Power Stearing question?

While out on a dark and lonely road last night, my power steering belt decided to take its swan dive. Quite startling when a tracker trailer is heading towards you and you arent expecting it.

Anyhow, I'm just curious if anyone could give me a ball park figure on what to expect the cost to be to get it fixed? I have a Mercury Grand Marquis 2004.

Thanks you in advance.

Probably 40 tops for the belt and 100 tops for someone to install it for you, prices are dependent upon where in the country you are.

a reply to: Chromium51

Thanks for the reply, I'm in the Okeechobee Florida area.

a reply to: onehuman

Just had a look on google for your model of car, and it appears it has a serpentine belt, which runs multiple things, not just power steering. Anyway, a belt won't cost too much, and if you get a diagram you can refit it yourself, just gotta find the belt tensioner.

You can do this yourself if you are pretty handy. Just loosen the idler pulley and replace the belt.

a reply to: onehuman

You sure its the belt?

That has a serpentine belt that does a LOT more than just power steering.
Your dashboard would have been lit up like a Christmas tree if your belt $h!t the bed. You didn't overheat?

2004 Mercury Grand Marquis



Serpentine Belt Replacement
link

A trailer was tracking you? Did it look like this?



Sorry...just yankin' your chain. Belts are very easy to replace, so give it a shot yourself before handing over $100 to some mechanic.

I'm not really the type of old lady that should be tackling something under the hood of my car.
Now I'm more Concerned though. What else does this actually control? All I know is my steering got super stiff and hard to turn, hence I just figured it must have been the power steering.

How far can I drive it now if other things are effected? I'm still about 10 miles out of town.

a reply to: onehuman

It is just a serpentine belt, if that went bad, which it sounds like it controls the waterpump and the alternator as well as some other minor things. I wouldn't drive it if it is in fact the belt I would get it towed to a reputable place if you can't do the work yourself

a reply to: onehuman

The belt also drives the alternator (among other accessories) which recharges the battery as you drive. Eventually the battery will drain but you should be able to do 10 miles.

Have you visually confirmed the belt is broken? If the check engine light did not come on, which it would have if the belt snapped and the alternator was not charging it could actually be the power steering unit itself.

a reply to: onehuman

Is that year a single serpentine belt for all the devices? Alternator etc? Cant give you a ball park figure bt $35-60 or so...you can do that yourself with a single breaker bar type lug long wrench.

If its just the power steering belt...cheaper...and you can do that yourself as well....


Good luck

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: onehuman

The belt also drives the alternator (among other appliances) which recharges the battery as you drive. Eventually the battery will drain but you should be able to do 10 miles.

Have you visually confirmed the belt is broken? If the check engine light did not come on, which it would have if the belt snapped and the alternator was not charging it could actually be the power steering unit itself.

CEL doesn't always pop on if the alternator isn't charging, sometimes just the battery light will but it won't do that until it's below around 9 volts. Also though that belt drives your waterpump so you may overheat in 10 miles in Florida without circulating any water

a reply to: DAVID64
I thought this was following me home last night after too much time on ATS.

originally posted by: Chromium51
CEL doesn't always pop on if the alternator isn't charging, sometimes just the battery light...

I guess the point I am making is a light would come on if the belt is broken. You cannot power the accessories without it and at some point you will get a warning light.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

At some point definitely would get a light but if it broke and she lost power steering I would be willing to venture a guess she shut it down before any lights came on

Weird, my Marauder's power steering pooped the bed on Saturday. Damn thing only has a touch over 18K miles, too.

If that's your only car and you have no choice but to replace asap, $40-70 depending on where you go and what brand of belt is in stock. AutoZone tends to be the cheapest, Pep Boys close behind and I just plain refuse to shop at AutoZone.

If you can wait a few days, rockauto.com. I've been using them for a few years and they're great. If you go that route, remember that in car parts expensive doesn't usually equal better. The best belt they carry (for the 4.6l, anyway) is if I remember correctly around $12-$13. Their more expensive best suuuuuuuuuck.

As for installation, any non scummy mechanic should charge around $50. I think the pretty standard labor rate is between $40-$100/hr, again, depending on area and level of scumminess. If it's going to take someone an hour to replace a belt... You shouldnt be trusting them to repair your car in the first place. Hell, put an ad up on Craigslist. People like me look for that kind of stuff listed as quick money on days off or on slow days.

Now if it's your pump.... You're going to want to go to rockauto either way. Otherwise, price gets out of hand pretty quickly. Good luck.

a reply to: onehuman


If it is a serpentine belt that controls all of the pulleys on the engine and it broke, then the engine would overheat in a few miles and the alternator light should come on. If the serpentine belt is still in place around the power steering pulley, then something else is at fault. Did you check the fluid level?

A serpentine belt can run about $80 bucks and probably more if a repair shop was to the job. It is not a DIY if you don't do jobs such as replace spark plugs or change your own oil. Idler pulleys on serpentine belt system are spring loaded and takes a lot of muscle with a 1/2 breaker bar to unload the tension to slip the belt in place.

Get a precise image of the placement of the belt over the pulleys. Copy it or make a drawing to have at the job. Some are quit complex and defy normal expectations. Google may give you a page of several different configurations depending upon the equipment/year/make of your car.

Some belt replacements are done from the top, some from underneath. It may take two people, one to hold the tension from the idler and one to thread the belt. Don't attempt the job unless you have some patience and a helping friend, and don't have any idea of how long it will take. Seemingly, a relatively simple job, it may take more time than you would expect.


Find yourself a website for Ford repair, etc. and present your situation because if the belt is still on the power steering pulley--and you have enough fluid in the system--than you have another problem not related to the belt at all.

belt is about $25-30 in the online stores, tensioner is $30-45 and the alternater( if you need thaty changed) about $60-aftermarket, plus pulley..

Hey guys, just wanted to thank you real quick for trying to help yesterday. After reading about it might not be a belt I did go out and look. Turns out it wasn't the serpentine belt at all, but it was this little part pictured below.

I forget what it was called because the guy that helped me kept calling it a sender of something, yet it ended up actually having a different name. The leak was coming from the little hole between the two prongs in the second picture.

Of course had to go through Lincoln Mercury to get it as none of the car part stores around here had it, so that jacked the price right up. Expensive little piece it turned out to be having to go through them