Great...car doesn't start now.

[chaosdrifter06]

Yup. Removed the WP/ALT belt. Bought a new serpentine belt....which now I noticed has teeth. I don't think my WP/ALT belt has teeth...

[Pu241]

UPDATE: Did some work on the car today. I started the car up, revved it to 3500 then it began to stay at idle. I'm guessing it's a timing belt? There is a REALLY loud squealing when I give it gas.

Seriously, why would you think it's the timing belt after you reved up to 3500 rpm and now it idles.
Timing belt is not the source of your problem, old fuel or crud/water in the tank and or fuel sock.
If you haven't filled the tank with fuel, drain out all the old fuel and as wybnrml said, open the tank access and check out the tank and sock filter for crud/water.
Some fuel injection cleaner after you have checked the tank wont hurt either.

Pretty sure the squealing is from the Alt/water pump belt or due to Alt or water pump bearings.\
Do as htchbck has said and remove the belt to see.
But DO NOT let the car idle too long or you will warp the head.
Especially, because it appears the overheat fan is not wired to work as it should.

[chaosdrifter06]

I tend to confuse the timing belt. Didn't mean timing belt at all. My bad on that.

I pumped $15 in the tank after I bought it and it was close to empty when I bought it.

Graahhh....it's now dark out. Guess I have to wait until tomorrow to figure it out.

[mattman]

id almost put money on either a water pump or alternater going bad on ya

[chaosdrifter06]

Yeah, I'm gonna check tomorrow. Going to be a pain trying to wrench those things out without a jack...I almost have no access to the bottom?

Or is it possible to pull them out without going under? I can see the alternator from the engine bay, not so sure about the water pump though.

[FestYboy]

both WP and ALT come out from the top (easy jobs). water pump is under the timing belt cover and is run by the alt belt. you will need to remove the timing belt to remove the WP but it's an easy hour job if you're mechanicaly inclined. i suggest getting a factory manual on ebay. (B3 and B6 sohc are physicaly the same on the outside, so use the Festiva manual.)

[econoaddict]

I bet it's nothing more than your alt/wp belt is worn out and/or loose.
If you have been cranking it alot and the battery is low on charge you are putting a load on the alt. when it starts, if the belt is worn/loose it will squeal loud enough to scare the neighbors.

[Festiva Time]

You do have 50/50 antifreeze in the cooling system? Frozen or half frozen coolant will make it hard for the water pump to turn. Everything was really bad at 9 degrees but got a lot better at 32 degrees, were water starts to freezes.

[chaosdrifter06]

Did some work on the car today. Took off the belt powering the ALT and WP. Started the car and it idled fine. Looked at the condition of the belt and it was cracked in numerous places. Went to autozone, replaced the belt and turned the car on again. The same problem as before. I then re-investigated and learned that I may need to re-tension the belt (whoops) because I smelled burnt rubber. Do these engines have a belt tensioner? I only see the pulley powering the WP and the ALT.

[chaosdrifter06]

Wait, wait....forgot the belt can be tightened through the ALT...mind ain't working right today

Now I'm missing the 12mm socket for the adjustment bolt...

[DrMaxwellEdison]

I was going to say.... wait...... lol

[FestYboy]

if you're smelling burnt rubber with a loose belt, then i would look into either the WP or alt pully binding. when you had the old belt off, did you spin the WP and alt to see if they turned freely? they should turn easily and smoothly.

[chaosdrifter06]

The ALT spins freely, but the WP doesn't. How would I remove it? Looks like some bolts can only be accessed by going under. I don't have a lot of tools, not even a jack so things are hard for me when they shouldn't.

[FestYboy]

don't need a jack or any special tools.
what you need:
10mm wrench
10mm socket and 1/4 drive ratchet
12mm wrench
gasket scraper
something to drain your rad into
#3 flathead screw driver
#2 philips head in very good or new shape 8" long
hammer

that's it...

drain coolent.
remove belt, remove WP pully by slipping the screwdriver between 2 of the bolt heads and loosen the third, then rotate the pully and repeat for the other 2 bolts (don't remove the bolts untill all 3 are loose).

turn your wheel all the way to the right or remove passenger tire.
remove lower fender plastic closest to the crank.
reach in and remove crank pully by removing the philips head screws (place driver in head, apply some twisting force and hammer the driver handle to shock the screw loose.
then remove the 4 10mm bolts and pully.
remove upper and lower timing covers.
remove timing belt (loosen tentioner with 12mm wrench, pry pully back and re-tighten tentioner bolt).
remove water pump (5 bolts on pump and 2 on inlet tube).

[chaosdrifter06]

Ok, I replaced the water pump so the pulley spins freely now. I also spun the ALT pulley a second time to make sure. It also spins freely. Started her up, same problem. Again I tried the rev to 3K and it started to idle again.

My guess is this: Did these engines have some sort of engine temp sensor that would make then engine rev higher than its idle point to warm up the engine?

The engine is all started up now as I type, I'm going to try warming it up and see what that does.

Remember, the fuel is fine it has new gas and I re-filled when it was close to empty. before I drive it 5 miles away, I'm going to drive to the bank and see if it survives that.

UPDATE: Serpentine Belt started to squeal. It's new so I guess it has to be tighten up. Went to tighten it up a little bit by going for the adjuster bolt on the ALT....then the bolt snapped due to rust....it was then followed by the largest F-bomb ever recorded in history. Guess I'm taking the bus to my new workplace...

Is there any other way to tighten the belt other than the ALT?