Steaming and metal grinding sound, then nothing? WTF?

[281pony]

im so confused right now. i just drove like 10 miles to jack in the box. right as i roll up to the menu the car started steaming. i thought i hit a puddle cause it was raining pretty good. it kept going, so i quickly check my oil pressure and water temp, normal. i shut it off and go look. by this time its stopped apparently.

as it was steaming, it also started an awful sounding noise. it sounded like a grinding pulley almost. some type of metal grinding like noise. the car didn't want to run as it was doing this it seemed also.

so after it did this initially, and i shut it off. i started it back up and it was still doing the noise, but no steaming. it died twice, not sure if it was me trying to be too easy on the throttle from a stop or not. once i finally gave it normal gas to get it going, the noise stopped.

i let it idle for a couple minutes, looked around the engine bay. cant find anything. i came home, everything is dry. wtf could this have been? anyone have any thoughts? it drove fine the whole way home and through the drive through once i went back in line.

 

[stykthyn]

fan clutch? mine did that before it took a dump.

 

[281pony]

i have an electric fan.

 

[MustangLX-5.0]

Do you have AC? If you do, its possible something on the compressor gave out causing your so called "Steam" which would've been refrigerant spewing. This would also explain the bogging down on the motor. You don't have to be using it for something on the AC to screw up. If no AC, then ignore that.

Water pump pulley bearing? Maybe it hit a bad spot and a small amount of coolant shot out, perhaps directly onto an exhaust header. Did you smell anything?

 

[stykthyn]

I was thinking water pump but if the temps never shot up while idling at the drive through then I would be willing to rule that out.

 

[281pony]

i don't have anything for ac. so it cant be that.

i thought water pump too. it just stopped though out of nowhere. my water temp held consistant before i even engaged my fan. i turned it on just incase chit hit the fan, i had more advanced warning. it never went over the temp it always sits at.

unfortunately, with the rain and me being like wtf, i never smelled the steam. i did swear it had a faint antifreeze smell when i got out there. antifreeze smell doesn't just disappear though usually.. im just confused what this was.

 

[281pony]

just drove another 25 miles. no issues whatsoever until i hit my driveway at home.

its kinda steep and at an angle, so i was approaching really slowly as always. when i turned the wheel at a stop nearly, it started squealing. serpentine belt, went for about 4 seconds. then the grinding started briefly for approximately 1-2 seconds. then nothing. no steam this time either.

 

[885.0conv]

I had something like on my f-150 but no steam though. I had just bought a new serp belt so I took it back got another one. When I put the second one on the grinding went away and its been 9 months. I never figured out why the belt was causing it though.

 

[281pony]

ok. ill try a new belt. can't hurt i guess.

I had something like on my f-150 but no steam though. I had just bought a new serp belt so I took it back got another one. When I put the second one on the grinding went away and its been 9 months. I never figured out why the belt was causing it though.

 

[MustangLX-5.0]

Either your belt is slipping or your ps pump is going bad. The steam could've been a very small amount of ps fluid smoking on the exhaust. If it did it when you hit the stops, it could very well be. If the ps pump is going out, it can easily bog the motor down far more than the pressure limiter switch can handle. Or.......... you could've hit near the stops, enough to cause the belt to chatter if its bad, and if your ps teflon seals are bad.......ps fluid spraying from the HiPress line fitting. I had that on my 96. Everytime I'd hit near the stops , the line would flex a little and a very small amount of fluid would jet out near the rack and hit the header pipe. If you're not used to smelling fluids often, one could easily mistake a tiny amount of burnt tranny fluid with antifreeze. Just some suggestions..

 

[281pony]

ill check my p/s for leaks and the level. it came from both headers though, so i don't think it was the pump. on another note though, my steering is fairly difficult to turn considering its power. after the steam, and i got the grinding to stop, my steering temporarly did seem smoother. i have another p/s pump here, except mine has a march pulley pressed onto it that i need.

so its conflicting. the easiest thing for me to do right now, is swap belts. if that doesn't work and it acts up again, i will look into switching out my p/s pump i guess. both of those, leave me wondering what sprayed on both headers still.

 

[Repostyle]

I would bet changing the belt will end your problems. My guess is the steam was from the wet weather. The grinding noise could have been your belt, wet and slipping on any one or more of the pulleys.

 

[old_blue]

I had something similar, changing the belt didnt help. Sounded almost like the throw out bearing was grinding away or a pulley seized up. So I went through each pulley to see if they spun. all worked fine. then I got to the belt tensioner pulley which should spin freely. Spun it and it sounded like sand was in it. got a new pulley wheel (reverse threaded) and put the belt back on. No more nasty sound. hope that helps. if not then ignore me.

 

[281pony]

thanks for the suggestion.

i have a march manual tensioner setup though. so it can't be my tensioner. i am going to pick up a belt, if it does this again.

 

[ID89GT]

You sould have to pull the power steering pulley pulley off anyway to change out the pump. The pulley blocks the 3 bolts that hold it to the bracket.

 

[281pony]

with my march pulley kit, it doesnt block the bolts. i just looked at it, i can remove it without the pulley coming off. it's pressed on there iirc, cause the guy i bought it off of gave me his p/s pump.

i'll try a belt if it does it again i guess. my belt has/does slip with the manual tensioner on start up or engine surges. so the numbers are gone. it should be fun to match it up again..