[sukrit7]

I've had to do this so many times because of the repetitive power steering problems i had. It's absolutely safe and will cost you around Rs.400 to replace. Just be careful at slow speeds since it can require a lot of effort at times.
Also, the ac unit won't work.

I'm just hoping it snapped and fell off because in my case, the pulley was the problem and the belt would keep slipping off.

[jinojohnt]

In some cars, if the power steering belt snaps, the battery would stop charging. In that case, you can drive till your battery runs out completely. Please check how it is for your car.

[asdfvinay]

This happened to us day before yesterday, 14 Dec. Belt came off on our Indigo. I spoke to two seniors at Concorde Service and one person at Saboo Maruti and all of them said it is safe to drive.

We drove the car back to home and then to the service station totally around 40km without any problem.

Snapping of this belt on Indigo(may be for Baleno too) means no battery charging, no power brakes and no power steering. So we had to drive extra carefully with the hand brake ready(normal brakes do work, but very hard). Power usage(lights/stereo/ac) should be avoided as battery will not be charging.

[rock75]

update:

I got the belt changed yesterday but while driving home later the steering became hard again. I checked when I reached home and found the new belt lying near the pulleys.

I went to the mechanic again this morning and he put the belt again and tested it by starting the car and turning the wheels, the belt came out again, tried a couple of time and diagnosed it as some crank pulley failure(one which has a rubber part coming in and out). It isn't available outside. One guy has promised to check and get back if he could source one.

I called the maruti service centre and he has quoted Rs 4187 for it. It isn't unusual for this part to wear out after 10 years but can't there be alternatives for it? Any one got it changed recently?

p.s. alternator belt is separate and got it changed too, yesterday

[fine69]

Originally Posted by asdfvinay

Snapping of this belt on Indigo(may be for Baleno too) means no battery charging, no power brakes and no power steering. So we had to drive extra carefully with the hand brake ready(normal brakes do work, but very hard). Power usage(lights/stereo/ac) should be avoided as battery will not be charging.

Around 3-4 years back when I knew nothing about cars I was driving my maternal uncle's indigo. Actually it was with me for a couple of weeks.

There used to be that typical bearing sound from the car at low speeds.
One day when I accelerated too hard in 2nd gear there was a sound of something breaking but the bearing noise was gone. I was so happy for the next half a km until I realized that the brakes had become too hard and the steering felt very very heavy.

I stopped, called one of my friends with his car, whom I followed at speed of 20kmph till we reached home. However, I remember that I got a new belt fitted for less than 1000 bucks I think.

I'm not sure but are there two belts in indigo? I think I recall the mechanic telling me that two of the belts have broken, not certain though.

[asdfvinay]

Yes, Indigo has two belts. One is the main belt connecting the alternator and power steering pump and the second one is for the ac compressor. I got both of them replaced.

Actually when the *** checked the pulleys, pulley of the power steering pump was missing. It fell off somewhere and so the belt came off. The teeth on the pump shaft are worn out and it would not hold a new pulley. We had to replace the whole pump. Car is just out of warranty and the total damage was around 9k(new pump, pulley, belts and labour). Just the pump was Rs.6k.

Originally Posted by fine69

Around 3-4 years back when I knew nothing about cars I was driving my maternal uncle's indigo. Actually it was with me for a couple of weeks.

There used to be that typical bearing sound from the car at low speeds.
One day when I accelerated too hard in 2nd gear there was a sound of something breaking but the bearing noise was gone. I was so happy for the next half a km until I realized that the brakes had become too hard and the steering felt very very heavy.

I stopped, called one of my friends with his car, whom I followed at speed of 20kmph till we reached home. However, I remember that I got a new belt fitted for less than 1000 bucks I think.

I'm not sure but are there two belts in indigo? I think I recall the mechanic telling me that two of the belts have broken, not certain though.

[sukrit7]

Originally Posted by rock75

update:

I got the belt changed yesterday but while driving home later the steering became hard again. I checked when I reached home and found the new belt lying near the pulleys.

I went to the mechanic again this morning and he put the belt again and tested it by starting the car and turning the wheels, the belt came out again, tried a couple of time and diagnosed it as some crank pulley failure(one which has a rubber part coming in and out). It isn't available outside. One guy has promised to check and get back if he could source one.

I called the maruti service centre and he has quoted Rs 4187 for it. It isn't unusual for this part to wear out after 10 years but can't there be alternatives for it? Any one got it changed recently?

p.s. alternator belt is separate and got it changed too, yesterday

This is exactly what I'd feared and had mentioned in my previous post.
The exact same thing happened to me in my baleno.
With time,the pulley gets misaligned and the belt comes off.
This happened atleast four years back and at that time,the part wasn't readily available.
My local mechanic took the pulley off and as far as I remember,welded it back on. It was a lengthy process and if you want,I can speak to him and get back to you with all the details.
It cost me around Rs.500 and never gave any problems.

[rock75]

Update 2

After some searching at chandigarh auto market I was able to find one piece of pulley, it costed me Rs 1750 instead of Rs 4187at the MASS. The dealer also says he can source Cam position sensor if required in a few days time. I was so much relieved, steering is back to ultra light