Two days ago my car lost its air conditioning, coolant system pump and alternator. There was an almighty squeal and screech followed thumping and flapping sounds from within the engine bay.
I found a shady spot in a safe location, checked the serpentine belt that drives those accessories. It was thoroughly shredded. I called the auto club and a service van arrived. The mechanic confirmed my diagnosis and arranged for a flatbed tow truck. I had to pay for an extra 16 km as the level of service agreement I have only allows for 30 km of free towing.
When we arrived at the auto club affiliated repairer at 3pm on Friday, it was closed so I arranged to have the car dropped off at home.
For the preceding week I'd been suffering from a really sore lower back and getting up int the cab of the Hino truck was quite a trial.
Once home I made an appointment with a mobile mechanic who replaced the belt and showed me that the tensioning pulley had excess sideways slop which would have contributed to the serpentine belt's sudden demise. While he was there I got him to do a 10,000km service as it was due.
The job's not over yet. He's coming back on Friday to replace the tensioning pulley. The all-up cost of this episode will be in excess of A$1000, for a car that's 11 years old with 232,000km on the odometer.
My back is still exceptionally sore.