i own a 97rs with 63k miles. well i was cruisin at like 25 down a neighborhood when i hear this rattling sound.. i thought i ran over sumthing... so i stop but the sound keeps comin.. i thought o shit, did i throw a rod? i turn off the engine and it turns out that the belt that sits just to the right of the radiator fluid reservoir slid a lil too far to the right off of the pully and split and started flapping around... what is this belt? power steering belt or drive belt? i heard sumone on here say it was power steering but my owners manual says drive belt... o yea a month before my reservoir fluid bottle was rubbing up against the belt and i had to get the bottle replaced because it wore a hole in it.. can i replace the belt myself??? i am obviously not very mechanically inclined... yet. i pushed the car in neutral to my friends house and there it sits........ help me out guys! im in a tight spot for cash rite now! any help is greatly appreciated! i will give presents;)

helphelphelp im a poor student...

That's the AC/power steering belt. It's pretty easy to replace. The only thing is you should find out why it did that in the first place otherwise it'll only to it again. Could be a seized pulley.

well... about 10 min. before the problem... i raced my friend's mustang... rev'ed it up pretty good. that has to be the cause. could it have slipped since i pushed it too hard racing? are my pulley's bad? they look straight as far as i can see.... my poor car... im sorry...:( more help is greatly appreciated

helllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllp pleezzzzzzzzzzzeee

ok dude first check if all your pullys move around. the belt is like 25 bucs..if u can live with it no P steering or AC then leave it off till u get cash. If its the belt the your water resavor fell on its your AC/PS belt..Make sure your tensionor it is in line with the belt unless your belts will fall off. There is just 3 bolts you need to losen on the P steering pump thats it...

ok i checked it out... yipes it looks like my tensioner pulley has a lil wobble to it. it moves like 2mm every second or so... i got the new belt, put it on and tightened the tensioner all the way and it still wobbles a tiny bit.... think i need a new tensioner pulley or will it survive? i dont think it will be too bad cuz there are no "grooves" in the tensioner pulley like in the powersteering pulley... do u guys think i will need another tensioner? how much? thanx for bein kind to such a newbie

You will know if it will hold hehe if it goes you just out another belt depending on if you stop..It should not move alot from what i know but it should have a little play...pretty much does it look like its going to fall off??? if so i would get a new one but if now your good to go...

MUCH THANX to the guys who replied.... i have since bought the repair manual and im readin up... i got the belt changed and its runnin good for now. u guys will be seein more of me!!! haha i dunno if thats a good thing or a bad thing... thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

going to throw in my 27 cents:

the tensioner commonly goes bad on our cars. if you do a search, you can find the part number and location to order a rebuild kit. otherwise, youll need to buy a new tensioner assembly (about 100 bucks!). 2mm wobble is pretty normal...mine does about the same.

also, if you do a search for "thrown p/s belt" or similar you will find a plethora of info on this subject. it seems to be VERY common in our cars for a variety of reasons. i think im going to go back and do a revised "how to fix your belt" writeup...