Hey guys,

I have an '04 1500 5.7 V8 with around 185k miles on it. On Saturday morning, my truck started up fine but when pulling out of my parking spot the power steering wasn't working. I reversed back in and opened the hood and noticed the serpentine belt wasn't moving. Before I opened the hood the battery dropped to dead. When i tried to move the belt, it suddenly moved and started running again. I've had to do that now for the past few mornings. Sometime while I drive the battery will drop and reads dead, but continues to drive. Theres a weird clicking/ clinging noise coming from under the hood. It idles at about 700 RPM's which seems to be a little low. Any ideas what this is or what causes it? I'm worried it'll just die on my while driving. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

You have an extremely worn/loose belt, a bad tensioner or a seized pulley somewhere and the belt not turning means the alternator is not charging the battery.

 

If your belt stops, the crank pulley will soon burn right through it and soon you won't have a belt. It also means you lose power steering, charging, cooling (water pump stops). You have to fix that immediately... don't drive the truck.