraded exhaust and Def removed.
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So I have 1976 f100. For the last few months I have been dealing with the famous death wobble of solid axle trucks. It seems to randomly appear at speeds over 45mph or after hitting a speed bump or cattle guard. I have tried several things like replace all the bushings in the front. Ive looked for any bars with play and fixed them right away. And I even replaced the ball joints thinking it would work. I actually let another mechanic to solve the problem, I was fine for about 3 days. I am running out of parts to check and its hard to drive it down the road.
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We drove our 2009 Honda to and back from Nova Scotia from NY. The Serpentine tensioner bolt broke off after we got home. Anyway, we pulled into Jiffy Lube and they both said that that should not have happened. The mechanic said the same and gave us the old tensioner back to take to Honda saying it was a defect in the car. The car has 45,000 miles on it. My question is what department to approach at Honda if a part is defective? I am thinking it may have been better to take it to Honda in the first place.
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I have a concern with my serpentine belt chirping when it's wet or cold. I have tried soap, and other attempts to quiet it down. Belt tension is good, new water pump and fan. Otherwise no other issues so far.
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I was driving the other day (cold weather- approx 15 F), and my serpentine belt shredded. Managed to drive a mile or so to my driveway. The belt was shredded on the fan side (and had come completely off), but it wasn't torn in two. Got a new belt and installed it, but upon test-cranking, found that it was riding up one ridge on the crank. All the other ribbed pulleys were fine (PS, AC). The smooth pulleys had the belt move a little, however.
Thinking I didn't set it right, I reinstalled the belt on the crank and tried again. Same result (belt rides up one groove, towards the fan). I perused the archives, and one comment was that someone simply trimmed one groove off the belt and everything was happy. The belt found it's "groove", and didn't act up anymore. Doesn't fix the underlying problem, but
1) is this a good fix
2) any clue what is going on?
3) Do I need to get the crank fixed?
BTW, I am sure that I threaded the belt on correctly!
1992 Aerostar, 4.0L, AWD. AC+P/S....
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I have a 2003 f150 4.2 v8. and i have a squeaky belt I am almost positive its the belt i went to change it today but being sick,cold (NY), getting dark having just worked 10 hrs and changing oil it was not going well.
The reason I think its the belt it does not squeak when its really cold out but once it warms up a little its back so I am thinking when it gets warm it stretches out a little and when its cold it shrinks up or am I just crazy..
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So i have a 1998 4.0 ohv ranger and have been fighting belt squeak shortly after i got it. I've replaced the belt twice and the tensioner twice when i put a GATES belt on it stopped for like month. But its still squeaking. If i put a wrench on the tensioner and turn it the squeak stops. So i need to find a way to tighten the tensioner could i somehow jam it, our hook up a turn buckle bolt to manually tighten it, or use a different ford tensioner. I really need to do something cause this squeak is just down right annoying.
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2003 3.0 ranger... This will be my 3rd time replacing serpentine belt and if needed 2nd. time for idler, tension pulleys...NOT SURE WHAT TO DO, should i replace parts again?
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I've been having trouble with my 2000 EX recently, I've had to replace the serpentine belt 3 times in the last year and a half. Nothing looks out of place but I really don't know enough about this engine yet to say that conclusively. I've been using the regular belts from napa, so this time I ordered the HD belt. Is there something that I need to look at that maybe misaligned that could be shredding these belts
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