its a 1995 dodge caravan. the car was working normally until the battery light came on, then the power steering turned off and wheel went stiff. electrical components went weak like the heater, wipers turned off, and the radio shut off. the temp gauge was rising past normal and was reaching Hot. needles were jumping and the car was bogging. could this be an electrical problem or broken belt? haven't taken a good look at it yet cus its pouring cats and dogs right now.

any advice or help would be appreciated thank you

 

haha nevermind just found the problem. serpentine belt came off. new question, haven't replaced the belt before, how do i put it back on? what do i loosen? and which part of the belt should i put on first in order to make it easier? thanks

 

Here is a picture of the belt routing, I'm assuming you have a 3.3 or 3.8 motor. The last thing you do is rotate the tensioner down and slip the belt over the upper idler pulley that is right behind the a/c compressor

 

I just came across this while looking for reasons why my battery light came on. How do you know if the serpentine belt came off.

My battery light came on for a second this morning and my power steering is stiff also.

Dang dang dang.

 

Open the hood, the sepentine belt runs on the accessories on the right side of the vehicle. If the belt fell off, you will be able to see it pretty easily.

 

Well I checked and the belt is there. I also didn't mention that I had been going through puddles because of the rain here. I have not had any symptoms of battery light or difficult stearing in 2 days. The serpentine belt is on and looks to be in the correct place. I guess I will wait and see.