2002 Town and Country went to the store last.

SHERRYMORAN

MEMBER
2002 CHRYSLER TOWN AND COUNTRY
205,000 MILES

2002 town and country went to the store last night it started rattling and when I pulled into the parking lot the sounded like I had ran over wire or medal. The sound stopped and then the power steering went out. I just barley got into a parking spot. When I got out there was a trail of liquid on the ground. My husband look under the hood and saw that the serpentine belt was off. So there was not way to drive it home. My husband things the fluid may have come from the transmission.I think it was the power steering. What do you think and what do we do now?

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

Look at the power steering fluid reservoir and you'll see it's wet around the fill cap. That is commonly caused by turning the steering wheel while the pump is not running. Doesn't matter if the belt came off or the engine was simply not running. Replace the belt, refill the power steering fluid, and wash the area with an engine degreaser. If you would have listed the engine size I would have told you if you can drive the van home that way. On some of them the water pump is driven by the timing belt so the engine would not overheat. You would just have hard steering, and the battery will run down in about a half hour to an hour, depending on how much you use the brake lights, head lights, heater fan, etc. On some engines the water pump is driven by the serpentine belt so the engine will overheat in a few minutes. I've nursed cars over 40 miles with a non-functioning water pump but it involves lots of coasting with the engine off and lots of waiting for the engine to cool down. I don't recommend that with the newer engines.