The first suspect would be a broken serpentine belt. That will stop the power steering pump and the generator from working. The "Battery" light means the battery is not being recharged by the generator while you're driving; not that the battery is defective.
You can drive like that for perhaps up to an hour before the battery will run down, but there's two other things to watch for. First of all, without knowing which engine you have, there's no way to know if the water pump is driven by the timing belt or the external serpentine belt. If the engine starts to overheat, stop it immediately because a very minor problem will turn into a serious and expensive one. Second, turning the steering wheel will be hardest at lower speeds and real easy at highway speeds, but turning it a lot with the power steering pump not running will usually make it spit fluid out onto the ground. It will make a mess, but it won't be damaged as long as you refill the reservoir once the belt is replaced.
Friday, September 27th, 2013 AT 12:35 AM
